The announcement coincides with organisations across the UK marking National Apprenticeship Week (7-13 February 2022), and there are currently more than 100 apprenticeship roles available in disciplines including engineering, digital marketing, and project management.
The apprenticeship roles are based around the UK, including London, North Lanarkshire, Birmingham, Bristol, Gateshead, Manchester, Reading and Sheffield. All roles are offered on a permanent contract with a minimum starting salary of £19,000, with further apprenticeship roles set to become available later this year.
Philipp Wohland, chief people and transformation officer, Virgin Media O2, said, “We’re building a future-proof workforce which has the skills we need to upgrade the UK with the first-class connectivity the country needs now and for the future.
“Our apprenticeships offer fantastic on-the-job training where people can earn while they learn on a permanent contract, and they are supported every step of the way.”
Julia Lopez, the minister for digital infrastructure, added, “We need a new generation of talented young people to help bring us the benefits of better broadband and mobile coverage to people and businesses. The new apprenticeships at Virgin Media O2 are a welcome addition to our innovative telecoms workforce.”
Virgin Media O2 said its early careers programme – which covers apprenticeships, graduates and internships – is focused on people’s potential, rather than their knowledge or prior experience, and strives to create opportunities for everyone.
The company does not require CVs for early careers’ roles, offers many apprenticeships which require no prior qualifications or a maximum of 5 GCSE grades 4-9 (or equivalent Level 2 qualification), and carries out ‘blind recruitment’ to remove any potential bias from the shortlisting process to level the playing field for all applicants.
Virgin Media O2 committed to creating 1,000 apprenticeship roles when it joined forces as one company last summer, and it has already enrolled more than 250 people onto apprenticeship schemes.