Recruitment
“Aisha started with Colas Rail 16 months ago as a Commercial Assistant, working in one of the most dynamic areas of the S&C South Alliance – Euston Enabling Works. Aisha worked closely with the Commercial Manager to develop her commercial, contractual and procurement understanding. Through this Aisha was able to bring her own logic, organisational skills and initiative to simplify timesheet approvals, invoice processes, application for payment, final accounting and supplier management.
Aisha has brought her bubbly personality to the team and this has included working at Christmas to assist with key on-site delivery and even volunteering to work again this Christmas. Aisha has shown her commitment to the company and the rail industry by volunteering at graduate career fairs and participating in the Rail Diversity Challenge.
Within 12 months Aisha has proven that she is dedicated and diligent with her work, showing a great aptitude for commercial understanding and management as she was able to guide and mentor another commercial assistant through the company processes after they joined. Aisha is now the day to day commercial lead for one of Colas Rail’s projects which includes working closely with the delivery team to provide accurate estimates and forecasts. This is a great achievement in such a small amount of time working in the rail industry. Furthermore, Aisha has taken on the challenge of being the Commercial Representative for Innovation and is also working with a new Colas Rail App to manage accruals periodically and to improve the accuracy of cost estimating and forecasting. Alongside Aisha’s full time job she is currently working towards her MSC in Quantity Surveying.
Outside the office Aisha has volunteered for Muslim Hands by completing the Children of War Charity Walk, which raised vital funds for the children in war-torn countries such as Syria, Yemen and Iraq.“
“Aisha is a dedicated member of the Colas Commercial department which was instrumental in delivering works at Euston as part of a high performance delivery team. She personally has injected her assertiveness and proactive attitude throughout the project lifecycle and is keen to develop even further proven by her aptitude for learning more about her profession and the industry. She is an asset to her organisation and exemplifies exceptional ability as a graduate professional.“
“Over the past 16 months since Aisha joined Colas Rail as part of the Commercial Graduate scheme, she has become an integral part of the team who delivered one of the most dynamic and challenging projects within the S&C South Alliance; Euston Enabling works. She has gained fundamental commercial knowledge which has now enabled her to become the Commercial representative for one of Colas Rail's largest enhancement schemes. I'm sure she will continue to progress well throughout her career with Colas Rail.“
“I would like to nominate Aisha as she is a dynamic individual who has blossomed in her field. She has been very impressive working in a male-dominated environment where her confident personality has allowed her to showcase her ability in Quantity Surveying. Aisha fills the room with brightness and tactful intelligence which reinforces her team spirit and collaborative nature.“
“I worked with Aisha on the Watford Platform 10 extension project over 10 months as she was the point of contact regarding all Commercial matters. As she built up her Commercial experience, her organisational and time management skills have been strong given her dedication to studying MSc Quantity Surveying. She has integrated quickly and adapted well to working in an Alliance structure; her working relationship with the delivery and client team has been very effective. These thoughts are shared widely throughout the team. Seeing Aisha constantly maintain a high level of motivation and deliver excellence has paved her career path towards being a future leader in the rail industry. Aisha strives to expand her knowledge in all areas of the business and demonstrated this by attending site numerous times and at Watford she showed great understanding of the works and the importance of planning and measurable milestones. At a personal level Aisha is positive and has been a pleasure to work with.“
“I have been impressed with the growth and development that Aisha has undergone during my time at Colas Rail since day 1 of her joining the commercial graduate scheme.
She has been very focused and driven on meeting the needs of her stakeholders both internal and external, ensuring commercial support is always available to the project team and to the client. She has forged great working relationships with her colleagues and this is underpinned by compassionate care for those she works with. Even through challenging times, she remains positive and can still be heard laughing often as she always tries to stay upbeat by finding the opportunities in difficult circumstances.
Aisha’s attitude and passion towards her career in railway commercial embodies the Colas Rail values of Safety, Quality and Profitability; tackling every challenge that came her way whilst helping her colleagues around her do the same. She is keen on leveraging her role to contribute towards the safety culture in the railway and is currently developing existing commercial processes with a special focus on enhancing project safety. She recognises that the improvement of quality starts with the improvement of her own skills and has demonstrated focus on her professional development by working towards an Msc in Quantity surveying alongside her day to day responsibilities. Lastly she remains dedicated towards consistently finding opportunities to increase value and reduce cost and has been instrumental in managing the facilities management contract in the clients building that we worked in, finding efficient ways in which we can save costs. Aisha is building the foundations for a successful and fulfilling career within the railway and wants her colleagues to follow in her example, so she has acted as a mentor for colleagues who have recently joined her team to help bring them up to speed and make them feel welcomed.“
“I had the pleasure of working with Aisha for a year during my time at Euston station, having been a graduate with Colas rail myself I know the difficulty of coming into an environment like that and making an impression and Aisha was certainly able to do that.
From day one we were very inquisitive, asking questions (sometimes even asking the questions that no one even thought about) and eager to learn more both in her commercial role but from a wider business perspective. She made a massive tangible difference to our commercial team, helping to put better processes in place and allowing more control of the growing workload at Euston.
For me, it’s not only about what your capabilities are within your role it’s also about your personality and what else you bring to the table. This is an area that Aisha certainly excels in, I have never met someone with the constant energy and positive attitude she has. In an industry where everyone is under pressure from various aspects, having people like her is in valuable in keeping everyone on track and she definitely helped us do that. For her to also have the drive to pursue a Master’s degree whilst working full time tells an awful lot about her attitude as well.“
“I just want to thank you and the rest of Rail Media for an absolutely amazing night on Saturday! The venue, decor, atmosphere was on point!”
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