Ireland’s largest telecommunications company, eir will be hiring up to 50 new apprentices at the Agri Careers Fair. The company is strengthening its workforce, as it continues to roll out its broadband network nationwide.

One person currently going through the eir apprentice programme is Ronan McDermott. He met the eir team at the Agri Careers Fair last year and he is now an apprentice technician with the company.

“It was the last place I went to that day,” Ronan tells the Irish Farmers Journal. “I was chatting to an apprentice and a manager who told me all about the programme. They took my email address there and I went home and applied for a place.”

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Ronan who had previously completed a Bachelor of Business in Rural Enterprise and Agri-Business at GMIT began work on 4 July with 23 others, in Walkinstown, Dublin.

eir will be at this year’s Agri Careers Fair, where they will be hoping to find suitable candidates for some of the 50 vacancies on their 2017 apprentice programme, which commences this September and lasts for two years.

Successful applicants will have the opportunity to work as customer service and assurance technicians, where the primary focus will be on the maintenance and repair of equipment in eir’s network.

The programme involves a mixture of on-the-job learning, one-to-one mentoring and classroom learning. Following the successful completion of each two-year programme, top performers will be offered full-time roles with eir. Candidates come away from the two-year programme with a Level 6 QQI Telecommunications Access Networks Technology Major Award.

“We did training for the first month, learning about the background of the company and what we would be doing,” explains Ronan.

From there, Ronan worked for six months with different technicians, who acted as mentors, showing him how they fix faults and do the job of a technician.

“It was great. You are on the road and some technicians would know you are in a certain area and call on you for help. You learn lots of different methods and really work up a book of contacts you can call on if you’re stuck with a fault,” says Ronan.

At the moment, Ronan is in the Longford and Westmeath area, where he will be working on his own on call outs, for example.

Ronan really recommends the programme, saying: “It is very hands-on. You are working with your head and your hands, meeting new people and building up contacts from all over Ireland, so it really is a great experience.”

Representatives from eir will be at the Agri Careers Fair to talk about the programme and answer any questions you may have.