Investing in Our People: Getting the right people for the job

In ten years' time, a large number of those currently employed in specialist jobs will be retired and we face the challenge of replacing their essential skills.

This is a company-wide problem, but it was highlighted by a Skills Crunch audit in Networks Branch. To ensure that the recruitment of new specialists and the development of existing staff keeps pace with this depletion, a range of initiatives has been introduced, which demonstrates the company's 'joined up' approach to solving problems.

A dedicated EDF Energy graduate website now introduces the company's different activities to university students seeking a career, and outlines the opportunities existing now and into the future for anyone who joins the business.

Selected universities with sound reputations for engineering, business studies and management have been targeted as a source of graduate recruits, and opportunities have been advertised in newspapers and online. To encourage students to take up engineering-related degree courses in the first place, we have joined other network companies and the Institution of Electrical Engineers in supporting the Power Academy, which aims to sign up around 50 undergraduates each year to be sponsored through their courses.

Almost 650 graduates have applied to join our graduate training scheme in 2005 across all the branches, which could result in an intake of around 25 people.

At a still earlier educational stage, one of our managers has been seconded to the Industrial Trust and his efforts will help to make possible more than 1,000 individual visits by secondary school pupils to EDF Energy sites this year.

Our Advanced Modern Apprentice programme is heavily oversubscribed, and the Sundridge training centre has undergone a £1 million makeover, bringing it up to the latest industry standards. The new Adult Training Scheme will coach 18 people above the apprenticeship age limit to be linesmen, fitters or jointers, having attracted nearly 20 applications for each available place.

Paul Cuttill, Networks Branch Chief Operating Officer, is at pains to stress the importance of training and development to the organisation's future. 'We have started some significant recruitment to renew and refresh our skills and you are evidence of that,' he told a group of newly qualified apprentices.

'Always have your mind open to learning new things, keep up your enthusiasm and, above all, think about the customers you are serving.'