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Real Lives
Dave Rouse
Year in Industry (YinI)
University & Course:
Coventry – Disaster Management
A-levels: English,
Italian, Maths, General Studies
Employer: Railtrack
“In summary, thank you for the
opportunity you gave me and for securing me such a
valuable placement with Railtrack for my gap year.
It was hard work but overall an invaluable
experience, which has opened my eyes and stands me
in a better stead than many of my fellow students
when I graduate. I recommend the Year in Industry
wholeheartedly and encourage anyone thinking about
it to give it a shot – no regrets!”
I spent my 2000-2001 gap year
working for the Corporate Affairs department of
Railtrack Southern, organised by The Year in
Industry. Prior to this I studied A-levels at
Symonds’ College, Winchester and attained 4 C-grades
in English, Italian, Maths and General Studies.
During my gap year, Railtrack
experienced the Hatfield crash and the Selby crash.
Though neither happened in the Southern Zone, both
had a huge impact on the company and our department
worked hard to communicate to staff the realities of
what happened, before they read elaborations of the
facts in the Sun or the Mirror.
I played many roles during the
year and accomplished many duties. I organised the
attendance of 1200 staff to conferences, assisted
with the running of these conferences and helped
arrange venues and catering.
I produced a weekly newsletter
that was distributed in some form to all staff in
the Zone, assisted in producing a monthly newsletter
that covered many issues in more depth. I
administrated the monthly staff briefing and had
full responsibility for arranging hampers that were
sent to 500 members of staff on the zone as a “thank
you” for working well under the difficult conditions
that followed the crashes. As well as this, I
provided general support to the Corporate Affairs
Managed and Internal Communications Manager. I also
worked in the Press office, dealing with media
inquiries, and learning a lot in the process.
As the course has progressed,
so have I found that the skills I have learnt and
developed on my Year in Industry have proven to be
invaluable.
Though many of my fellow students have taken time
out between college and University, few have been
able to experience the world of work.
The skills I gained
communicating with the media at Railtrack stood me
in excellent stead and my experience of real
reporters meant that I easily controlled the
interviews with the pretend reporters (played by
second years).
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