Hitachi Rail Europe works with local partners to hold successful recruitment fairs attended by almost 2,000 visitors

Hitachi Rail Europe held two successful recruitment open days on February 5 and 7 at the Xcel Centre in Newton Aycliffe to highlight the variety of roles that will be available at its Rail Vehicle Manufacturing Facility, due to open this autumn.

Approximately 200 jobs across a number of disciplines, including engineering, production operations, quality assurance, materials handling, procurement, human resources and finance will be up for grabs this year, with almost 400 roles available next year as the facility ramps up to production.In total, the site will employ 730 people.

Hitachi Rail Europe was represented at the fairs by its current staff, who answered questions and gave information about what the roles, and the application process, would consist of.This endeavour was also supported by a number of key local partners, namely: Livin, the Careers Transition Partnership (CTP) and Arriva.

Livin is a community organisation that lets and repairs around 8000 homes in the area around the manufacturing site.The organisation’s vision is to provide homes in the area, while helping people to improve their lives and prospects. They work with various community groups and charities close to the Rail Vehicle Manufacturing Facility. They run social support and employability workshops.

In the run-up to the recruitment open days, they ran three “Get on track with a career at Hitachi” workshops in their own locations, which were attended by 70 residents. At these events, local residents received help creating an online Hitachi job profile, making an application and improving their CV. They also assisted 140 candidates with online applications at the events at the Xcel Centre.

The Careers Transition Partnership (CTP) helps people who are about to leave or have recently left the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force or Marines to find employment.  It hosted Hitachi Rail Europe’s Newton Aycliffe vacancies on its jobs website to enable service leavers to see the roles on offer. Hitachi Rail Europe’s roles have had thousands of views and there have been many applications from the forces as a result.

CTP had a stand at the event and helped prospective applicants to understand where their skills could be transferable to the available roles. It was supported in this capacity by current Hitachi Rail Europe employees who used to work in the forces. CTP also provided broader guidance to forces leavers on readjusting to civilian life.

Last but not least, Hitachi Rail Europe is working with Arriva to develop public transport links to the Rail Vehicle Manufacturing Facility. Both parties recognise the need to provide viable public transport options to enable employees to travel to work by bus.

At the event, Arriva handed out information about its frequent traveller fares, season tickets and saver tickets. The organisation also runs trial schemes so people can give bus travel a try before they sign up for the long term.

Hitachi Rail Europe is a collaborative organisation and recognises that to be successful it needs to work with high calibre partners in order to contribute positively to the community and society around it.