BT set to hire 400 more apprentices amid 5G push

BT apprenticeships
(Image credit: BT)

BT plans to recruit more than 400 apprentices and graduates for its September 2021 intake, with successful applicants working in engineering, customer science, applied research and cybersecurity roles.

The positions are spread out across the UK – keeping in line with BT’s ongoing decentralisation programme – including in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee, Edinburgh, Ipswich, London and Manchester.

The company claims to be one of the largest private sector employers of apprentices in the UK. It has hired more than 1,600 apprentices over the past two years, while the wider BT Group (which includes Openreach) has signed up 2,279 this year alone.

BT apprenticeships

“BT is at the heart of the UK’s digital economy and as a leading employer of apprentices and graduates we offer unparalleled development opportunities,” said Alison Wilcox, Group HR Director at BT Group.

“Despite the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve continued to recruit and attract brilliant people from all walks of life into our business, and we value the diverse perspectives they bring. We look forward to welcoming the 2021 newcomers.”

In total there are 4,000 apprentices working towards their qualifications across BT and Openreach, assisting with the nationwide rollouts of full fibre and 5G infrastructure among other things.

Openreach announced last year it planned to create more than 2,500 engineering jobs while it expects its construction partners to create 2,800 more. Openreach plans to connect four million UK properties to full fibre by March 2021 and up to 20 million by the end of the decade.

Steve McCaskill is TechRadar Pro's resident mobile industry expert, covering all aspects of the UK and global news, from operators to service providers and everything in between. He is a former editor of Silicon UK and journalist with over a decade's experience in the technology industry, writing about technology, in particular, telecoms, mobile and sports tech, sports, video games and media. 

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