Category: Awards & Certifications

Our Rail & Client Director Sam Jennings has been nominated for the RailStaff charity award! Due to his brilliant work throughout the year, he went that extra mile to raise awareness and has been a vital part of raising over an amazing £85,000 for Charity at Advance TRS.

Please show your support for Sam and his continuing efforts by voting for him on the RailStaff Award website.

RailStaff awards will be shutting their voting panel on the 16^th of October, so we ask you kindly to cast your votes in as soon as you can!

Ella Gardiner, Marketing Director shares Sam’s dedication to charity work and impact on the Company:

“Sam has been an active member of the Advance TRS team promoting our values and taking on personal challenges to raise money and awareness for charities. Previously Sam completed the London Marathon raising over £2,500 for Action for Children. He has also taken part in Movember, Macmillian Coffee Mornings, our Advance TRS Golf Day for Rail Aid, and the numerous walking and triathlon challenges we have completed as a business. Since joining the business 8 years ago Sam has played a key role in raising over £65,000 in total for various charities”

This October, Sam will be taking part in Railway Children’s Ride Vietnam Challenge. As a novice cyclist, Sam will be confronting a challenging 450km cycle across 7 days in 30 degrees, on a (barely used) bike!

So far Sam has completed over 500 miles of training in the saddle, with 340 miles traveled through a very hot July! There is a lot of water, sun cream, and only the one puncture to date to report as Sam hits the halfway mark on his donations target and only 2 months to go! In the next few weeks, Sam faces a step up in training with 100 miles a week to complete.

The trip itself will see Sam spend between six and eight hours in the saddle each day, traveling across waterways and plantations on unpaved and dusty roads, slightly different surfaces to the hills he will be training on but all part of the challenge for a true bike novice!

“Having never previously ridden a bike without balancing a child on the back, it seemed like a great opportunity to take on a huge personal challenge and raise money that will go to support some of the most vulnerable children in the world”

Shares Sam Jennings

Sam is fundraising for his Railway Children’s Ride Vietnam Challenge . We are just 7% away from reaching our target of £3500! We are extremely grateful for any donations towards reaching our goals for such an excellent cause, for this occurrence, and for all previous fundraising events throughout the year!

More About Railway Children:

Children run away or are forced to leave homes where they suffer poverty, violence, abuse, and neglect. They find themselves living on the streets because there is nowhere else to go and nobody to turn to. Railway Children work to reach children as soon as they arrive on the streets and intervene before an abuser can.

We are delighted to announce that Advance TRS has passed the ISO 27001 audit, a certificate issued by a UKAS accredited certification body, ACS Registrars.

ISO 27001 is a certification for an information security management system (ISMS).

In line with the new GDPR guidelines, we are extremely proud to have passed this audit to show that we handle personal data on a professional level.

The benefits of ISO 27001

Implementing an information security management system provides us with a system that will help to eliminate or minimise the risk of a security breach, that could have legal or business continuity implications.

An effective ISO 27001 information security management system (ISMS) provides a management framework of policies and procedures that will keep your information secure, whatever the format.

By establishing and maintaining a documented system of controls and management, risks can be identified and reduced.

Achieving ISO 27001 certification shows that we have:

• Protected information from getting into unauthorised hands
• Ensured information is accurate and can only be modified by authorised users
• Assessed the risks and mitigated the impact of a breach
• Been independently assessed to an international standard based on industry best practices

ISO 27001 certification demonstrates that we have identified the risks, assessed the implications and put in place systemised controls to limit any damage to our organisation.

Benefits include:

• Increased reliability and security of systems and information
• Improved customer and business partner confidence
• Increased business resilience
• Alignment with customer requirements
• Improved management processes and integration with corporate risk strategies

Achieving ISO 27001 is not a guarantee that information breaches will never occur, however by having a robust system in place, risks will be reduced and disruption and costs kept to a minimum.

We would like to say a big well done to our team for all their efforts towards being able to achieve this accreditation!

To see our latest Rail, Construction, Water, Utilities or Property jobs, click here.

We are delighted that our Property Services Director, Alan Durrant has been featured in News on the Block’s Hot 100 List 2018.

The Annual Hot 100 List, published by Property Services Sectors leading publication, details the leading individuals working in the Property Services Sector.

Since establishing, Advance TRS’s Property Services division has grown from strength to strength. This is largely due to sector Director Alan’s singular commitment to delivering top quality customer service. Our growing Property Services team all have previous experience working within the sector they now recruit for. These personal experiences of the roles, give them a full understanding of the experience, skills and personality traits required for success in the industry.

Alan Durrant, Director Property Services

Alan’s experience in recruitment and as a Property Manager brings him to the top of his game. He quickly identifies the best candidates for any role by understanding exactly what both the clients and candidates need. Testimonials prove he is a polite, hard-working, skilled communicator and acts with the utmost professionalism. He is extremely informative, reliable and has a personable approach. No problem is ever too much and he always gives 100% service.

Get your hands on the special Hot 100 feature from News On The Block and check out our latest Property Services Vacancies online here.

We are thrilled to announce that Advance TRS have taken home both awards in which we were shortlisted for at the Toast Of Surrey Awards last week! The awards took place at Mercedes-Benz World In Weybridge, starting off with dinner and drinks, followed by the awards. It was a brilliant evening and the team were left celebrating until the early hours of the morning!

We are a Surrey based company with a head office in central Guildford, who started off recruiting in the Rail Industry 6 years ago and now pride ourselves in being specialist recruiters in Rail, Water & Utilities, Property, and Construction.

Our leadership team is extremely important to the company. Andy Ridout started the company on his own, and we now have six Board Directors, four Sales Directors and seven Senior Management Team. A very rapid growth which has given us many opportunities throughout the company as the expertise of every director and manager has driven us to grow as a whole company.

We are always on the lookout for the right people to join our team and to support our business and help it to thrive. Our consultants are expertly trained and have extensive experience in sourcing and managing contract workers and permanent recruitment. We also support our employees with qualifications and training and have our own in-house Training and Development Director.

We have some great company-wide incentives in order to attract and retain the very best staff and we have a comprehensive staff benefits and rewards package including, uncapped commission, pension scheme, premium free group private medical insurance plan, perks and discounts platform facilitated by Perkbox including things such as free coffee, cheaper cinema ticket, free phone insurance, discounts at high street and online shops and restaurants and many more. We like to celebrate success and have company activities and drinks when we hit targets and hit milestones, this is often Bowling followed by drinks at our local independently run bar. We like to celebrate big when we achieve quarterly targets and have been power-bating down the Thames, Junkyard Golf, Climbing the O2 and Airhop to date!

If you are interested in joining Surreys Employer of the Year, please contact our Internal Recruitment Manager, Neil,  nw@advance-trs.com or use the contact us page by clicking here.

We are delighted to announce that Advance TRS have been shortlisted as Finalists for the Toast of Surrey Business Awards in two categories; Employer of the Year and Leadership Team of the Year!

The Toast of Surrey Business Awards aim to celebrate success, recognise achievement and highlight the innovative people and companies throughout Surrey who are putting their region on the map by boosting the economy while making a positive contribution to the local community.

Employer of the Year

As a recruitment business ourselves, we understand just how important it is to find the right people to grow your business. With this in mind, we are always on the lookout for the right people to support our business to thrive. Our core values, commitment to quality customer service and company culture is extremely important to our team, from the bottom up, so the cultural fit is an essential element of our recruitment process.

In order to attract and retain the very best staff, Advance TRS have a comprehensive staff benefits and rewards package. To name a few, we offer an uncapped commission scheme, a private company pension scheme matching employee contributions up to 3%, access to medical and life insurances and access to our exciting perks and discounts platform including things such as discounted cinema tickets, free coffees, free phone insurance and discounts at hundreds of restaurants and high street stores.

We believe in rewarding the whole team when the sales team succeed, which is why we take the whole team out for joint celebrations when we hit big targets, often bowling followed by drinks in our local independently run bar. When we hit quarterly and yearly targets, the whole business heads out for a celebration. These are usually held on an afternoon and they have included activities like climbing the O2, power-boating down the Thames, Junkyard Golf and Airhop.

We also have a Summer conference every year which gives the directors a chance to update the whole business on new developments, business growth plans and successes from the year and also includes a fun team building element in the afternoon.

We have a Christmas Party every December. In previous years these have been held at local venues including Mercedes Benz World, G Live and the Mandolay Hotel to name a few. The party includes an all expenses paid meal, drinks and live entertainment.

Every Friday all staff are invited to join directors in our local bar for a round of drinks on the business. This is a great opportunity to build relationships in different parts of the business that you may not work so closely with and is a great way to blow off steam from a busy week!

Leadership Team of the Year

Over the past 6 years, the company and Board of Directors has grown rapidly and the senior management team has welcomed an Operations Director, Head of Training and Development, Non-Executive Director and most recently a new Chief Executive Officer working alongside the Finance Director and Founder/Managing Director, Andy Ridout. We have expanded into new sectors more recently and we also now have Directors for each sector that we recruit in. These Include a Rail Director, Water and Utilities Director, Property Services Director and an Infrastructure Director. We also have a key management team, including a Marketing Manager, Compliance Manager, Group Accounts Manager and an Accounts Manager and an Administration Manager, who all make up our management and senior management team.

Andy Ridout, Founder and Managing Director says “I am incredibly proud and thrilled that Advance TRS has been recognised for all the hard work and commitment it invests in both its staff and clients alike.”

Andy leads the company to strive for the top and has always had as a priority, the recruitment of the best people to allow the company to Advance. He has built an exceptional team of consultants who, having benefited from his experience and work ethos are fast becoming well-known for their own highly respected recruitment capabilities.

We understand that talented and motivated staff are key to any successful business. To help our team become the best they can be, we provide invaluable mentoring through our Training and Development Director, who works with each employee to establish bespoke development plans and sets clear objectives to support each team member to excel.

The team will be attending the Awards Presentation at Mercedes Benz World on Wednesday 27th June. It will be a celebration of the county’s best companies and a reminder that Surrey is a great place to do business.

These are the aspects of the business that we believe have enabled us to be shortlisted for these Toast of Surrey Business Awards and we are very much looking forward to meeting lots of other successful businesses on the night of the presentations.

Pick up your copy of the Surrey Mirror this Thursday 14th June to see full details on all the finalists!

We are delighted to announce that for the third year running Advance TRS has successfully passed the Railway Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme (RISQS) Audit and retained the 5 star status with no observations, no non-conformances and top marks in all areas.

Our compliance team work tirelessly all year round to ensure we follow best practice at all times and that all our processes and procedures are current. This latest accreditation recognises our ongoing commitment to excellence in all our systems and procedures.

Working in a number of safety critical engineering sectors, we have a robust compliance management system that is structured with very clear processes and procedures. This system has been developed to deliver the ongoing management of individual competencies held by external workers, as well as supporting the requirements of each industry sector’s specific standards and scheme requirements.

This compliance procedure incorporates a bespoke database that highlights renewals of qualifications, supplier certificates and competencies. The continued management of this area of our business is essential when supplying workers to industries where safety is foremost in everyone’s daily working lives.

“RISQS is the single entry point for suppliers to the rail industry and as a ‘5 Star’ RISQS accredited supplier to the rail industry, we believe that we all have a responsibility to deliver a professional service that meets continues to achieve and exceed the industry standards” explains Group Managing Director Andy Ridout.

“This is a fantastic achievement and we are immensely proud of the whole team who work hard all year round to maintain our trademark top quality service.”

Rail recruitment specialists, Advance Training & Recruitment Services have successfully achieved ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001 certification; a major milestone for the consultancy.

Almost a year’s worth of hard work has been put into the development of the company’s policies and procedures in order to continually improve the service and value offered to its clients and candidates.

ISO 9001 is the globally recognised hallmark for robust quality management systems, designed to help organisations successfully meet the needs of their various stakeholders. The certification signifies a responsibility for providing outstanding business practices, excellent customer service and improved operational performance.

OHSAS 18001 is a framework for occupational health and safety management systems which exhibits Advance-TRS’ continued focus on workplace health & safety. This accreditation certifies that Advance-TRS has a system in place to fully identify and control health and safety risks in the workplace; reducing the potential for future accidents and illnesses whilst demonstrating due diligence to its clients.

“We are delighted to have been awarded ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001 certification after months of hard work from everyone here at Advance-TRS. We are always looking for ways in which to further develop and improve our service offering to both our candidates and clients and these awards will go a long way to demonstrating that,” says Operations Director, Paul Merton.

“Our team is dedicated to providing a first-class recruitment service and these awards will help formalise the ‘client-first’ approach that we are so proud to offer.”

Carried out by ACS Registrars, one of the UK’s premier certification bodies, the extensive assessment required Advance-TRS to pass a stringent review of their policies, procedures and processes.

In the last year, Advance-TRS also successfully achieved a maximum 4-star RISQS accreditation and became a fully-audited member of APSCo, the Association of Professional Staffing Companies. These accreditations illustrate the importance advance-TRS puts on safety and compliance, whilst ensuring they remain at the forefront of recruitment excellence.

“It’s a really exciting time for Advance-TRS given our extraordinary growth over the last few years and the strides we are making in improving what goes on behind the scenes,” says Merton.

“Together, we can all advance.”

Advance-TRS are delighted to be sponsoring this year’s UK Rail Industry Awards taking place on 19th February 2015.

Held at London’s prestigious Battersea Evolution, the UK Rail Industry Awards is an annual gathering of the UK’s top decision makers, aimed at celebrating the efforts and achievements of the rail industry throughout 2014.

Hosted by comedian Miles Jupp, with keynote speaker Peter Wilkinson, Managing Director – Passenger Services, Rail Executive at the Department for Transport; this year’s event is expected to draw an audience of more than 1000 guests.

“The UK Rail Industry Awards has fast become a staple in the rail industry calendar and is a fantastic occasion to recognise and reward the outstanding work that goes into all aspects of the rail industry,” says Managing Director, Andy Ridout. “We are very proud to sponsor such an important event and look forward to the night’s festivities.”

Andy is one of the evening’s speakers and is using the opportunity to raise awareness for his upcoming Mount Everest Base Camp trek in aid of Railway Children. The Everest Base Camp trek is just one of three fundraising challenges Andy is undertaking in 2015, for more information visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AndyRidout

The UK Rail Industry Awards kick off on the 19th February 2015 at the Battersea Evolution. For more information, visit www.ukria.com

Advance Training & Recruitment Services, the rail industry’s recruitment experts, are proud to have achieved Achilles RISQS certification (formerly known as Link-Up), enabling the consultancy to supply the rail industry with skilled engineers and construction contractors.

RISQS is the rail industry’s supplier registration and qualification scheme. Suppliers are required to undergo a rigorous pre-qualification and auditing process, qualifying them to more than a hundred industry buyers including Network Rail and Transport for London (TfL).

Advance-TRS were awarded a 4-star passing grade by Achilles, the highest possible grade for an organisation in the primary year of the new audit scheme. Now in it’s fourth year of trading, the Surrey-based rail recruitment consultancy turns over in excess of £7 million per year and employs an experienced team of 15 staff.

“This is an excellent achievement for the company in a year where both the RISQS and Rail Sentinel schemes have undergone significant changes” says Operations Director, Paul Merton. “We were delighted to have become members of APSCo earlier in 2014 and we now move into 2015 with a robust focus on operational safety and compliance with an aim to have achieved ISO 9001 and ISO 18001 accreditation by the end of the first quarter.”

We are proud to announce that Advance-TRS’ very own Daniel Forth-Rumley and Andy Ridout have been selected as finalists at this year’s RailStaff Awards.

Daniel Forth-Rumley has been shortlisted for the Recruiter of the Year award for his efforts in supplying engineers to multiple projects on the National Electrification Programme. Since taking over the electrification, permanent way and civils desk 6 months ago, Daniel has made incredible strides for his clients and candidates, placing more than 15 skilled electrification engineers in a discipline that is facing a 10-fold staff shortage.

Meanwhile, Andy Ridout, Managing Director of Advance-TRS has been nominated for the ‘Dave Maidment Award for Charity’ by Dave Ellis, Corporate Partnerships Manager at esteemed children’s charity Railway Children.

Andy’s nomination is a result of the continued fundraising, awareness and new corporate relationships that he has generated for Railway Children over the last few years. In September 2013, Andy famously took part in an Ironman triathlon, raising and incredible £12,777 for the children’s charity. This year, he teamed up with Operations Director, Paul Merton to take on the first stage of the Tour de France in Yorkshire raising a further £745.

Advance Training & Recruitment Services has also been nominated by one of its contractors for the ‘Best Rail Professional Recruitment Company’ accolade at the RailStaff Awards’ sister competition, the Railway People Awards. Click here to nominate Advance-TRS today.

The RailStaff Awards kick off on the 25th of October. The best of luck goes out to Daniel, Andy and the rest of this year’s finalists.

Advance Training & Recruitment Services, the recruitment specialists for the rail industry, are pleased to announce that they have been awarded membership to APSCo – the Association of Professional Staffing Companies.

APSCo is the trade body dedicated to representing the interests of UK-based recruitment organisations. They offer industry insights and business intelligence on top of providing a cohesive voice on behalf of its members, in response to forthcoming legislation and European Union directives.

A lengthy and rigorous auditing process which demands the highest standards is required to become an APSCo member, necessitating the provision of detailed financial information, references from clients and candidates as well as an acceptance of APSCo’s strict code of practice.

Advance-TRS’ APSCo membership is a badge of quality, ensuring that both candidates and clients alike are represented by an organisation on the frontier of recruitment excellence.

“We are always looking at ways of increasing our value proposition to both our clients and candidates.” says Paul Merton, Operations Director at advance Training & Recruitment Services.

“Our membership with APSCo will enable us to strengthen our competitive advantages with access to vital business information and market research, whilst providing us with that seal of quality which will prove invaluable for years to come.”

To find out more about how we can work alongside your business to facilitate your recruitment needs, call advance Training & Recruitment Services today on 01483 361 061

This is an award for an Individual with collaboration or acumen to achieve initiatives which benefit the industry. They will have had a significant impact over the course of last year and will have demonstrated longer term success in HR, Recruitment or Training and the Rail industry as a whole which will resonate for many years.

The person could demonstrate:
•    Effective communication at all levels
•    Evidence of going that extra mile
•    Delivery of innovative  initiatives
•    Role model behaviours
•    Efficiency and effectiveness at the heart of everything they do
•    Thorough understanding of Rail today and be future focussed

Click here to nominate or view the worthy candidates.

This is an award for an iIndividual with collaboration or acumen to achieve initiatives which benefit the industry. They will have had a significant impact over the course of last year and will have demonstrated longer term success in HR, recruitment or training and the rail industry as a whole which will resonate for many years.

The person could demonstrate:

• Effective communication at all levels
• Evidence of going that extra mile
• Delivery of innovative  initiatives
• Role model behaviours
• Efficiency and effectiveness at the heart of everything they do
• Thorough understanding of Rail today and be future focussed

Click here to nominate or view the worthy candidates.

Andy Ridout, Managing Director of niche railway recruitment company, Advance-TRS has been recognised for his services to recruitment through a nomination for RailStaff’s Recruiter of the Year awards.

Chris Darlow, Operations Director at Rail – Kelly Integrated Transport Services Ltd commented;

“It is with great pleasure that I nominate Andy Ridout for the recruiter of the year award 2012. I have known Andy for a long time and have no doubt that his commitment and dedication to the rail industry over his 16-year long career has been second to none.”

Andy started out as a young Trainee Recruitment consultant to a large agency; there, he quickly worked his way up to Director Level where he specialised in Signalling and remained the company’s top consultant for over fourteen years.

After countless recruitment campaigns for the majority of the UK’s rail organisations, Andy finally took the big decision to set up his own international railway recruitment firm and in August 2011 launched Advance-TRS.

After twelve months, a colossal amount of hard work and very long hours, Advance-TRS are now recognised as experts in supplying the complete range of permanent and contract, blue and white collar staff throughout the industry and have grown from a two man band to employing twelve full-time members of staff, this in the midst of a recession that has impacted the entire globe.

Despite a very hectic work schedule, Andy enjoys nothing more than spending time with his partner and three children who are the inspiration for his latest campaign; in August next year Andy will be attempting Dartmoor’s ‘Xtreme  Ironman’, in the hope of raise £10,000 for Railway Children. The amazing cause is very close to Andy’s heart and supports over 11 million children who are homeless and abused throughout the UK, India and East Africa. To raise as much awareness as possible, Andy is planning on attending various rail seminars, exhibitions and events throughout the UK and overseas over the coming months.

‘Over the past five years I have worked closely with Andy on many staffing projects and can only praise his conduct, attention to detail honesty and integrity,’ Chris Darlow went on to say. ‘He is someone who always goes out of his way to make himself available to anyone in need of his help or advice, a quality that he clearly expresses to his team and accounts for their outstanding performance. A quick look at the testimonials on his LinkedIn profile page.

To support Andy on his venture to help Railway Children take a look at his Virgin Money Giving page