Charlotte Dale

Project Management, London Underground
Joined September 2009

Upon graduating from Warwick Business School in 2007 I joined the graduate scheme of one of the large investment banks, where I worked with Prime Brokerage as an Account Manager. I decided finance was not for me and applied for the Transport for London Graduate scheme two years later.

Making a difference...

I was attracted to the scheme because of the training opportunities and the scope for variation working in the projects directorate. The tangibility and importance of the service provided by TfL really appealed to me, working in an organisation which makes a difference to the lives of so many Londoners and many more, especially in the run up to the Olympic Games in 2012.

During the scheme I completed six placements, all within different project areas. On one placement I was responsible for project managing the build of a walkway bridge at Harrow for the train staff, and on another I was assigned the task of collating the maintenance plans for the 2012 Olympic Games across LU.

I also worked as a station supervisor at Victoria for three months which was a great opportunity to understand the workings of the railway and experience the incident management and customer service first hand.

Training and support are second to none...

Alongside the placements, the training and support available at TfL are second to none. I am currently halfway through my part time masters at UCL, MSc Project and Enterprise Management, and have completed my Association of Project Management Professional Qualification. The graduate network that you will build up over the two years will prove to be very valuable for the rest of your career at TfL.

I would advise anyone to apply for TfL that wants to have the training and support in place to develop your career and professional skills, while working for an organisation so key for the economic success of London.