BT (NYSE: BT) Openreach on Monday launched a plan to add up to 250 engineers, particularly "Armed Forces leavers," or people who are in the process of leaving the military, to its fiber broadband workforce.
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(Image source: BT) |
Following a previous effort to recruit over 800 engineers from ex-Forces personnel, BT Openreach will now have over 1,000 new employees working on its Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTC) roll out. What this means is that since March 2011, BT Openreach will have hired 1,900 new engineers, bringing its total staff to almost 4,000.
Targeting serving personnel who are set to leave the military within the next year, BT is extending an offer to spend three months with Openreach on a civilian attachment as part of the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) Career Transition Partnership.
"We have had great success in recruiting talented people with Armed Forces experience in the past so we are delighted to be able to offer these roles to people who are set to leave the Forces," said Liv Garfield, CEO Openreach, in a release about the new hiring drive. "Past recruits have brought great enthusiasm and professionalism with them and I have no doubt the new recruits will as well."
After successfully completing the three month program, these soon-to-be ex-military personnel will have the option of joining BT Openreach as full-time employees. The new workers will then be tasked with installing the provider's FTTC-based service in both homes and businesses throughout the UK.
When these new applicants become full-time members of the Openreach staff, they will likely become part of the mobile workforce that can better respond where "the need is greatest" to deploy new wholesale and retail FTTC services.
Despite its workforce ramp, ISPreview reports that there have been "long delays" in installing FTTC service in new locations due to a number of unforeseen weather conditions, including floods. This means that existing engineers have had to dedicate time to repairing lines. Hiring new ex-military engineers may help keep the service provider on track.
In its latest FTTC network drive, BT Openreach said it would extend the FTTC network to an additional 163 new telephone exchanges in 2013.
For more:
- see the release
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