A MAJOR expansion of the workforce bringing fibre broadband to the county has been revealed and engineers from Worcester are being sought to join the team.
Openreach want to recruit 140 trainees in the West Midlands – around 31 of whom will be based in Worcestershire – in its drive to improve customer service and invest in the operation of its network.
The local network business, which is part of BT Group, will be seeking recruits from across the region to fill the new, full-time and permanent roles to extend its fibre broadband network, improve customer service and keep the West Midlands connected.
It’s part of a UK-wide project to hire 1,500 trainee engineers over the next eight months including hopefuls from Worcester, Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Redditch and Evesham.
In a ground-breaking approach to recruitment, potential candidates will be able to discover exactly what life as a field engineer involves, with the help of virtual reality (VR).
The company is trialling a VR experience which enables interested applicants to don a headset and experience climbing a telephone pole or exploring the local exchange building in immersive 3D, from the perspective of a real engineer.
Videos include an engineer’s eye view from the top of a telephone pole, a virtual tour of a telephone exchange and a look inside a green roadside cabinet.
The business also intends to trial them in-person with potential applicants at recruitment roadshows and events throughout the year
New trainees will embark on a tailored 12 month accredited learning programme – including on-the-job experience and culminating with the attainment of an externally recognised qualification for IT, Software and Telecoms professionals.
Openreach chief executive, Clive Selley, said: “Our customers need us to install new lines and repair our network faster than ever.
“By increasing the number of people working on proactive network maintenance, we can fix more issues before people even notice them.
“We want to recruit the very best people to help us on that journey and our new trainee engineering roles will offer people the hands on experience they need to succeed,” he added.
Nationally, it is expected that an initial intake of 119 recruits will join the company in April, followed by around 60 new recruits joining each week through to mid-October.
