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Bt Apprenticeship 2014

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MADDOX020407

Is it on tuesday in salford ? if yes please can you put the the details of who sent you the email as in the mans name and phone number as my emails are playing up and i can,t find it cheers Andy

Reply 21

uktom91

Original post by lvjamestervl

I applied on BT4ME in February 2012, and only heard back in April 2014. I attended the interview and got offered the place of service delivery engineer at the end of May. Anybody else joining me for this years intake? has anybody has they're contracts emailed to them yet?

In the same boat as you waiting for contract to be emailed. I emailed them the other day for an update and they said we should be hearing something in a couple of weeks. I also asked the proposed start date and they said 1st September but isn't set in stone yet but hopefully we hear something soon :smile:

. Let me know if you hear anything

Reply 22

uktom91

Original post by lvjamestervl

Ahh brilliant, I thought i'd missed the boat. The only thing stopping me from contacting them is that my friend from college got in too, and we keep asking each other if we've heard anything more, and that's the only keeping us both from flapping!
Which area are you from? I'm in the north west

I'm in the south east. Really hope we hear something soon lol feels like we've been waiting ages. You should email them too might make them speed things up a bit :biggrin:

Reply 23

Josh182

Did you really have to wait 2 years to hear back?! I applied through BT4ME early June 2014, got a reply saying I passed the required standard and my details had been added to their system, and will be considered for any present or future vacancy in my area. It's July now and I'm just waiting on tenterhooks! But apparently a few of my friends who got in with BT had to wait 6-9 months. But it must take a while for everyone for them to find the vacancies in the selected areas.

Reply 24

uktom91

Original post by lvjamestervl

I don't think I got an email back even saying that, I just applied, and a few weeks later had totally forgot about it. My friend at collage applied at the same time, we lost contact for 2 years, then at the interview he was there too, so there's a good chance we were only waiting because of our area!

Did you get an email last Thursday saying proposed start date is 1st sept and that contracts will be out soon. Also mentioned 8 weeks of training etc?

Reply 25

MattGobey

Hey guys, I got that email the email too and I hope you did. I was wondering if we could all notify one another when we get our contracts, just so everyone knows when they should be coming...

There is actually an openreach van outside my house right now... Anyway, best of luck and keep us posted.

Reply 26

uktom91

Original post by MattGobey

Yes sounds like a plan. I keep worrying coz I need to give 4 weeks notice at work and so hoping we get our contracts through soon. I don't want to give it in until the contract is in my hand just to be 100% certain lol. Where abouts are you based?

Reply 27

MattGobey

Original post by uktom91

I'm going to give notice for a week before the 1st of September, which will hopefully give me a week off to prepare beforehand.

I'm in Bognor Regis but they haven't explicitly said where I'll be working from, but I assume here as there is a depot just round the corner. Have they told you where your working from and where are you based?

Reply 28

uktom91

Original post by MattGobey

That's what I want to do with my notice too ideally. But don't want to until it's definitely confirmed in case for some reason it doesn't go ahead. I'm in Kent, haven't heard either where I'll be based but there is a depot 15 mins drive from me so should be local hopefully.

Reply 29

ichak

I'm not sure how the openreach guys do induction etc however my first week was an induction at yarnfield park near stafford.

Quite a lot of people only got their contracts through whilst they were there.

Reply 30

uktom91

Original post by ichak

Did you get your contract before you started?

Reply 31

ichak

Original post by uktom91

Did you get your contract before you started?

Yes, I got it about a week before the induction if I remember correctly but there was a good number who didn't get theirs until a few days into Yarnfield.

From what I remember (It was a couple of years ago) the contract is send by way of a link in an email which you then "sign on" to accept.

EINs (Employee ID Number) and ID cards are sorted after that, I think it was a week or so after my induction the ID card turned up but your new manager should sort that out for you along with your work issued laptop, phone etc.

Reply 32

uktom91

Original post by lvjamestervl

Did you get your training plan through earlier than the contract?
I got an email saying my proposed start date is on the 15th sept, and I'm at yarnfield. As for the working location, i asked at the interview and he said the nearest depot to where you live will be assigned to you.

When did you get that email? I got mine last week and it said proposed start date of 1st September. Which apprenticeship scheme are you going to be on? Mines service delivery.

Reply 33

ichak

Original post by lvjamestervl

I think training plans must be an Openreach thing, certainly I've not heard of them in TSO.

As for yarnfield, it's got much better over the years (the food used to be vile) and you will have your own ensuite room but it's a bit out of the way unless you've got a car or van and there's not a lot to do out of hours unless you can get off the park.

One of the things I learnt was to take a decent amount of cold and flu type medicine as with people coming from all over the country you can end up fairly unwell with "freshers flu".

Reply 34

uktom91

Original post by lvjamestervl

10th of July, 8 days ago, Same here, service delivery, do you know which training centre you'll be at?

Mine was emailed then too. But it didn't mention which training centre I'll be at. Strange how two emails vary so much lol

Reply 35

ichak

Original post by lvjamestervl

What is TSO?
What are the days like? Is it an early start and a jam packed day before a late finish before falling into bed as soon as you get back to the room?

Sorry, BT was it's own "language".

TSO is technology, service and operations a "line of business" within BT responsible for running BT's core network

BT Group and it's component LOBs are explained to some extent at the link below
http://btplc.com/Thegroup/Ourcompany/Groupbusinesses/index.htm

The induction is, from what I remember, a late start on a monday and early finish on a friday to allow people to get home etc. Hours are usually 9 till 4 or 5 with some breaks and about 45mins for lunch (provided). Breakfast and evening meals are also provided.

Training there tends to end at 4 with evening meal starting at 6 so you can end up with a fair amount of time on your hands unless you have work to go over.

If you've got transport there's plenty to do but otherwise getting out is pretty difficult but there is a bar with pool tables etc and taxi's are pretty cheap if you go as a group. Hopefully you'll meet up with a good number of like minded people, we used to spend a lot of time in one persons room or another playing cards/watching films etc.

Last time I was there Yarnfield Park was undergoing a refit and some of the rooms still didn't have flat screen TVs with freeview etc so if you've got one you might want to bring a laptop with DVDs/Movies etc.

Reply 36

uktom91

Anyone get an automated email today from BT with the subject line: BT Recruitment - Notice of Initial Matching to Vacancy.

Says how you've been matched to an apprentice vacancy and it's a no reply email. Doesn't mention anything about contracts yet

Reply 37

ichak

Original post by lvjamestervl

Thank you for your your responses ichak, I appreciate it. So overall are you glad you went with BT? Pleanty of opportunities and stuff? And if you were applying for BT again would you go with TSO or go into another section of Bt?

Yeah I'm very glad I went with BT, lots of opportunities. Plus you seem to get matched against job roles pretty well, or certainly the group of apprentices I know well anyway.

As for TSO versus other lobs. Well that's a difficult one as I've never worked in other lobs, although I originally thought I was supposed to be working for Openreach. TSO jobs tend to be more technical than others meaning they tend to attract higher pay grading, certainly I enjoy my job although sometimes (not in the winter :wink:

) I do wish I wasn't stuck in an office.

To give you an idea of info about job grading the CWU's BT pages are generally publicly available. We've just gone through a pay review of which you should be able to see the documents at the link below
http://www.cwu.org/bt-pay-2014.html

Of particular interest is the document labeled "BT pay bulletin no. 7: 8th July 2014 - BT pay 2014 - consultative ballot" as it has the pay grades listed - although they're maximums I think.

As for opportunities - well I can only speak for myself but I work in an area, I'd rather not say which, that would when experienced allow me to work on a decent salary anywhere in the world. I get hands on training with some of the best there is in the world along with vendor training worth huge sums of money and on top of that I get the apprenticeship training as well (NVQ, College etc).

All while being paid a decent wage - can't really complain
:biggrin:

For those looking for more info on BT, whether to see what you've got yourself into or to ready yourself for an interview the CWU's pages on BT are useful. The CWU is the communication's workers union, a union with many non-management members within BT with is officially recognised by BT.

This link shows info on BT although some of it is a little out of date - Operate and BT Innovate and Design are basically now TSO.
http://www.cwu.org/11678/48544/bt.html

Reply 38

ichak

Original post by lvjamestervl

Were you picked out at the end of training, or were you destined for TSO from the beginning of training?

I originally though I was going to an openreach hub day but ended up being an operate one (now tso).

I don't know how BT does it's job matching but it seems to be pretty good as most people seem to end up in a role that's a really good fit for them. But if you're not keen there's always a chance to move about.

I have certainly ended up with a role that I'd have never considered in a million years but it's brilliant.

Reply 39

uktom91

Original post by lvjamestervl

Nope, you must just still be on the recruitment database and they're starting to recruit in your area again, just hang fire, as ichak said, you might be in your first week or yarnfield before you get your contract, but I assure you it is coming :smile:

Yeah I thought that just a bit random lol. Just got another e-mail with a link to complete pre-employment checks and it says at the bottom contract will be sent out after they have been confirmed. Seems they're just double checking we have the right to work in the UK etc. Excited now :biggrin: