BT to hire another 1,400 apprentices and graduates

BT is creating around 1,400 new apprenticeship and graduate jobs this year. This year’s recruitment drive will see the new employees work in a range of roles from cybersecurity and software development to research and innovation.

The roles will be spread across the company with acquired mobile company EE and Openreach both taking on large numbers, as will BT’s research and development arm.

The new jobs will be spread across the country with vacancies in a number of cities including Glasgow, London, Swansea, Belfast, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT, said: “Technology is changing all the time and companies need to support and train young people to develop the skills required for successful careers in essential areas such as science, engineering and IT.

“The UK has been ranked as the leading digital economy in the G20 for the past five years and our investment in these people will help this continue.”

A “large proportion” of the apprenticeship and graduate intake will be based at BT’s research campus Adastral Park, near Ipswich, Suffolk. The research centre is at the forefront of developing future communications networks and services, including G.fast, which will be used to deliver ultrafast broadband in the coming years.

A third of the new apprentices will be recruited into Openreach. The new recruits will be focussed on extending the fibre network and improving service.

The 1,400 apprenticeship and graduate jobs announced are in addition to the 1,700 the company says it has created over the past two years.

@AntonySavvas