Northern creates 160 new roles and launches new campaign to attract a new generation of people
Northern has launched the search for the next generation black, ethnic minority, female and younger employees.
Be Northern, the rail operator’s new recruitment campaign, underlines the journey the operator is on to improve diversity levels within its workforce.
The launch coincides with Northern’s plans to recruit more than 160 newly created roles. The jobs are available across the north and throughout the business including station staff, drivers, conductors, engineering and support functions.
Northern aims to engage with a new generation of people who have never considered working in rail.
Neil Stephenson, Head of Learning and Talent at Northern, said: “Northern has many career opportunities and last year alone we had nearly 54,000 applications for 600 vacancies.
“As an industry we are keen to deliver a diverse workforce that represents the communities we serve and attract the next generation to rail. Northern has made progress over the past few years and there is more work to do and Be Northern is another step towards building an inclusive workforce.
“We are working with new and diverse partners and the message we are sending out to prospective employees is that, whoever they are and whatever their background, they can trust that Northern is a great place to work and a great place to forge a career.”
Brian Currie, People Director at Northern, said: “Northern has built an exciting plan for the future and this includes providing more jobs to help boost the economy in the north of England. At this time of uncertainty, we’re pleased to be able to offer these roles in the north.”
Demonstrating its commitment to diversity and inclusion, Northern runs a range of employee inclusion groups, boast a 250 strong employee engagement group, and runs an extensive equality, diversity and inclusion events calendar.
To read more about a career at Northern or to apply for available roles, visit www.northernrailway.co.uk/careers
Notes to editors
- 85,000 people currently work in rail in the UK, but only 14,000 identify as female
- UK-wide only eight per cent of engineers and five per cent of train drivers identify as female
- The average age of workers in the rail industry is 46, with as many as 50,000 people set to retire from the industry by 2033