Corus returns to the jobs market as firm fights back from the lows of recession

CORUS is back in the business of creating jobs and filling vacancies at its steel plants in Scunthorpe and the rest of the UK.

Last year, during the height of the recession, the company announced plans to axe up to 6,000 jobs across Europe, including around 600 in Scunthorpe.

Corus chiefs wielded the axe after orders plummeted to around 25 per cent of the norm.

But a £365 million-plus trading profit in the last six months of 2009-10 has proved a major morale booster.

Last month the Scunthorpe works indicated better times were ahead by advertising for new staff for the first time in two years.

Jobs on offer included engineers, technicians, project managers and store keepers.

The boost came of top of the decision to recruit 60 school leavers who will start work in September as first year engineering and production apprentices.

The Scunthorpe works spokeswoman Rachel Cox said there had been an encouraging level of interest in the advertised vacancies.

She was unable to state how many jobs the Scunthorpe site currently had on offer.

But further proof that things are getting better at Corus came yesterday when the company announced plans to recruit 154 new workers in South Yorkshire and to resume the recruitment of graduates and apprentices.

The latest plans will bring the number of new workers hired by the firm in the UK 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, the Speciality Steels general manager, said the recruitment of apprentices and graduates was a sign the business was committed to the future.

Mr Hogg said: "Just over a year ago, I was explaining to people why the business was having to make 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 Corus taking on 160 new employees around the UK.

Mr Hogg added: "We are hoping for similar levels of interest to the recruitment earlier this year when we received about ten applications for every vacant position."

Michael Leahy, the national general secretary of Community, the main Scunthorpe steel industry trade union, said: "These new jobs are a positive development, but we hope they won't be undermined by the new Government's budget cuts that have increased the chances of a double-dip recession and removed vital support for manufacturing.

"Community Union welcomes this creation of new employment and we'll be following the process through to see that these positions become safe, secure and permanent jobs.

"Our immediate concern is that the new agency workers get the right rate for the job.

"Nevertheless, we are particularly glad to see that Corus is looking to invest in the future by hiring apprentices and graduates."