Frequently asked questions

We have a variety of offices across the UK, but some roles only operate in certain areas – under each of our role profiles you’ll see in which locations our roles are available.

Please make sure you check this out before you submit your application as we’ll update available locations as we recruit.

You’ll have the opportunity to select more than one location on the application form. Some locations are more popular than others and some have more places than others. If you’re successful in being invited to our virtual assessment centre we’ll let you know what locations are still available when we book your place.

We have different numbers of places to fill in each programme, therefore the deadline may vary.

We'll usually close as soon as we have enough applicants to fill our jobs, so we might even close before any published deadline. Therefore we always recommend applying sooner rather than later. 

No. We can only accept one application from you so it's best to make sure you apply for the one you are really interested in. If the role that you apply for fills, we’ll get in touch with you to discuss alternatives where we can – leave that with us. In some cases there may not be roles to go to and we would put your application on hold and be back in touch if anything changes.

You could try our quiz to find out which roles might be best suited to you based on the way you like to work. You can find our quiz here.

Our application form is very quick to complete - we don't ask any difficult questions so provided you can tell us who you are, where you studied and a few other things, it shouldn't take you very long at all.

You'll receive an email from us to confirm that we've received your application. If, based on the information provided, you match the requirements for the role, we'll invite you to complete our online assessments. If we need to ask anything about your application we'll be in touch within a week.

We'll ask you to confirm a few details about the eligibility requirements for the role and which locations you'd like to work in, as well as some of the obvious stuff about your university education. You won't need a CV, we'll be able to get everything we need to know from the information you give us.

No, you don’t need a CV. We’ll ask you some questions about your degree and any experience you might have as part of your application. We don’t need a CV as well.

Every candidate that completes our online assessments will get an individual report on their working style, strengths and weaknesses. We will also provide feedback after the assessment centre. We aren’t able to provide feedback at the video interview stage.

All our graduate and industrial placements start in September 2022, the specific date will be confirmed but you'll need to be available from the start of September.

Our summer placements take place in the summer of 2022.

When you join the graduate programme, you do so on a permanent contract. There are some differences as to what happens next depending on the part of the business you join. In some areas you're automatically mapped to a role and in others you'll have the opportunity to apply for roles within BT based on where you'd like to take the next step in your career. Regardless of which area you join you'll be given clear guidance and support during the second year of your programme to ensure a smooth assimilation.

This depends on the role you are undertaking as there will be a business reason for you being located in a certain place. So, you can expect to work in that location for the duration of your graduate programme, or for as long as you are in that role.

This depends on the role you have applied for – some of them have a rotational element but some of them will see you staying in the same area for the duration of the programme. Some roles and some areas of the business are more suited to rotations but we’ll always work with you to give you a broad range of experience.

Absolutely. When you've decided which role to apply to, simply select the appropriate drop down from the list when asked about your degree grade and complete the rest of the application form. We'll get in contact with you to follow up, once you've submitted the application and completed and passed our situational strengths test.

No, our intern roles are only eligible for students in their second or penultimate year of study.

Absolutely. Our process is the same whether you are an internal or external applicant.

Please be aware, if you are an existing employee and completing an Apprenticeship you aren’t eligible to apply whilst still completing your apprenticeship. You must complete your apprenticeship before applying.

We classify the below degrees as STEM for the purposes of our graduate programmes. Please note, this list is not exhaustive:

• Aerospace engineering
• Biochemistry
• Biology
• Chemical engineering
• Chemistry
• Computer science
• Electrical engineering
• Mathematics
• Mechanical engineering
• Physics
• Statistics

If you’ve studied something like Psychology, Astronomy or Civil Engineering, or aren’t sure if we’d consider your degree as STEM or not, email our Talent Acquisition team on graduate.recruitment@bt.com and they’ll be able to advise you.

Absolutely! We don’t ask that you graduated in a specific year to eligible for one of our programmes. As long as you meet the entry requirements, feel free to apply. 

We welcome applications from international candidates. However, it's essential that you have the right to work full time in the UK when the programme starts in early September 2022.

We'll check this with you and any offer we make will be conditional on our being satisfied that your right to work is in place before you join. We're unlikely to progress applications where sponsorship is required to obtain a Tier 2 (general) visa as we expect to be able to fill all our roles with candidates who have the right to work in place.

We'll ask more details about your right to work in the UK at the initial application stage. We will require evidence of it at the assessment centre stage and again at the offer stage.

It’s important to let us know this before you start the test. Please get in touch with us at graduate.careers@openreach.co.uk and we’ll get back to you to understand how we can best support you.

If you have any technical issues with accessing or completing the test please tell us as soon as possible so that we can help. You should get in touch with us at graduate.careers@openreach.co.uk and we’ll have a look and get back to you as quickly as possible.

You’ll have one week from the day we invite you to complete them – but the sooner you take them the sooner we can consider you for the next stage in the recruitment process.

These situations will be handled on a case by case basis – you can email our team at graduate.careers@openreach.co.uk and let us know the circumstances and we’ll see what we can do.

We’ll give you a week from when we invite you to complete the interview.

It is - but don’t worry, it’s really clear and easy to see how long you have to read the question and give your answer. Make sure you take full advantage of the practice questions, and hints and tips, as this will really help you.

These situations will be handled on a case by case basis – email the team and let us know the circumstances and we’ll see what we can do.

We’ll come back to you with the result of your interview within a week.

Our assessment centres are all virtual, so while you won’t meet anyone in person, you’ll still get to see lots of us on screen. You’ll meet a member of the recruitment team or a representative from the business where your role sits, as well as our lovely grad buddies. You'll meet your assessors on a one to one basis.

The exercises that you’ll do will vary according to the role you’ve applied to. Our team will let you know what will happen on the day in more detail when they contact you to book you in for the events. 

We’ll need to have a look and see if there are other dates we can invite you to. 

However, there is the possibility that we'll fill all our vacancies and so there may not be another date to offer. So call and speak to the person that booked you in for the event and we’ll take it from there.

As our assessment centres our virtual, you won't need to remember to pack any documents in your bag, but you will need some photo ID to hand.

We'll send your some preparation work before the assessment centre in the morning before the session starts, so make sure you keep an eye out for this.

We don’t expect to see everyone wearing suits, just make sure you’re comfortable.  Remember, at the end of the day it is an interview, and you’ll be meeting people that you could be working with in the future, so make sure you’re happy with how you’ll be representing yourself.

You aren’t in direct competition with the other candidates that attend on the day so relax, we want to see the real you. Try and overcome any nerves you might have and enjoy the exercises that you’ll go through. We hope you enjoy the experience and learn more about us as a business and as a group of people.

There is a lot of planning work that goes into shaping our graduate intake so we can’t support any deferral applications.

Part of our graduate offering is a one off relocation allowance of up to £600 which can be used against any expenses you incur through moving, and you can even use it towards your first month’s rent in your new home. We may also make available the option for an interest free loan once you have joined.

We'll be clear if you require either security clearance or developed vetting clearance and we’ll explain the specific process – you can talk to us at any time if you have any concerns about this.

In peak times this can take a little longer than we’d like – but this isn’t anything to worry about. You can typically expect to receive your contract within 6 weeks of accepting an offer with us. All of our contracts are digital so you can expect a copy to land in your emails and you can sign and return online.

Yes, it is conditional on a few things – meeting the entry requirements, satisfying eligibility criteria for working in the UK and satisfactorily completing all the onboarding checks that we need to complete – all of the conditions are set out in your contract.

At times there can be quite a long period between accepting your offer and joining us and for some of this you may not hear too much from us, especially whilst we continue our recruitment…but don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten you.

 As time goes on there will be a number of things we’ll ask of you as part of our ‘on-boarding, and lots of ways we’ll start to get you excited and informed as part of our ‘Keep-warm’ before you start.

You’ll be eligible to apply for your employee broadband package and other benefits on your first day. You’ll also get access to lots of other lovely perks as well, such as discounted EE TV with TNT Sports, discounts on BT Mobile, and optional benefits like dental insurance, gym memberships and more.

Get in touch with us and we’ll do our best to answer your question.