BT new hires to rise by a third this year
27 February 2014
BT plans to hire more than 1,000 graduates and apprentices this year, an increase of more than a third on last year.
Thu, 27 Feb 2014
BT plans to hire more than 1,000 graduates and apprentices this year, an increase of more than a third on last year.
Kevin Brady, HR director of BT’s technology and service operations division, into where most of this year’s recruits are being hired, tells Recruiter that the company wants to double the number of graduate hires from 150 to 300, and to take on 730 apprentices, up from 600 in 2013.
Most of the roles will be in IT, technology research and engineering, with opportunities right across the UK, Brady says.
He says there are increasing signs that more and more young people and their families are beginning to accept the value of the apprenticeship route.
There were 14,000 applications for 120 apprenticeship roles in his part of the business last year, and according to Brady “the quality of applicants was the best I have ever seen”.
“This tells you that potentially there are people that are choosing this option rather than going to university.
“I would love to get more than 14,000 applications this year because I want to have the best apprentice scheme that people are fighting to get onto.”
However, Brady adds: “We see both routes [apprenticeship and graduate] as really good streams for talent coming in.”
Brady says he recognises that the UK has a shortage of IT skills. Among the initiatives to develop a more dependable stream of IT talent for the future, he says BT has been working with the University of East Anglia to create online content to train teachers to be able to deliver IT in the classroom better.
“We do see that if we can get better teaching in schools, that gives us a better talent pool to draw on going forward. We are trying to shift the emphasis into schools as well, to give us better talent stream coming into our organisation.”
Brady says the company is also trying to encourage more women to enter engineering by broadening the entry criteria for apprenticeships, through placing less emphasis on previous experience, for example, in IT.
“We just want bright, capable people to come and work with us, and we will train them to be the best they possibly can be,” he says.
Kevin Brady, HR director of BT’s technology and service operations division, into where most of this year’s recruits are being hired, tells Recruiter that the company wants to double the number of graduate hires from 150 to 300, and to take on 730 apprentices, up from 600 in 2013.
Most of the roles will be in IT, technology research and engineering, with opportunities right across the UK, Brady says.
He says there are increasing signs that more and more young people and their families are beginning to accept the value of the apprenticeship route.
There were 14,000 applications for 120 apprenticeship roles in his part of the business last year, and according to Brady “the quality of applicants was the best I have ever seen”.
“This tells you that potentially there are people that are choosing this option rather than going to university.
“I would love to get more than 14,000 applications this year because I want to have the best apprentice scheme that people are fighting to get onto.”
However, Brady adds: “We see both routes [apprenticeship and graduate] as really good streams for talent coming in.”
Brady says he recognises that the UK has a shortage of IT skills. Among the initiatives to develop a more dependable stream of IT talent for the future, he says BT has been working with the University of East Anglia to create online content to train teachers to be able to deliver IT in the classroom better.
“We do see that if we can get better teaching in schools, that gives us a better talent pool to draw on going forward. We are trying to shift the emphasis into schools as well, to give us better talent stream coming into our organisation.”
Brady says the company is also trying to encourage more women to enter engineering by broadening the entry criteria for apprenticeships, through placing less emphasis on previous experience, for example, in IT.
“We just want bright, capable people to come and work with us, and we will train them to be the best they possibly can be,” he says.
