Leading infrastructure services provider Amey is playing its part in creating opportunities for young people in the UK and has recruited 163 new graduates and apprentices to its business so far this year.

The newly recruited apprentices and graduate trainees started their programmes at Amey in September and all have been given full time, permanent roles at the company. At the start of this year Amey pledged to have 1% of its workforce as graduate trainees and 2% of its workforce as apprentices. This pledge has now been reached with a total of 330.

The company has also been listed in TheJobCrowd’s Top Companies For Graduates To Work For index for the second year running. Amey was voted number two in the Engineering and Manufacturing category, and moved up to number 34 overall with its own graduates rating it highly for its innovative and forward-thinking graduate programme. Amey has also just achieved Investors in People Gold accreditation across the whole company.

Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth, Group HR Director at Amey said: “At Amey we place a great deal of emphasis on recruiting young, talented people who bring a fresh approach and may become our future leaders. In order to grow our highly skilled workforce it is very important that we support young people’s career development through structured programmes and further training and we are delighted that our commitment to our graduates has been recognised by these rankings.”

James Barber, Management Graduate at Amey said: “I have received excellent training. One of the reasons I was attracted to the Amey graduate programme is because it’s structured to present opportunities across the business. There is lots of potential to develop my career here.”

The company recruits around 100 apprentices onto its 18 month Apprenticeship Academy each year. The programme entails completing both a technical certificate in their chosen area as well as a National Vocational Qualification or Scottish Vocational Qualification, and incorporates the Duke of Edinburgh’s Business Scheme Gold Award as a core part of the programme.

Amey also recruits up to 100 graduates per year across two dedicated programmes. The Graduate Management Development Programme is a two year formal rotational programme that aims to maximise leadership and managerial potential. The Graduate Pathways Programme focuses on placing graduates in a specified role and supports them to gain professional accreditation.