Corus has announced plans to recruit 154 new workers for its South Yorkshire manufacturing operations and the resumption of apprentice and graduate recruitment.
The latest plans would bring the number of new workers hired by the firm to more than 300 since March.
Corus Speciality Steels is looking for 14 apprentices and seven graduates – the first time the business has recruited trainees since the downturn.
It is also looking for 133 new workers to support steel manufacturing and steel rolling operations in South Yorkshire – 90 in Stocksbridge and 43 in Rotherham.
Peter Hogg, Speciality Steels General Manager, said the recruitment of apprentices and graduates was a sign the business was committed to the future.
“Just over a year ago, I was explaining to people why the business was having to undergo a painful restructuring which led to the loss of more than 1,000 jobs. At the lowest point, our orders had shrunk to about a quarter of where they were.
“Since then we have been refocusing the business on supplying specialist steel products to the world’s most demanding markets, like aerospace and energy exploration and generation. Now we are in a position where we are recovering so we can strengthen the business.
“Many of our products have extremely high technical and chemical specifications, and we need to train new people now to ensure we don’t have a skills shortage in the future. The recruitment of apprentices and graduates is an investment in the future of the business.”
The latest recruitment drive follows a similar recruitment campaign in March, which led to the business taking on 160 new workers.
“We are hoping for similar levels of interest to the recruitment earlier this year when we received about 10 applications for every vacant position,” added Peter.
“When this latest recruitment drive has been completed, we will be employing almost 2,000 people at our Rotherham and Stocksbridge manufacturing plants. On top of that, we also have about 250 employees at our technology centre in Rotherham.
“The 133 new workers who will support our operations will be recruited on an agency basis initially, but will be trained progressively into skilled steelworkers. If business conditions continue to improve I hope we’ll be able to employ them directly at some point in the future.”
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For further information, please call Bob Jones on +44 (0)20 7717 4532.
Anyone interested in the 133 operational positions should contact Spring Personnel, in Sheffield, on Tel. 0114 273 0075 , or email corus@spring.com
About Corus
Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer. With main steelmaking operations primarily in the UK and the Netherlands, Corus supplies steel and related services to the construction, automotive, packaging, mechanical engineering and other markets worldwide.
Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, one of the world’s top ten steel producers. The combined enterprise has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 80,000 employees across four continents.