Dave Walsh, Head of Openreach Apprenticeships

Openreach is the proud guardian of the nation's broadband infrastructure, linking millions of homes and businesses to communications providers’ networks. 

The ‘first mile’ of its national access network is where millions of calls, web searches and business deals are started each day - one of the UK’s most important assets.

Such is the importance of the business that Openreach invests heavily into the talent that powers the company. It offers an exceptional apprenticeship scheme that provides extensive training, encourages diversity in the workforce and offers flexible working practices.

Other benefits include job sharing, child-friendly hours and other work/life balance measures to accommodate those from all walks of life. 

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeship schemes have been around for thousands of years. They can be traced as far back as the 18th century BC when the ancient Babylonians made it a statutory requirement for artisans to pass on all the skills of their trades to the youth of society.

Present day, apprenticeships are still a highly appreciated resource and a natural supply for young talent. They are frequently perceived in the commercial world as being more valuable and dependable than graduate trainees and the solution to some of the country’s chronic skills shortages. Businesses are increasingly recognising that not only do apprentices lie at the heart of their organisations, but they are also the future.

Apprenticeships at Openreach

Openreach, combined with other BT Group businesses, is the UK’s second largest employer of apprentices. More than seventeen hundred apprentices at Openreach – the majority of them in engineering - have successfully risen through the ranks. Each has become equipped with the skills and experience to enable them to enjoy rewarding careers.

As an Openreach apprentice you will get the best of both worlds. You will earn a proper salary but carry on learning at the same time. Because this learning is on the job, you will also get the first-hand practical skills that you wouldn't pick up behind a desk, and if you hit your targets, you are guaranteed a permanent job at the end.

Apprenticeships are an ideal way of recruiting young people into the business so that they can develop their careers to become the leaders and decision-makers of the future.

Success stories

One measurement of success for Openreach’s apprenticeship scheme is the remarkably low drop out rate - just 7% per cent. This compares favourably with the national average for the UK as a whole, which is a 43 per cent.

We have a fantastic scheme where in 2006 the Adult Learning Inspectorate rated it as ‘outstanding’ in area of learning, which is indicative of how much effort we put in. In 2007 the scheme was selected as best large employer of apprentices at the national Learning and Skills Council Awards and again in 2008 at the London Learning and Skills Council Awards.

At Openreach, we are totally committed to making the experiences of the apprentices as good as we possibly can. We involve our apprentices in the evolution of the scheme via our Apprentice Networking Committee which is run by apprentices for apprentices. All of this helps us with our very high apprentice completion and satisfaction rates.

Openreach being part of a BT Group Business also means that the company is involved in a far broader range of engineering-based activities than ever before. For apprentices, this means huge opportunities and the chance to delve into their particular areas of skills development, academic learning and work.

Cutting edge

There's never been a better time to apply for an apprenticeship at Openreach. With us, apprentices get the chance to work on things they just wouldn't find anywhere else. We're a big company that deals in cutting-edge technology.

With such a vast scope of technologies and business areas, choosing a direction for their careers might seem daunting for those just starting out in their working life, but apprentices are not forced to make such decisions from day one. On joining Openreach, apprentices are assigned an area of work usually determined by a combination of their particular set of skills, where they are based and where there’s operational demand.

We’ve found that if you steer an apprentice into making a firm career choice at the beginning, they wouldn’t necessarily understand what the choice was about. It’s far better to guide them through a number of different areas to determine which might be best for them in line with current opportunities.

Mentoring and coaching

New apprentices always get time to sit down with their line managers and coaches to sort out personal development plans and throughout their three years of learning and working, apprentices will receive plenty of support from their line managers. In fact, all managers set regular time aside to discuss progress with individual apprentices.

To begin with, apprentices learn about and work on some of the more traditional telecommunications engineering areas such as ‘holes and poles’, fixing lines or working within fibre or copper planning, but they also go straight into attending workshops, completing online courses and kicking-off college work to get the necessary qualifications.

As a rule, advanced apprentices are given days off work to study for an NVQ level 3, key skills qualification and a BTEC further education qualification. Higher apprentices are provided the support they need to take a Foundation Degree in Telecoms Engineering and Business Management.

Professional development

As an apprentice’s career develops, they can become a member of a relevant professional body, such as the Institution of Telecommunications Professionals. They can also receive job-related technical and professional development through the Openreach Apprentice Academy.

For apprentices, there can be a great deal to take in from the start, but this is one of the Openreach apprenticeship scheme’s most attractive features – apprentices love to get involved and active straight away. It’s the opportunities, choices available and investment into Openreach’s apprentices that really help the scheme stand out from the crowd.

How to Join Openreach

Our approach at Openreach makes people feel that this is the place to be. At Openreach engineering is anything but humdrum and the opportunities are unparalleled. We are producing a really high calibre of skilled worker through the scheme and more and more are going on to reach very senior positions in the company.

To find out more about Openreach apprenticeships and what the role has to offer to you, log onto today www.bt.com/apprentice