BT to create 1,000 apprenticeship and graduate jobs

The new recruits will work in areas, including software development, IT, engineering and digital technology. About 30 positions will be created in this region.        

Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the 700 apprenticeship and 300 graduate jobs that will be created, which are in addition to the 1,000 the company created last year.

BT also reiterated its commitment to tackling youth unemployment, by providing up to 1,000 vocational training and work experience placements for out of work youngsters in 2015/16. Locations for the training and work experience will include Newcastle and Northallerton.

A number of BT’s apprentices will also begin new Degree Apprenticeships, which start this September, allowing them to complete full Honours degrees, while working. Careers ranging from business analysis to software development and technology consultancy will be available at BT, as part of the new Government and industry-backed scheme, which integrates degree level academic learning with practical on-the-job training.

David Cameron said: “I’m delighted that BT is creating 1,000 new apprenticeships and graduate jobs. Today’s announcement underlines BT’s commitment to training young people and gives them the security of a monthly pay packet and the chance of a better future.”

Farooq Hakim, BT’s North-East regional director, said: “This announcement is great news for our region. It provides new opportunities for our young people, who are essential to the future success and prosperity of the North-East.

“These are exciting times. Technology is developing at an astonishingly fast pace and the major, multi million pound investments currently taking place in superfast fibre broadband  and other initiatives are changing for the better the way we live and work. Our new recruits will be at the heart of BT’s transformation as we make further advances in high-speed broadband, mobile, sport and digital television. As one of the region’s largest private sector employers and investors, BT is committed to playing a leading role in the future success of the North-East.”

A third of the new apprentices will be recruited into BT's local network business, Openreach. The recruits will be focussed on extending the fibre network, improving service and keeping Britain connected.

The Digital Durham programme has delivered high-speed fibre broadband to more than 50,000 premises and is now more than half way to connecting up the majority of homes and businesses across County Durham.

More than 100 planning and field engineers from Openreach, have so far laid around 200 kilometres of optical fibre cable and installed more than 200 new fibre cabinets in streets across County Durham,  Gateshead and Sunderland and the Tees Valley.

Among them a team of 34 apprentice engineers, based in County Durham and across the North East, are being trained up and given the skills to build and maintain the fibre broadband network, alongside gaining a BTEC Level 3 Diploma in ICT Systems and Principles over two and a half years.

            One of those is trainee planning engineer Michael Bell, 21, from Darlington, who joined Openreach, just over a year ago shortly after leaving college - where he was studying a City and Guilds Diploma in Electrical Installation.

Michael, who was attracted by the prospect of being able to ‘learn and earn’ towards a skilled job, said: “When people think of telecoms engineers they imagine them down manholes or up a telegraph pole somewhere. But as a planning engineer all my work is done from a computer screen. My task is to design the layout of the network so that the field engineers know where to build the fibre.

"Our work is based on a massive computerised mapping system called PIPeR, which details absolutely everything BT has in or on the ground anywhere in the country – every structure and every piece of cable from the exchange to every home, it’s a bit like a telecoms version of Google maps.”

Working on computerised maps means that Mr Bell has the whole of BT’s infrastructure at his fingertips and can plan networks anywhere in the country from his desktop in Middlesbrough. So far he has helped to build networks in Durham, North Yorkshire, Sussex, Wales and parts of Scotland.

Mr Bell explained how his team of planners map out the network before passing the information to surveyors who go out to check that the plans with what is actually there before the work is passed to the engineers on the ground.

He said: “When you are mapping out the network you have to put yourself in the mind of the field engineer. You can’t just draw a line from A to B, there are loads of things to take into account for example, a cable may cross private land, which means having to get planning permission, or going a particular route might look quicker on paper but it could mean closing a busy traffic route. Everything has to be carefully costed as well, so it is a real balancing act. It is a bit like putting together the world’s biggest jigsaw puzzle."

He added: “What is great about the training you get is that you get to apply the time you spend in college putting it into practice on the job. As part of my training I went out with field engineers and surveyors to get a proper understanding of what is involved at the other end. I work in a team of 15 planners with one other apprentice. It is a really tight knit team and everyone is very supportive so you’re learning all the time. I would definitely recommend the apprentice programme to anyone wanting a career in telecoms.”

Simon Roberson, BT’s regional partnership director for the North-East, said: “Young people like Michael are at the forefront of the fibre revolution that will drive future economic growth across the region whilst at the same time changing for the better the way people communicate, learn to do business and enjoy their spare time.”

“This latest recruitment is great news for our region. The future of the North-East as a technology leader hinges on young people getting the skills, support and training they need to create successful careers in science, engineering and IT.”

BT also said that it will continue to provide traineeships to out of work youngsters, as a founding member of the UK employer-led initiative Movement to Work. These traineeships will be for young people aged 18 to 24-years-old and combine four to seven week long work placements involving vocational training, employability skills and work experience.