BAE Systems plans to recruit 387 engineering and business apprentices across the UK this year, the highest intake since 2008.
Almost 10% of the new recruits will join the five-year Higher Apprentice Programme, which combines on-the-job training with the opportunity to study degree-level qualifications, free from tuition fees.
The apprentices will work across BAE Systems’ numerous sites, joining a workforce of 35,000.
BAE Systems’ group managing director, Nigel Whitehead, said: “Our continued commitment to the apprentice programme reflects the sustainable position of our UK business and the success of the programme in generating BAE Systems’ workforce of the future.”
One hundred and forty-four young people will join the submarine-building business at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, with a further 105 needed at the ship-building and naval support sites in Portsmouth and Glasgow.
The military aircraft business at Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire and its aircraft maintenance academy at Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster require a total of 109 trainees and the Rochester-based Electronics Systems business in Kent is recruiting 12 young people.
Following a successful inaugural apprenticeship year, BAE’s cyber security business Detica will be recruiting apprentices for the second year running, with 10 individuals joining the Leeds office in September.
Finally, the munitions production business is recruiting four apprentices to work at its sites.
In any year BAE Systems trains between 800 and 1,000 apprentices.
Whitehead continued: “We like to train people from an early age and find that the combination of on-the-job training and academic study without debt is a great motivator for our apprentices to stay with us. We look forward to welcoming our new intake in September.”
Richard Hamer, Education Director & Head of Early Career Programmes, BAE Systems will be speaking at The Manufacturer’s event – Driving Skills Development in the Workforce – on February 26 at the The Waldorf Hilton, London.
Lynn Tomkins, UK Operations Director for Semta, will also be speaking. Semta is the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies. The organisation runs the Semta Apprenticeship Service which helps fund and assist companies to hire apprentices.
If you are interested in attending this event please click here to register or call 020 7401 6033.
