Matchtech & Resourcing Solutions is thrilled to sponsor the Rail Person of the Year Award at the 2022 RailStaff Awards, for the second consecutive awards.
The Rail Person of the Year Award is designed to recognise those within the industry who excel at what they do and, as a business that is dedicated to connecting talent with leading companies in the rail industry, we understand the value of exceptional people.
In 2019, Great Western Railway’s (GWR) Pete White is always going the extra mile for customers or taking time out to support youngsters coming through the Prince’s Trust programme but it was for his actions when a train he was working on became stranded that he was nominated for a RailStaff Award.
With heavy snow falling across the network, Pete was on duty one evening when his train came to a halt with around 20 customers on board, including children. Concerned about morale, he spoke to each of the customers several times to build up their spirits, keeping them calm and reassured.
As the train was still stranded come 22:00, and with customers having been onboard for nearly five hours, Pete took it on himself to make the situation more bearable for customers. After struggling through snow, Pete returned from a local shop with food and drink for customers and fellow staff members.
Later on that night he was contacted by his line manager at 23:30 who informed him that Network Rail and the local police would be unable to help for several more hours.
Pete spoke to every customer informing them of the current situation, despite facing some challenging conversations. He also took the name and numbers of all passengers so GWR could contact them at a later date.
The points were cleared at approximately 01:00 and the train was finally able to transport most of the customers back towards home but it again became stuck at frozen points. A few customers were still on board and Pete again did his best to keep them up-beat and they eventually arrived back at around 03:30.
Pete had by this time been on shift for 14 hours, all of that time taking care of his customers with a smile, reassuring them with his fantastic customer service and looking after them at risk to himself.
For going above and beyond, Pete was awarded the ‘Rail Person of the Year’ trophy at the RailStaff Awards.
He said: “We all do a tough job on the railway – anyone in my position would have done the same thing.
“I just come from a slightly different background, that’s all, and made a success of it.
“I went from being long-term unemployed to having a lifelong career ahead of me – from being jobless for as long as I was, that’s not all that common.”
This year, Matchtech & Resourcing Solutions will be looking for similarly inspiring people, who go above and beyond to deliver excellence in the rail industry.
A combined force
As part of the same group of specialist staffing companies, Matchtech and Resourcing Solutions joined forces in 2017 to become one of the largest rail recruiters in the UK. Its complementary offering ensures excellent coverage across both design and site works, with Matchtech focusing on professional services experts and Resourcing Solutions specialising in site-based project delivery talent.
As a combined force, Matchtech & Resourcing Solutions is highly embedded into the Rail industry, offering both clients and candidates an excellent service and expert understanding of projects, skills demands, and talent trends. The company has supplied talent to all of the UK’s major projects, including HS2, Crossrail, Transpennine Upgrade, East West Rail, Core Valley Lines, and many Network Rail frameworks. It is proud to have connected candidates with clients in this industry for over 25 years.
Matchtech & Resourcing Solutions specialist consultants prides itself on its industry expertise, building and retaining large networks of experienced and highly skilled professionals. It builds close relationships with candidates and fosters a deep understanding of their individual capabilities, going further than just their documented Sentinel and/or industry-related competencies, so it can provide an excellent service to both our candidates and its clients.
Lead by example
If there’s anything that covid has taught the company, it’s that people have immense capacity to inspire us; they can help us be better by leading through example.
2019’s winner of the Rail Person of the Year Award was proof of this. Pete’s CV did not boast the most impressive qualifications or projects, but his story spoke for itself – he was the person most deserving of recognition for being inspirational in his attitude to others.
There’s nothing better than seeing people fulfil their potential, and that is what the RailStaff Awards is all about.
Matchtech & Resourcing can’t wait to get another opportunity to sit down with industry peers to celebrate the inspirational stories of the nominees and looks forward to seeing you there!
