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The operator says it will hire graduates, interns, and apprentices with a starting salary of up to £35,000
With National Apprenticeship Week approaching, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has announced the latest goals for its early careers scheme, aiming to hire 200 entry level roles over the coming year.
The company says it will hire graduates, interns, and apprentices ‘across the UK’, with London, Reading, and Manchester mentioned specifically – presumably because these locations will take on the lion’s share of the new recruits.
The new roles are all permanent, with salaries ranging from £22,500–£35,000, and will include various positions within numerous departments. Field engineering and finance are areas mentioned specifically in the press release, but the company website suggests that apprenticeships are available for a far larger number of roles, from cybersecurity to data analysis.
The company says that apprentices will learn ‘in-demand skills’ and gain a recognised qualification, while interns and graduates will rotate between departments to find a role that suits them best.
“It’s wrong that many talented young people are being overlooked for entry-level roles because they don’t have prior experience – it’s creating unnecessary barriers for people starting out in their career,” said Karen Handley, Head of Future Careers at VMO2.
“At Virgin Media O2, we believe in creating opportunities not obstacles, hiring based on potential with no prior experience or CVs needed for any of our early career roles. With more than 200 apprentice, graduate, and intern roles available this year across the UK, we’re giving young people the opportunity to build the skills and knowledge needed for a successful future career.”
Naturally, this announcement is great news for the UK. The telecoms industry in the UK – and, indeed, globally – has a major problem when it comes to recruiting the next generation of telecoms professionals, particularly engineers. As such, schemes like this serve an important function not only in developing the skills of individuals, but also raising awareness of telecoms as a potential career path for the public.
That said, this target of 200 new entry roles is notably smaller than the company’s pledge for 2023, which saw the company aiming to hire around 350 staff.
This contraction should come as little surprise. VMO2’s revenues continue to remain relatively stagnant against the backdrop of a punishing national economy, even as the company pushes to continue its expensive rollout of 5G and fibre infrastructure.
Last summer, VMO2 announced that it would cut up to 2,000 jobs by the end of the year – a total representing around 10% of the company’s workforce – citing its ongoing journey to simplify the company’s operating model, as well as the ongoing integration process of Virgin Media and O2’s networks.
With this in mind, it makes sense that VMO2 is gently applying the breaks what was hailed as the ‘retrain revolution’ last year.
Is the telecoms industry doing enough to nurture the next generation of telecoms professionals? Join the discussion at this year’s Connected North conference live in Manchester
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