With the advent of spring comes the blooming of a new Young Rail Professionals (YRP) calendar of activities. March will see the election of new executive officers, including the new YRP chair, and a new wave of opportunities to encourage and support young people in their pursuit of fulfilling rail industry careers.
Like the crocuses of spring, YRP activities require the support of external agents to coax a new crop of budding railway professionals, in order to ensure that YRP will provide terrible attempts at extended metaphors, time and time again.
March Corporate Membership Drive
An explosion of growth, driven by our current YRP leadership and soon to be sustained by our new YRP leadership, has led to YRP becoming the best and most widely known resource to engage with young professionals and attract young people into the industry.
Paul Case, our YRP external relations manager, sums it up well, ‘With support from our corporate members, YRP has managed to deliver an ambitious programme of activities in 2014-2015, holding more networking and development events than in any other year and inspiring talented people to join the industry through our award-winning YRP Ambassador scheme. ‘As we continue to grow – our membership has doubled in the last year – we plan to exceed last year’s ambitions and deliver even more benefits to the industry.’
As a not-for-profit company run by a committee of passionate volunteers, YRP relies on corporate support through our membership programme to provide all of the fantastic benefits to young people and to our stakeholders.
If your company would be interested in supporting and working with YRP, we’re now offering memberships for 2015-2016 and would love to hear from you. Our corporate membership deliverables increase each year, as the scope and influence of YRP goes from strength to strength.
YRP events
To show you the value enabled by the corporate membership resources, we’d like to share with you some of the exciting upcoming events in the YRP calendar which showcase the growing regional influence across Great Britain. YRP events are specifically tailored to be relevant and interesting to young people, and you can always be assured of a young and vibrant crowd in attendance; we aim to have both the development and the networking aspects provide worthwhile use of our members’ valuable evening time.
In London, 10-11 March, YRP is offering free tickets to MetroRail World Congress and also an opportunity for young people to pitch their railway technology innovations in a Dragons’ Den-style competition to senior railway executives.
Further north, in Birmingham, on 11 March, we have the YRP West Midlands Regional Branch launch event, where both government and industry will have a presence amongst the evening’s speakers, to discuss the future of railways in the region. The evening also includes networking drinks and a buffet, and both young professionals and managers alike are encouraged to attend to learn what YRP can offer in the region.
Further North
Even further north still, in Manchester, on 19 March, we have the YRP North West Regional Branch launch event, which will also see illustrious speakers, drinks, and a buffet amongst the fantastic setting of the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. Once again, we encourage both young and senior rail professionals to attend, to engage with our regional branch and help shape its future.
Going strong is our YRP East Midlands branch, with a full slate of events for the next month. On 30 March, in Derby, they will host a Network Rail seminar on the Midland Main Line Electrification Project. Following the wide-reaching success of the recent London YRP-STEMNET induction day, YRP East Midlands is leading the charge to increase regional outreach, hosting a YRP-STEMNET induction session in Derby on 9 April. Adding to the cornucopia of offerings, 23 April will also see an exclusive visit to Progress Rail Services and an aspirational seminar on how rail managing directors can help drive growth and success in the railway industry for the next decade.
Five Secrets
A new and exciting area of development for YRP is our upcoming co-hosted conference for undergraduates, the YRP-Network Rail Digital Railway Conference in London, on 16 March. Following the conference is an open networking session, which will see YRP, Network Rail employees and undergraduate conference attendees have an opportunity to discuss the themes of the day.
If you know of keen undergraduates who would like a free place and sponsored travel to attend the Digital Railway Conference, please have them visit the YRP website to sign up.
Also in London, on 19 March, we have a great seminar, ‘5 Secrets the Project Management Books Won’t Tell You’, that will provide exciting insight into how to manage major projects.
Showcasing the outreach by our YRP Ambassadors, our Joint University Presentation Programme has seen nearly 20 YRP presentations this year to promote the railway industry as a career path, with another 20 to go, and could use the support of more YRP members and young railway employees to ensure its success.
We still have a few tickets left for the YRP Annual Black Tie Dinner on 16 April, with keynote speaker Simon Kirby, and nominations are still open through March 11 for the YRP of the Year Award, to showcase the glittering talents of young rail professionals.
If anyone would like to become involved in organising future YRP events, performing outreach activities to promote the railway industry as a career choice and developing opportunities for young people to be recognised and prioritised in the wider railway industry, then you are of course welcome to come to our open Quarterly YRP Executive Committee Meeting on 10 March, where we will discuss all of these efforts and how you can get involved. To find out how to support YRP through corporate membership, you can contact Paul Case, YRP external relations manager, at [email protected]
