Openreach says it is creating 160 jobs across the East Midlands this year after what it said had been a record period for hiring female engineers.
The tech giant said all but 15 of the new roles would be apprentices, needed to help with its multi-billion investment in installing an “ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband network”.
It said the new recruits will be based across Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland and were among 4,000 new jobs being created across the UK as part of the biggest recruitment drive in Openreach’s history.
A spokesman said: “Openreach employs the UK’s largest team of telecoms engineers and professionals, and has committed to building a more diverse and inclusive team in an industry that’s traditionally been very white, male dominated.
“Last year, the company attracted 600 women into trainee engineering roles – more than double the previous year.
“The boost was thanks partly to employing language experts to transform its job adverts and descriptions, making them gender neutral.”
Chief executive Clive Selley said: “Openreach is a people business first and foremost, so I’m proud that we’re continuing to invest heavily in our people, having hired and trained more than 8,000 new engineers over the last two years.
“We’re rightly recognised as one of the best big companies to work for in the UK, and we’re determined to stay that way, so we’ve been building state of the art training schools all over the country where we can teach people the skills and techniques they need for long, exciting and rewarding careers in engineering.
“We want to reflect the communities we serve and give opportunities to people from all backgrounds, so I’m encouraged that we’ve recruited more women and minority groups this year compared to last year, but we’ve got much more to do in an industry that hasn’t been very diverse historically.
“These new recruits will play a crucial role as we continue to improve services for our customers and build the biggest and best broadband network in the UK, covering millions of rural and urban homes.”
He said the new roles offered a competitive starting salary and long-term career prospects, as well as employee benefits.
Openreach also plans to retrain more than 3,000 of its existing engineers during the next year – changing their focus from fixing older, copper-based technologies to installing and maintaining faster, more reliable fibre connections.
More than 1,600 Openreach people already live and work across the East Midlands.
