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Openreach To Create 3,000 UK Engineering Apprenticeships

28 Jan 2019

Openreach To Create 3,000 UK Engineering Apprenticeships

Openreach, BT’s broadband infrastructure division, has announced expansion plans which will create 3,000 new engineering apprenticeship opportunities in the UK over the next twelve months.

As Openreach rolls out full-fibre broadband to more and more homes and business premises across the UK, it needs thousands of new trainees, from ‘all walks of life’, to learn the engineering ropes through their innovative apprenticeships.

Just over 1 in 10 of the new Openreach opportunities for young people will be London apprenticeships, with around 320 on offer in the capital.

The other 2,700 Openreach engineering apprenticeships will be spread far and wide across the rest of the UK, with the telecoms company hoping to install full-fibre broadband at three million locations before the end of 2020. The BT subsidiary then plans to plug in a further seven million properties to their cutting edge technology over the following five years.

As part of Openreach’s recruitment strategy, the company is opening a dozen training centres across the UK before the end of April 2019. The first facility opened in Bradford recently and a second one launched today in Peterborough.

A further ten training centres will be completed over the next three months as Openreach gears up to bring their new recruits up to speed with all of the latest developments in the full-fibre broadband world.

Commenting on the company’s latest drive for young new talent, the Director of Human Resources at Openreach, Kevin Brady, said: “Becoming an engineer can be an incredibly rewarding career, and we are constantly improving our training and recruitment programmes, providing recognised qualifications, to make sure we attract and keep the best in the business.”

“Our training schools will help us to meet our new training demands, and, in March this year, we will have almost doubled the learning days we deliver annually to more than 160,000, the highest in the history of our business.”

“Last year we successfully recruited more women than ever before and this year we want to go even further,” added Mr Brady.

Chief Executive Officer of Openreach, Clive Selley, said that the new apprentices would help the firm to continue its expansion plans which have seen it rolling out its products to more than 13,000 premises each week.

“Openreach is a people business and our new apprentices will enable us to fulfil our commitments, with an ultimate ambition to deliver the best possible connectivity to everyone, everywhere, equally across the entire country,” said the CEO.

Margot James, the Minister of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, commented, saying: “Openreach's publication of clear plans for where, when and how they will be investing in new fibre networks is an important step. Long term commitments from the industry like this are very important for local communities who need this kind of guarantee on when they will be able to take advantage of the benefits that fibre can bring.”

And, speaking at the opening of the brand new Openreach training school in Peterborough today, Amber Rudd, the UK Work and Pensions Secretary said: “This is a huge expansion in high skilled, well paying, jobs across the UK and yet another demonstration of the jobs success we have seen since 2010. It is also good news that these are some new training roles, developing the skills of our workforce.”

If this sort of work would interest you then find out more about Openreach and learn everything you need to know about engineering apprenticeships now.

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