ScottishPower has opened its doors to over 100 new starts from pre-apprentice students through to post graduate scholarships.
The class of 2012 follows a recruitment drive launched by the company in February looking to fill around 300 engineering and technical roles across its Energy Networks business.
Over 1,000 applications were received in a single week for the apprentice programme and today will see 30 new recruits from Scotland, England and Wales starting their 3 year apprenticeship programme to become Overhead Cable Workers, jointers or fitters.
ScottishPower has invested heavily to develop pre-apprentice schools programmes - establishing technical partnerships with colleges and universities across the country to provide entry level qualifications to its modern apprenticeship programme. As a result, 42 students are now starting a National Certificate in Electrical Work at Cardonald College in Glasgow, Jewel and Esk College in Edinburgh and West Cheshire College.
The company has also successfully recruited 32 Graduates who will join the company on a 2 year development programme working towards the Engineering Council (ECUK) and Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) competencies required for achieving Chartered Status (CEng).
ScottishPower’s parent company, Iberdrola, has also granted eleven scholarships in the UK at the University of Strathclyde, University of Edinburgh and Imperial College London through the Iberdrola Foundation – The company’s independent charity.
The scholarships provide funding to the next generation of energy business leaders undertaking masters’ degree and postgraduate studies in energy and the environment.
Sheila Duncan, HR Director at ScottishPower, said: “The energy industry is facing an impending skills gap with four out of five industry employees set to retire over the next 15 years*. In this time more than £200bn will be invested in the UK energy sector, with tens of thousands of engineers required to deliver the work. It is vital we do all that we can to encourage people to develop the skills required to take advantage of these investments.
“Our aim is to ensure that school children and those at college and university see this kind of skilled employment as an attractive option. Engineers are retiring every day and we want to see the next generation of workers knocking on our door to fill their places.
“We welcome all of our new recruits as they start their career in energy at an exciting time for the industry.”
*Figures from the National Skills Academy for Power (NSAP)
HOW TO APPLY
The Engineering Foundation Programme will open for applications in early 2013, anyone interested in these future opportunity should go to www.scottishpower.jobs for further information.
ScottishPower will be recruiting for the Apprentice Programme again in early 2013 and anyone interested in the opportunity should go to www.scottishpower.jobs for further information.
Energy Networks will be recruiting for the Graduate Programme in the next few months for entry to the 2013 intake. We will be attending various careers fairs and on campus events in the coming months. Anyone interested should go to www.scottishpower.jobs/gradautes for more information.
Applicants can also find updates on currently active vacancies on www.scottishpower.jobs and at www.spenergynetworksjobs.com The new roles will appear on these sites as they are released, so ScottishPower asks candidates to keep an eye on these sites for the latest information. Candidates can also register their interest with ScottishPower, so if they hold a qualification in Electrical Engineering and would like to be considered for a future role in ScottishPower, they are requested to please register their details on the ScottishPower site.
Media Information: Kenny Craig 0141 614 4525