Transport for London
London Underground Management Scheme
The London Underground Management schemes are on hold until further notice.
How it works
First and foremost, we team you up with a station manager. Shadowing them, you'll soon become a supervisor, running a significant central station and a large team of around 60 people. A strong leader able to put your stamp on our services, you'll listen, negotiate and inspire - often at the same time. Of course, we'll support you all the way, but ultimately we'll place you in at the deep end. Succeed here and you'll be prepared for anything.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers could come to you with almost any issue - you'll help them as best you can. It's an eye-opening challenge, so you'll need to be calm, resilient and decisive.
You'll also need an eye for detail to make sure that we're delivering a quality service to every passenger, every day. It's complex and challenging work. But you'll handle it in the way you know how.
After this initial period, the choice is yours. You'll have the option to explore all areas of London Underground, so you choose the challenge that suits you best.
Customer Service Delivery
With tube lines upgraded and services improved, this is an unprecedented period of change - and you'll be at the heart of it all. Leading a team, you'll make sure we're giving our customers the best possible experience. Then, after the scheme, you could lead teams at a station, ensure we constantly deliver superb customer service, or manage train drivers to keep our services reliable whilst the lines are upgraded take place.
Safety
We need to make millions of journeys a year as safe, secure and environmentally responsible as possible. Not just for our customers, but for our staff and suppliers too. That's a huge challenge. So, our safety team provides strategic direction and support to London Underground management on health, safety and the environment.
With a flair for solving problems, you'll support managers day-to-day, work on strategies to prevent incidents, and investigate causes when they do. Then, after the scheme, you could be managing, assessing or working with a team on a Tube line, or supporting a strategy team.
Service Development
Here, you'll be affecting the daily journeys of 400,000 people. Taking an overarching view of the network, you'll use techniques and tools that could shave seconds off a journey time - seconds that add up to hundreds of hours. You'll deal with advanced technologies and procedures, make sure trains run to time, and respond quickly and safely to any incidents. Throughout the scheme, your responsibility will increase, resulting in a role delivering service control. Right in the thick of things, you'll investigate incidents, relay information, manage teams and resources, and deliver effective solutions fast. So, you'll need the character and confidence to act decisively and influence others.
Placements
Placements usually last three to four months. You'll contribute to real work and develop an understanding of how each team contributes to our business.
You'll gain practical experience of working in London Underground's services - trains, stations or service control - as well as all the skills and knowledge you need, including safety critical qualifications, people management skills and technical knowledge. We'll arrange your initial placements, but as you progress you'll look to source ones that will challenge you further.
Working at least a 35-hour week, it's worth noting that your hours will vary depending on your area. We provide a vital, 364 days a year service to London, so you may need to follow shift patterns, including some weekend working.
From there, your ambition could take you far. Having seen how we work from ground level and up, we'd expect you to progress into a senior leadership role.
Further education and professional studies
You'll embark on our customised, accelerated, 6-8 week training programme. We've included classroom learning to cover the essentials and put our own mark on things with plenty of on-site and simulated elements for you to get a feel for the role too.
We'll also support you to gain professional or postgraduate qualifications. Depending on the course, we offer full study support, such as professional body registration, course fees and college attendance leave. This can also include membership of a professional institution such as the Institute of Railway Operators, the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, or the Institute of Logistics and Transport. We also provide management, technical and professional skills development, from in-house coaching to courses at our training centre.
Entry requirements
You'll need a 2:1 honours degree. But for us, it's more about your approach than the specific subject. You won't always know what to expect, so you'll need to be able to think on your feet. Motivating your team into doing the same, you'll bring the energy needed to get things done. This isn't a typical graduate scheme - you'll make big decisions, see an immediate impact and meet the challenges of a role on which the city relies.
At application stage we will ask you to express an interest in a particular area of the scheme e.g. Customer Service Delivery, Safety and Service Development. This is purely an expression of interest and there will be opportunities to discuss the options and suitability in more depth at assessment stage.
If you're successful you'll have to pass pre-employment checks before joining. These will include reference checks, qualifications checks, right to work in the UK and in some cases a medical and a Criminal Records Bureau check.
Applications
Our graduate applications open on Monday 5 October 2009 and we recruit on a rolling basis. This means that when we have sufficient number of applications to fill positions for particular schemes, we will then close that particular application track. Therefore, applying as early as possible is vital, particularly if you want to apply for your preferred scheme.
Applications
