Returning to work after a career break can be challenging, both professionally and personally. That’s why BT’s returnship program is making such a significant impact by offering structured support to those looking to re-enter the workforce. Whether it's due to a break for family, health, or personal reasons, BT recognises the unique hurdles career returners face and has developed a program to help ease that transition.

1. Please can you share an overview of BT’s returnship program and its main objectives?

BT Group’s returnship programme first started in the company’s Networks division, and Business has done two cohorts in 2024 in partnership with the external organisation Career Returners. The programme involves a 6 month supported route back to a permanent, professional role in BT.

From research that Career Returners commissioned, we know that 1.5m UK women and 0.2m men are not in paid employment as they are looking after family and home. Most want to return to work at some point.​ Returners face a career break penalty, experiencing bias and barriers to rejoining the workplace. CV gaps and lack of recent experience put off many employers.​

From a business perspective, we have ambitious targets for our workforce diversity.

We know we won’t shift the dial on diversity unless we do more of these targeted initiatives. ​

Whilst our hires via this programme are relatively small in number, the programme impact in terms of engagement, signalling our intent as an inclusive employer and our employer brand appeal is significant. 

We aim to be as inclusive as possible, considering talent from different backgrounds and experiences. People with prolonged career breaks are a largely untapped pool of talent, allowing us to access a very diverse group of skilled candidates, whilst also linking in with our social impact goals and purpose ‘we connect for good’. 

The aim is to help people feel supported in their return to work whilst also filling our roles with highly diverse, talented individuals.

2. Who is eligible to apply for the returnship program at BT?

People from all genders were welcome to apply. As long as they’d had a career break of 18 months or longer, and a right to work in the UK they were eligible to apply.

3. What kind of support and resources does BT offer employees in the returnship program?

We give Returners a structured, supportive induction and upskilling sessions throughout the 6 month programme. 

Each returner is assigned a buddy in their team for day to day role support, a senior colleague mentor who can help them with navigating BT and broader career advice, and 4 coaching sessions delivered by our external partner. 

They also get bespoke workshop sessions to brush up on their business skills delivered by our brilliant learning and development team on topics such as change readiness, stakeholder management etc.

All line managers get briefed by Career Returners on what to expect from Returners, what they typically excel and struggle with, and advice on how to best manage them.Their line managers are responsible for any role specific induction sessions and upskilling. They get more tailored role-specific training, help and support from their managers and team.

As with other BT employees, Returners also get access to a number of internal resources such as:

• Internal training and resources like podcasts with internal/external guests on various topics like growth mindset, imposter syndrome and much more.
• LinkedIn Learning which offers tens of thousands of different online video and podcast style courses on many different topics from soft skills, to technical skills and beyond. Some courses also link to external qualifications.
• Live training /virtual training sessions with our central learning and development team 
• Our internal People Networks: such as the Gender Equality Network, the Ethnic Diversity Network, Muslim Network, Able2 Network... and more.

4. How long does the returnship program typically last, and what does the structure look like?

The programme itself is 6 months, so all the formal support - coaching, mentoring etc is given during this period. 

We also have a programme team involved from the beginning of the planning process all the way through onboarding, induction and beyond, meaning the cohort have consistent points of contact throughout their time on the programme should they have any feedback, concerns or questions.

Once the 6 months have ended, whilst the more formal support stops, they continue in their permanent roles, hopefully having gained many new skills, confidence, networks and understanding of the business by this point.

Of course, the cohort of Returners all support each other, our first cohort of career returners in BT Business have become very close and I’m sure will continue to stay in touch and help each other out. They’ve already welcomed our second cohort who started in September 2024, offering to share their guidance and advice having been in the same position just 6 months prior.

5. Can you describe the types of roles or projects returnees might be involved in during the program?

The roles and projects might vary quite a lot. 

For cohort 1, we had a mixture of roles in brand and marketing, product management,  corporate and public sector sales, and a number of them in our Service team including project management. For cohort 2, all our returners have joined the contract management team in BT Business’ corporate and public sector unit. 

No matter the role, line managers are encouraged to check in regularly with their returners to give them the support they need to get up to speed with their role and give them the opportunities to make valued contributions to the business, like any other colleague.

One of our cohort 1 Returners shared that she’s already been able to propose now soon to be implemented new process flows and ways of working in marketing.

6. What skills or experiences is BT looking for in candidates applying for the returnship program?

Again this will vary depending on what roles we have available. 

More broadly however, we don’t expect them to have a background in telecoms. As well as demonstrating their transferable skills for the specific role, having a growth mindset, willingness to learn, and a positive, proactive approach are all valuable.

7. How does BT support returnees in transitioning back into the workforce and adapting to any changes in their industry?

All the supporting learning and development opportunities mentioned previously are invaluable for that supported transition back to the workforce.

For both cohorts, we planned many induction sessions, including getting to hear from senior leaders in the areas they’ve joined to understand those areas, ask questions about how they operate, what the future trends look like for our industry etc.

They had many sessions on how to get things done in BT, from basic HR system process through to Microsoft teams 101/ Microsoft 365 which we know is highly pertinent to this group- many have been out of the workplace for a number of years, so technology and ways of working have changed drastically since they were last in the workplace.

We had brilliant feedback from cohort 1 on how those sessions helped them make connections, gain invaluable knowledge and introductions to senior leaders which may have otherwise taken them many months if not longer to obtain.

8. Are there opportunities for permanent employment at BT after completing the returnship program?

For both our cohorts in BT Business, we hired Returners into permanent roles. So the role they apply for is the role they will continue to do even after the programme ends.

9. Can you share any success stories or testimonials from previous participants in the returnship program?

What’s been lovely to hear is how our Returners have felt valued for the skills that they bring, with their career break and different perspectives being seen as an asset rather than disadvantage. Our leaders and line managers have been great at promoting that message and making them feel welcome and valued. 
Both Returners and their line managers have been hugely positive about the programme, and both internally and externally we’ve seen an overwhelming response to this initiative. Our colleagues were really proud that BT took part in this sort of innovative and inclusive programme, with feedback from line managers on the amazing calibre of talent we gained as a result of this. 

One of our Returners, Alet Bamford who works in our Service team, had a 20 year career break. She shared:

‘Last time I worked YouTube and Facebook didn’t exist and to Google something was not a verb. Having a group that was in a similar situation to you was extremely helpful and the first few days our WhatsApp group was very busy even at night.

The sessions on getting to know BT was very informative and made us all feel proud to be working for a company that wants to be the most trusted. I knew that BT was a big enterprise but did not really realise how far reaching it is. Running 999 call centres and keeping planes in the sky is very important to society as a whole. 

The first impression of BT is that you are seen as a person that should be developed and encouraged to get ahead in your career.

My Campus, our internal AI-powered learning platform is a brilliant tool and has huge opportunities for you to improve yourself. I found it extremely helpful in the beginning to be able to go and do introductory courses on all the software that I needed to learn or needed a refresh on. I found a good piece on collaboration in MS 365, which is a big part of how things are done in the working environment these days’

Rachele Summers, an Account Management Specialist in the major government area has shared that she’s especially loved all the support she’s got from the cohort and induction, and her line manager has been really supportive of her taking the flexibility she needs to help her children with their GCSEs.You can learn more about Rachele’s experience in this video.

10. What advice would you give to someone considering applying for BT’s returnship program?

Our advice would be to take some time to tailor your CV to the role you’re applying for. Make sure that you’re tailoring your past experiences to the key skills we’re looking for. Where possible, try to highlight your personal achievements in each role you list (Quantified if possible!) rather than general job duties.

Sometimes, applicants for the Returner programme also don’t signpost clearly in their CV if they had a career break, or how long for, which may lead to them getting disqualified. We recommend stating clearly that you’ve had a career break (the minimum is 18 months). During their career break, they may have done smaller scale family work, volunteering, or other unpaid or lower level roles. Whatever work you’ve done during your break, if any, please state clearly the nature of it to make sure employers understand if / how this was different to your career prior to your break. Don’t worry if you haven’t though, we know many career breakers/returners often take time out of work for family, caring, ill health or other similar reasons.