Octopus Energy has launched a major recruitment drive aimed at creating up to 4,000 additional roles to help with the rollout of clean energy technology across Britain.
The group, which recently acquired Shell’s UK and Germany household energy supply business, is seeking heat pump engineers, solar and electric vehicle charger installers, delivery drivers and operations personnel.
A monthly, same-day hiring festival dubbed ‘OctoPalooza’ will target prospective employees in major and regional areas, with a view of hiring “hundreds of engineers at each event”.
Chief executive John Szymik commented: "In true Octopus fashion, we’ve thought creatively to speed up the process of hiring the UK’s best talent into sustainable services jobs.
“OctoPalooza is our version of F1’s pitstop process – turbocharging the time it takes to hire exceptional people into future-proof jobs that fit around their lives, not the other way around.
Octopus said it has “over 100,000 customers” waiting to have heat pumps installed.
The government is offering households a £7,500 grant towards replacing gas boilers with heat humps through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Heat pumps still remain an expensive prospect for UK households though; EDF estimates have costs for a five-year payment plan at over £7,200, inclusive of grants.
Octopus’ recruitment drive comes just as data from Reed Recruitment showed that UK job vacancies in the three months to February were the lowest in three years, indicating a major cooling off of the UK jobs market.