Press release: Sign up to Make a Difference

Highways England is today urging people interested in making a real difference to road journeys across England to ‘sign up’ to become one of the dozens of apprentices the company plans to recruit this year.

The Government company, which manages England’s motorways and major trunk roads, is responsible for some of the country’s biggest construction projects.

Over the next few months it will take on up to 75 apprentices, with places made available through its website.
Today, during National Apprenticeship Week, it urged people interested in building a road network for the future to sign up for alerts.

This year’s Highways England apprentice of the year, project manager Amelia Kirwan aged 19, said:

I urge anyone in my position to see what Highways England has to offer.

The opportunities available to me are huge. Highways England supports my learning and I am able to explore different areas of a varied sector. Our roads are an important part of everyone’s day-to-day lives and are heavily relied upon and therefore my role is really important.

Completing my apprenticeship will result in me achieving a Diploma in Project Management that is recognised worldwide – the possibilities are endless!

Highways England’s apprenticeship scheme supports the government goals to create 30,000 apprenticeships in road and rail by 2020.

New recruits will be helping to play a part in modernising England’s strategic road network by developing and delivering technically advanced projects. These include schemes such as the A303 Stonehenge improvements and The Lower Thames Crossing.

The company currently offers apprenticeships in business administration, IT, electrical engineering and civil engineering and Human Resources. It is planning to extend the list to include accounts, quantity surveying, transport planning and project management.

San Johal, Highways England Human Resources Director said:

This is a great time to join our team. We are investing in the next generation, and our apprenticeships are open to all and are a real alternative to traditional routes like university.

With the UK needing an extra 20,000 engineering graduates a year, Highways England is taking part in the Year of Engineering. This national campaign is all about showing young people what an engineer is, and what they can achieve.

For Highways England we need a continuing pipeline of young engineers to help deliver the massive investment planned for our motorways and major A-roads, benefitting the economy and improving people’s lives.

Each apprentice’s line manager at Highways England has been specifically chosen to teach and integrate the company policies and procedures, and to ensure that the apprentice has easy access to secondment and promotion opportunities. Every apprentice has a mentor and is supported to develop their career within the company.

Highways England continues to develop strong relationships with schools and colleges as part of a wider ‘early talent’ recruitment plan, to encourage children to continue the study of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects, helping to inspire the engineers and construction professionals of tomorrow.

To find out more, and sign up for e-mail alerts or apply for an apprenticeship visit Highways England’s careers homepage

Schools and parents are also encouraged to log into The Big Assembly this Thursday 8 March, to join the thousands of people being online at the same time gaining career advice.

Further case studies are also available.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.