BT set to recruit 400 broadband engineers

24.08.2012
BT has announced plans to recruit an additional 400 broadband engineers, to be filled mostly by ex-armed forces personnel, after it was claimed earlier in the year by an ex-BT executive that it faced a shortage.

The extra recruits will join the company's mobile workforce, where they will be responsible for reacting to changes in service requirements from communications providers and tackling peaks in demand for fibre broadband around the country.

Openreach is liaising with The Career Transition Partnership (CTP), an arrangement between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Right Management, to help facilitate recruitment of the new engineers. The CTP provides career guidance along with training and employment support to those leaving the armed forces.

This latest recruitment drive brings the number of new BT engineer hires this year to over 1,000 people.

"This is good news not only for the 400 people who secure one of the new jobs but for the whole of the country," said Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Media, Olympics and Sport.

"BT is creating jobs while rolling-out the digital infrastructure UK businesses need to grow. Digital technology is fundamental to the way we live our lives and the way we do business, which is why we want the UK to have the best and the fastest superfast broadband in Europe by 2015."