BT continues to see strong interest in its early careers opportunities as it works to create more inclusive routes into work and give candidates a fair opportunity to demonstrate their potential.
The BT Group is one of the UK's largest private sector apprenticeship employers, but behind the numbers lies a broader story about how the business is rethinking talent development. From apprenticeships and graduate schemes to AI skills and workforce planning, BT is evolving its approach to ensure its early careers programmes deliver long-term value for both the business and the people who join it.
We spoke to Mark Brooker, Talent Acquisition Director, and Nicola Luke, Senior Manager, Next Generation Strategy and Programmes, about attracting talent at scale, retaining future leaders, and preparing the workforce for the digital age.
Q: Can you tell us about BT's early careers programmes and what you offer?
Nicola Luke: I've been with BT for a year, so I can give the view of where we are right now. Mark will be able to provide some additional background on how things have changed over the years.
We offer graduate programmes, both rotational programmes and pathway programmes. We also offer apprenticeships for young people coming into our organisation at Level 3, Level 4, Level 5 and degree apprenticeship level, so the full range.
Our focus for the intake starting in September 2026 is on the skills the business needs for the future, particularly across data, AI, machine learning and the wider digital space, alongside project management roles. These programmes allow people to gain practical experience, develop valuable skills and work towards recognised qualifications while contributing to the business from the outset.
The value of young people coming into our organisation is very much understood and valued. They bring fresh ideas, different perspectives and challenge established ways of working. Everybody gets it and everybody understands why we do it. What we're also seeing is people coming in at entry-level positions with a good, solid education and then moving across the organisation. They're applying for degree apprenticeships and graduate programmes internally, which has created positivity across the organisation.
We don't do a huge amount with internships. In the last 18 months we've taken a small number through the CyberFirst bursary programme, which is moving into TechFirst - the government’s flagship tech skills initiative. This is expected to help us reach students from a broader range of technical degree courses and we expect to see more summer interns coming into the business.
Q: Does the focus of your programmes vary from year to year depending on business needs?
Nicola Luke: Yes, absolutely. The focus of each intake is shaped by the skills and capabilities the business needs for the future. We work with teams across BT to understand their longer-term workforce needs and identify where apprenticeships and graduate programmes can create strong talent pipelines.
That means looking at the capabilities needed in priority areas of the business and deciding where apprenticeships and graduate programmes can help people develop those skills while building our future talent pipeline.
Alongside that, we run Level 2 and Level 3 customer service apprenticeship programmes across our frontline contact centres and retail operations, helping to build the skills and talent pipelines those parts of the business need.
The investment in apprenticeships and hiring young people into those roles is still very much there.
Mark Brooker: The only things I'd add are that we're also looking to maximise our apprenticeship levy spend by upskilling existing employees, particularly around AI. Apprenticeships aren't just about bringing in early talent. They're also about building capability within the organisation.
Nicola and I, together with our teams, have also been working on how we evolve our approach. Historically, BT has had a very business-unit-specific model. We're looking at how we maintain that, but also create programmes and experiences that operate across the wider organisation.
Q: How do you measure success across your early careers programmes?
Nicola Luke: We have different measures depending on the purpose of the programme and where the talent pipeline is feeding into the organisation.
For example, in our frontline contact centre apprenticeship programmes, 96% are achieving distinctions and being retained. That's a massive success.
Across the wider organisation, we're retaining around 76% of people beyond five years after completing their apprenticeship programme.
With graduates, I think there's an expectation that we'll lose a proportion of them after their 24-month programme. BT is a big company and it's fantastic if we can retain graduates for several years afterwards, but it's natural for some to move on.
What's encouraging is that many of them go elsewhere, gain additional experience, and then return to BT. We hear those stories all the time and that's a win-win for us.
Mark Brooker: Part of the work Nicola is leading is strengthening the link between graduate recruitment and strategic workforce planning. By identifying future skills needs upfront, we can create meaningful roles and develop graduates as part of our long-term talent pipeline.
The intent should be to retain graduates for the long term unless, for whatever reason, the fit isn't right. In the main, we want to hire for the future.
From a talent acquisition perspective, we also look at how effectively our programmes attract and support people from a broad range of backgrounds, experiences and starting points, including groups that remain underrepresented in technology.
For our Level 2 apprenticeship programmes we also track social mobility; looking at hiring from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, particularly deciles one and two.
Q: Are you seeing increased demand for apprenticeships?
Nicola Luke: We continue to see strong demand for our early careers opportunities. As soon as we advertise roles, applications come in at significant volume, reflecting the strength of the BT brand and the high level of interest in the programmes we offer.
Mark's team does a fantastic job of filtering applications, running assessment centres and making sure our selection processes are as fair and open as possible.
One of the key things we do is ask candidates about any support, accessibility needs or adjustments that would help them during the recruitment process. Requesting an adjustment is not a disadvantage; our aim is to give everyone a fair opportunity to show their potential.
Q: What are the biggest challenges in running early careers programmes?
Nicola Luke: For me, it's balancing the variety of roles available with the desire to do more.
If we had 500 places available every year, it still wouldn't feel like enough because we'd still be asking ourselves whether we should be doing more. The question is: what does ‘more’ actually mean?
Is it about hiring more people? Or is it about giving something back to that generation through work experience opportunities and access to learning from experts within BT?
Those are the kinds of things we're thinking about as part of our wider agenda.
Q: What role does work experience play within BT?
Nicola Luke: It’s not something we offer centrally across the entire organisation through a single corporate model, but some areas of the business run structured opportunities with schools and young people and there are also opportunities available through friends and family networks. We are looking at how we can develop a more consistent and accessible approach across BT.
For example, some teams run experience days for schools and young people, giving them an insight into contact centre roles and technical careers. The aim is to spark enthusiasm for future careers, whether that's at BT or elsewhere.
Through our social impact teams, we're also working with young people aged 11 to 14 to bring to life what BT does.
Mark Brooker: My team recently ran a work experience programme through the CEO's office over the summer and it worked particularly well.
We're now looking at creating a blueprint that we can share internally so we can scale work experience opportunities more effectively. We receive a lot of requests and, while provision is currently quite ad hoc, it's something we're actively looking at improving.
Q: What are young people's perceptions of BT as an employer?
Nicola Luke: We conducted research with around 800 year 10 and year 11 students.
They knew BT, but many thought we simply installed telephones. Some didn't even realise that EE or Plusnet were part of the wider BT brand.
As we continue to reshape and transform the organisation, we have work to do helping young people understand who we are, what we do, and the types of careers available with us.
Q: What lessons have you learned and what advice would you give organisations looking to build successful early careers programmes?
Nicola Luke: My advice would be to find out which partners in the marketplace can help you.
Recruitment companies have a lot of experience, but there are also charities and organisations that can give you frameworks and help you get started.
Most importantly, find a mentor. Reach out to somebody from a larger organisation, even if you've never met them before, and learn from their experience.
Having someone external to brainstorm ideas with, someone who isn't caught up in your organisation's politics, can be incredibly valuable. They can help you think through challenges and next steps.
I honestly think we should be doing more of that. Organisations like BT have built up a huge amount of experience. We should be finding more ways to share that knowledge and help other organisations create and scale successful programmes when they want to, but don't know where to begin.
Reed's report, 'The missing generation 2026', explores how employers can rethink entry-level hiring and build the pipelines their businesses will rely on next. Read the report to see how future-ready organisations are widening access to early talent, download your free copy.
