Frankie's story: New skills for a new career

Frankie didn’t have a good experience of school and became a qualified dance teacher when he left. Later, he took over the dance business. Frankie later joined the railway industry as a driver and enjoyed it, but soon aspired to become a manager.

“My early education background was pretty much a non-starter,” said Frankie. “When I was 14/15, I joined a dance school and I became a student dance teacher. Due to another life change I walked away from the business and the dancing, and then I joined the railway in 2003.”

Frankie explained: “Driving to start with was absolutely brilliant. However, it did soon grate that I'm not with people, so I needed to change.”

Frankie took a role at South Western Railway and within three months was offered the chance to study for the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship. He is pleased to have been given the opportunity to study, gain a recognised qualification and move his career forward.

This position for the driver manager came up at South Western Railway and I applied for it and on the interview I was talking to who is now my current boss about the apprenticeship scheme and what the opportunities are for me as a driver manager coming into the new company. Within three months of me starting the job I was able to apply for the apprenticeship.

Frankie
Operational Competence Standards Specialist at South Western Railway

South Western Railway has a substantial workforce – around 5,500 people performing a whole range of jobs, from train drivers to customer service to HR. Many of those colleagues have worked for the company for a long time and have a deep knowledge base, but as they move into more senior roles, they don’t always have formal management training.

Frankie is now an Operational Competence Standards Specialist at South Western Railway and is learning new skills to help him progress in his new career. “There’s some exciting modules coming up and those modules will enable me to utilise information and embed it into my daily routine.”