Welcome to the RDYM Buddy Scheme!
Got a question about the industry? Settling into a new role? Looking for opportunities to network and gain new experiences?
The scheme is here to support young engineers who have joined the railway industry by providing friendly, non-judgmental advice on Professional Engineering related topics from volunteers working in the industry.
How the Scheme works:
Simply email in your query to rdym.buddy@imeche.org and one of our volunteers will aim to get back to you within 5 working days.
The scheme is administered by volunteers who work in a variety of roles within the Rail Industry, including both Rolling Stock and Infrastructure related organisations. We’ll do our best to match you up with the best person to fit your query, but please be mindful that our volunteers provide their time on top of their daily work-related responsibilities so it could take up to 5 business days to reply.
Services not Provided by the RDYM Buddy Scheme:
The scheme is intended as a peer-peer advice service and, therefore, does not cover the following services;
- Formal chartership advice
Please see IMechE website for more details on how to access this type of support.
- Detailed technical support
Support should typically be sort via Professional Academic or Consultancy Services.
- Support for office/industry politics or grievances
Support should be sort via your employers HR or Employee Assistance Services Department.
- Formal Mentoring Scheme
The Buddy Scheme does not act like a formal mentoring programme, but a space for young members to contact their peers for advice.
Disclaimer
The IMechE Railway Division Young Members Committee Buddy Scheme (henceforth ‘the Scheme’) is a free scheme which is provided by volunteers who are members of the Institution. This Scheme is not affiliated with any other organisation/s including those of the members who manage and administer it.
The Scheme will try to allocate Buddies as it feels is best relevant to the query in question. Where a query is not clearly tending itself towards an available Buddy’s particular skills, knowledge or experience, a Buddy will be allocated at random. The Scheme will not accept specific requests for individuals to respond unless the query is aimed at an RDYM committee role such as Chair or Vice Chair or a more general query about volunteering.
Conflict of Interest and Welfare
Should a perceived Conflict of Interest or Welfare concern come to light through a submitted query, the Scheme reserves the right to withhold response or to escalate the relevant query to the appropriate services.
Right to Withhold Response
The Scheme administrators reserve the right to withhold response to any messages which may contravene any of the Schemes intended uses. Where a possible contravention is identified, the query will be flagged for review by the Scheme Administrators. Response to the flagged query will be withheld during the review period. Should the review process conclude that a contravention has occurred then the affected parties will be notified. Should the review process conclude that no violation has occurred then the query will be handled as per the normal Scheme administration.
At times when all of our supporting members lack the ability to respond quickly and the matter is perceived to be urgent, it is recommended to contact other non-affiliated support schemes, some of which are listed below.
- IMechE Support Services
- Samaritans
- Rail Bereavement fund
- Police, NHS
Age of Use
At present, the Scheme is limited to use by persons of 18 years and above.
Privacy
Due to safeguarding regulations, we cannot offer full confidentiality. All queries will be treated with the upmost respect and kept private; with the one exception being if it needs to be escalated to the appropriate services if there is indication of harm being done to the young member and/or others. If this is the case the scheme will inform the member that this is happening.