BAE Systems welcomes Kickstart recruits to its maritime services business

BAE Systems has welcomed its first intake of Kickstart recruits, with six young people joining the maritime services business this April, at Broad Oak in Portsmouth, Cowes on the Isle of Wight and Hillend in Fife.

During their six-month placement, the new recruits will undertake roles in logistics, commercial, project control and manufacturing teams.

More than 30 young people are joining across the UK sites, embarking on placements which are designed to give them the opportunity to build their skills, confidence and gain experience with the aim of improving their chances of finding long-term work.

Matthew Gordon, head of early careers & skills, BAE Systems Maritime Services said: “We are hopeful that Kickstart will provide a new pipeline of talent for young people into our apprenticeship and graduate programmes as we continue to seek to recruit people from diverse backgrounds and help young people achieve their full potential.”

Minister for employment, Mims Davies MP said, “It’s great to see BAE Systems brilliantly backing this government’s Kickstart Scheme – helping our next generation of workers become engineers, technicians and train in high-quality roles, enabling them to develop the key skills to thrive in work.

“There is real potential for them to progress further into training and career opportunities across BAE Systems after the six months, highlighting how our Plan for Jobs is boosting long-term job prospects as we push to build back better and level up the country.”

The Kickstart Scheme, part of the government’s Plan for Jobs, aims to create hundreds of thousands of job placements for 16 to 24-year-olds on universal credit, who are at risk of long-term unemployment.

BAE Systems is committed to creating high quality training and job opportunities for young people and is a proud supporter of the Movement to Work programme which provides work experience for young people not in employment or training. In total, more than 600 young people have undertaken placements with BAE Systems and in 2019, 80% of those completing placements went on to continue their training or secure permanent employment, including 33 who secured roles with BAE Systems.

BAE Systems recently announced that in 2021 it will recruit more than 850 apprentices and 400 graduates, the highest intake in a single year. It will also offer more than 200 industrial placements and summer internships.