Member Article

BT announces another 30 Yorkshire & Humber jobs as it expands operations

BT has announced further expansion of its engineering workforce in Yorkshire and the Humber with the creation of another 31 full time jobs.

It means that BT’s local network business, Openreach, has recruited 110 engineers in the region since the Spring. Among the locations where the latest recruitment has taken place are Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, York, Sheffield and Barnsley.

This latest phase of recruitment, which has now been completed in Yorkshire and the Humber, builds on the success of Openreach’s recent campaign to hire 1,600 engineers across the UK, including 80 in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Openreach was very pleased with the response it received to the original recruitment drive, receiving 26,000 UK applications, almost 16 per role, for the originally advertised posts.

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said: “BT’s creation of 500 full time engineering jobs is tremendous news. Government is taking superfast broadband to 95% of the UK by 2017, and it’s vital that a skilled workforce is in place to cope with the resulting increase in demand.”

Tom Keeney, BT’s regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “For the second time in less than six months we are able to announce a boost to our engineering workforce in the region.

“This latest recruitment provides further evidence of our commitment to the region and to our customers. We are one of the largest investors in the Yorkshire and the Humber, both as a major employer and a provider of essential communications.

“The economic prospects for the region are continuing to improve and superfast fibre broadband, which we are rolling our across the region, will play a vital role in its future success.”

Joe Garner, chief executive of Openreach, said: “Our fibre broadband rollout is making a really positive contribution to the lives and business of people right across Britain.

“We are seeing strong demand for our superfast fibre service, as well as our ultra high-speed business services like Ethernet.

“We are recruiting more people so that we can continue to build our network rapidly, and serve our customers better. Broadband growth is great for our customers and for Britain.

“These new engineers will help ensure that Openreach continues to meet and exceed the rising demands of our customers in an internet age.”

The majority of the new roles are permanent, direct jobs for Openreach employees while a proportion are fixed term contracts of 18 months.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .