Can you tell us more about Openreach – it is pushing for more female engineers at the moment isn’t it?
Yes – we’re looking for 400 apprentices for the OpenReach programme right across the whole of the BT group to start this year. We are looking for about 200 to start in July and another 200 to start in September. We normally bring them all in, in September but because of the large numbers we’re splitting the intake. So we’re looking to try and bring in around 22% females if we can. If we can do better than that, that would be even better. Last year we were looking for 15% and we got 17 and a half percent.
What does the recruitment process entail for women then?
What happens first is there is the attraction campaign – we’ve spent a lot of time and money on it this year to try and stimulate applications from people who don’t traditionally consider apprenticeships and don’t think it is suitable for them. We’ve got a very fresh and bright campaign with all the details on our website which is www.bt.com/apprentice. We‘ve got brochures and posters and we’ve redone our career stands and done lots of things in the press to try and reach mainly young ladies I think. They perhaps don’t consider an apprenticeship as a career choice and what we’d like to do is to try and get them to think about that and decide whether it could well be something they’re interested in. So that’s the first process – to try and stimulate the market if you will – to get people knowledgeable about the opportunities that are available for them. Once that’s done then all the facts and the application form is on our site. Ladies can fill that form in live on our site – they can save it and go back to it and get it to the format that they want before they submit it. It’s quite a friendly process and people that we're trying to draw into the apprenticeship programme will hopefully be familiar with that type of technology. Research has also shown that people prefer to get the details from the Web as well.
Once people have applied then there’s an initial sift through to make sure that they have the qualifications or are expected to get the necessary qualifications that we are looking for. We will take applications from people still studying for their exams, e.g., those still in Year 11, because the applications are for those from 16 upwards. Then a selection manager will look to decide whether they want to bring a person to interview.
The applicant then gets two choices for job roles – the first choice is the selection manager will decide whether to call that applicant to interview. If not then it goes common pool and the second choice manager have a further period of time in which they can decide whether to call that person for other job roles, if they’re interested. If they’re not selected for interview then they will be advised that they have been unsuccessful on this occasion. If they are then the details will be forwarded on to them about the interview. The interview process lasts about an hour with two managers. Obviously some are successful and some are not depending on how they perform.
If they are successful and have all the qualifications or are projected to get them then they will be offered a contract and subject to all the normal checks being ok they will start work. We also have people who will form a reserve list because unfortunately for some young people they don’t manage to get the qualifications or they decide not to take up the offer of things.
What qualifications are on offer to those who are part of the scheme?
Within OpenReach, particularly, we’ve got two types of apprenticeships; out of the 400 hundred we’ve got 380 coming in on an Advanced Apprenticeship scheme. There are three types of apprenticeship – Foundation, Advanced and Higher. The Advanced Apprenticeship requires extra qualifications of five GSCEs with C grades or better. Within those five we want English language, maths and a double science/IT subject. We specify those areas because that’s important for the BTEC study in Telecommunications. To make sure that they can cope with that study requirement we have found that we need to have that level of qualification. Now the other 20 will be coming in as higher apprentices and they will study a foundation degree and because of that we’re asking for two A Levels – so they will already have the GSCEs. Now we’ve not recruited at this level before – we’ve done it in Global Services for a higher technical role but what we’re hoping is that these 20 people will develop sufficiently to become line managers at the end of their apprenticeship in three years time. They will run a team of say something like 20 to 25 engineers out in the field. It’s a first for us this time and the Higher Apprenticeships are quite a new thing anyway, so it’s something that we’ve seized the opportunity with.
What medical grounds have to be considered when individuals are going through the process?
Well one of things is that you do need to be able to drive. We ask that you learn to drive within twelve months of joining the company, or twelve months of your seventeenth birthday – whichever is appropriate, depending on what age you’re coming in at. That is a requirement. The other one is that you can’t be colour blind – so we do a colour blind test at the interview. We give them a piece of cable with multiple coloured wires hanging out and we ask them to tell us what they are. You also do have to be physically fit but we can accommodate some people’s disabilities and the way we do it is we ask people to fill out a health declaration and the manager will make sure that it’s completed and signed. If the person is successful and there is anything on there that we need advice on we send it off to the OHS to ask if we can give this person a post. We try as much as we can to accommodate people but obviously there are some disabilities that won’t allow people to climb, drive or work in confined spaces and that clearly is a problem for that particular role. But there are other roles in which we can accommodate disabilities such as planning. If we have a particularly good candidate then we look to do all we can.
Is there plenty of career progression for female employees?
There is! An apprenticeship is not just about ending up the role that you have been recruited for. Clearly quite a number of people will do that but everybody’s career aspirations and potential are different, at different times of their lives. We have people coming out if their apprenticeships after three years – more or less straight into a line management role. It’s not the norm, but it does happen every year. We’ve had quite a lot that go into higher engineering roles, but perhaps some will stay in the role that they are recruited for, for a period of time. But the expectation is that the development that we give them and the type of people that we’re looking to recruit - is that they would progress throughout the business – yeah!
What support is there for women employed with you – say careers advice, etc?
We do have networks within BT – the women’s network for instance, and networks for different faiths. Lots of things, really where people feel that they need the support of other people. They may be able to help them, with the experiences that they have had. We also have the apprentice network – they have their own, which is a network run by apprentices for apprentices. We have females in there that act as mentors or informal counsellors. They can come and talk about situations that they may perhaps not be able to talk about with their male colleagues, for instance. We also have an employee counselling service in the OHS, so if things are beyond the scope of the layman shall we say, we can always refer them to the experts, if they have issues that we feel are complicated or need to get professional advice from.
There is a big structure and a lot of work going on really to try and make sure that everybody feels that they’ve got an equal opportunity irrespective of what gender they are or what ethnicity they are. So the company is very keen to make sure that they embrace diversity. Making sure that everybody feels they’re equal but understanding that depending on their background and the way they approach their life, whoever they are will bring something different to a debate and a discussion. What we’re going to do is replicate our customer base in terms of making sure that we understand what women want, what men want, what every ethnic group wants.
These are the sorts of advancements and changes that you would like to see embraced more in your company and related sectors then?
Yes. We do a lot of work on ethnicity as well to try and make sure that the team that we have within the company fully understand what our customers require at each sector if you like.
What personal message would you like to give to anyone thinking of entering a career in the engineering industry – which, as mentioned, is traditionally, such a male dominated area?
What I would like to say is, don’t be put off by the stereotypical views of a role. Research that role and look to see whether it’s something, after getting that knowledge, you would enjoy. If it is, then apply. We have a lot of young ladies in the apprenticeship team that think it is absolutely wonderful. What we're looking at doing is delivering great customer service through engineering. So it’s not just engineering for the sake of it.
So the future of Openreach is looking bright for the ladies?
Yes, absolutely!
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