London Transport Museum hosts Skills Late to help young people kickstart their careers

London Transport Museum is helping young Londoners kickstart their careers in transport, engineering and technology with a virtual Skills Late event on Wednesday 26 January.

Young career seekers aged 16 to 25 and their parents or guardians are invited to join the digital event on Zoom to meet recruiting employers to find out about different job opportunities in London’s transport and infrastructure industry.

Businesses offering entry level vacancies, apprenticeships or training opportunities will be on hand to share information and answer questions, including Transport for London, Alstom, Cleshar, Jacobs, Morgan Sindall, Mott MacDonald, Siemens, Telent and Thales.

The online event runs from 18:45 to 21:30. Tickets are free, but places are limited so advance booking is essential.

Young women interested in careers in rail and transport can book a ticket to join a virtual pre-event talk at 17:30 with women who have forged careers in the industry. Speakers include Olivia Perkins, Regional Director for Rail at Morgan Sindall, Obe Aruna, a graduate engineer at Telent, and Amber Parmer, a Track Apprentice at TfL.

Tickets can be booked on London Transport Museum’s website.

With the UK focused on hitting net-zero by 2030 the demand for green skills is more important than ever. Young people entering London’s transport and infrastructure industry today will play a key part in shaping a sustainable future for the Capital.

Its annual Skills Late is just one of the ways London Transport Museum supports young Londoners to pursue careers in transport and engineering. Each year up to 50 young people also take part in its Route into Work course.

This offers three-days of free employability training, before guaranteeing participants an interview with transport businesses recruiting for current vacancies.

Amber Parmar graduated from London Transport Museum’s Route into Work course in 2020 and secured a TfL Track Engineering Apprenticeship. She said:

‘Looking back on my experience, Route into Work staff gave me the confidence to apply for a TfL Apprenticeship by helping to shift my perception of what an engineer should be. They taught me that you don’t necessarily need to have studied science and you don’t need to look a certain way.’

Sadik Hussein also graduated from Route into Work in 2021 after finding out about the scheme at a Skills Late in 2020. He said:

‘This was an opportunity that I’ve never been through and it has been like a dream. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to progress in the future and do something with their life.’

Attendees to the Skills Late can sign up to take part in Route into Work in 2022.

This year’s Skills Late is part of the Museum’s Climate Crossroads programme. Supported by Mott MacDonald, Cubic Transportation Systems, Sopra Steria and Mastercard, this programme aims to inspire the Museum’s visitors to imagine what a green future could look like for London and take action to help us get there together.