60 SECONDS WITH KANMI LAWAL

Every Month on Exchange Extra, we take sixty seconds out to get to know our team. Follow us on our journey to connect all members of our network.

This month we celebrate the progression of Kanmi Lawal!

Name:  Kanmi Lawal

Previous Role: Service Desk Analyst

Current Role: Infrastructure engineer

Location: Palestra House / Willesden Junction

Hi Kanmi! Please sum up your role in one sentence My role requires me to deal with system maintenance and a point of escalation from my colleagues on the service desk.

Tell us about your journey to ARL… I was previously working for Peoples Place Community Partnerships (PPCP) providing first line support to a range of charitable organisations whilst also studying for my Microsoft certifications. After working there for a while, I needed a challenge and ARL seemed like the perfect place to start my journey.

What do you enjoy about working at ARL? The personal development and opportunities have helped me to learn so much about myself, the rail industry and where I would like to be in the next few years. I also feel a sense of belonging and liking with the people I work with; they make me feel appreciated and acknowledged.

In your career so far, what are you most proud of? For me it would be being able to give back to community. I’ve been given the opportunity to speak to youths around the community who are trying to get their foot into IT. It has given me an opportunity to share my story and advice on what steps they can take.

Tell us about your most memorable railway trip… My most memorable railway trip would be when I used to go to secondary school back in 2007, I used to travel from south London to north London and the London Overground opened around my area and saved me from waking up early!

If you could book a ticket to any destination, where would you go? I would book a ticket to Mecca. It’s a place I really want to visit and perform my religious duties.

ARL is committed to the internal progression, growth and development of colleagues and over the past year, more than one third of vacancies were filled internally.