Rail apprentice Aaron Porter on Morson and Transport for London's Mentoring Circles

Morson Training, in association with the Department for Work and Pensions and Transport for London, is mentoring future engineers through the process of gaining employment in the rail industry.

Morson Training recently ran a two-hour Mentoring Circles event for interested parties to learn about track engineering on London Underground. Following the sessions, participants are invited to apply to be interviewed for a place on a training course and subsequent role with Graham Timbers’ team, as a Track Operative in London.

The Mentoring Circles gave those involved an opportunity to find out how Morson recruits for their jobs and participants were also walked through the application process, as well as given help to learn how to build their personal profile. Attendees also had opportunities to go through a mock interview with feedback given, to see how to improve skills in this vital part of the recruitment process.

This pilot programme is due to begin a larger roll-out in 2022, seeing Morson Training, the DWP, and the Transport for London (TfL) Supplier Skills team collaborating to bring out-of-work Londoners into employment with Morson Group.

Andrew Robinson, Operations Manager at Morson Training said:

“At Morson Training, we are focused on giving opportunities to those in the areas we operate in. High-quality training gives our candidates the skills they need to forge careers for themselves with our Morson London Team. We believe that a collaboration between Morson, the DWP, and TfL will bring sustainable, long-term employment outcomes for Londoners, whilst helping the industry tackle the skills shortages, with new blood.”

Stuart Coates, Assistant Commercial Manager at Transport for London said:

“Morson is a key supplier partner to TfL and it has been a pleasure to collaborate in this exciting exercise to attract more Londoners to the rail industry at a time when skills shortages are a real challenge facing our supply chain. These online sessions have given more than 150 people an overview of how exciting a career in track engineering can be by and providing training and employment opportunities to those who otherwise may not have considered such a career.”

​Aaron Porter, a successful delegate from the recent programme is now working on the London Underground for Morson and we spoke to him to find out more about how his experience at the Mentoring Circles event helped pave the way for a career in rail for himself working towards becoming a Skilled Track Operative.

How did you hear about the Mentoring Circle webinar?

It was sent to me in an email by my work coach from the DWP. The opportunity to work with TfL was very interesting.​

How have you found the course?

I’ve found it fun, it’s really high paced. It’s challenging sometimes, but enjoyable at the same time. The Trainers are focused on helping everyone to make sure we have the best chance to succeed.​

What attracted you to the webinar in the first place?

It was something different, something that I never thought about doing, but it’s something that intrigued me and I’m glad I attended it.​

Were your perceptions of working in rail engineering different?

In the beginning, I didn’t know what I was actually getting into, I had to look into it and spoke to the director to see what it entails. It’s not something you really hear about, but having experienced it now, it’s a lot easier to understand the rail industry and it’s not as difficult as it seems and there are a lot of opportunities to progress.

How helpful have the mentors on the course been for you?

They’ve been really good. Any questions that I would have, they would answer. It’s really informative, when the training first started they always let you know what was going on and the structure of how your training was going to go.

What were yourfavourite elements?

One of my favourite elements is the pace of it and the intensity it.

What skills do you think makes someone suitable for rail?

You’ve 100% got to be a team player, you’ve got to be someone that can forward-think and your confidence will grow with the weeks that pass and the experience you get. You can also see a route to progressing in the future and making more of yourself.

Why someone should work in rail?

It’s an exciting and dynamic environment, where you can get to know people and establish new relationships inside work and obviously you can have those friendships with people outside of work too. It’s totally different to anything else you’d do and obviously the history behind the railways, you get to learn about the history of your country whilst you’re down there.

Is a career in rail beneficial to young people?

Definitely, it teaches you things like structure, discipline, teamwork and it helps you grow. It helps you understand what it’s like to work as part of a team and to have a specific role and responsibility in that team. The money will be good too and you can keep moving forward and earning more if you work hard.

How would you describe a typical day in your role as a skilled platelayer?

It’s usually between 11-12 o’clock, you’d get a message from your supervisor with a list of operatives on, showing who you are working with and who your PWT supervisor is. They tell you who the senior people on site will be, signing off the work such as the Handback Engineer. Later on, we’d receive our times and location and once you get to the station, you register, make sure you’ve got all the right certifications, and get your PPE on, so you are ready to work. Once you get to the station platform you get a briefing on the protection arrangements to keep you safe, basically saying where your nearest hospitals are, what the hazards are, your work boundaries, and things like that. After that, you’ll get allocated tasks so you all know who’s doing what tasks when you’re down on-site, so you’re not blind to what’s going on when you start, and then you crack on with the job.

​​Morson Training is an award-winning, all-encompassing learning and developmen division of the Morson Group. Find out more here

Morson Talent has worked on the London Underground infrastructure for more than 30 years and has a strong relationship with Transport for London (TfL). We supply over 1,400 rail contractors weekly, mobilised and managed by our dedicated account and support team. Find out more here.