A recruitment campaign has attracted more than 600 applicants for just seven jobs on offer.

The closing date for social housing group Incommunities’ summer recruitment drive has just ended, with interest from a bumper number of job hopefuls.

Incommunities, which won Employer of the Year at the Telegraph & Argus Bradford Means Business Awards in March, opened this year’s A (Apprentice) Factor campaign to anyone aged 16 and over who was looking for a career in construction.

The seven trainee vacancies were in electricals, gas plumbing, joinery and plastering.

Incommunities’ chief executive Geraldine Howley said the group’s apprenticeship programmes had always been popular.

She said: “It’s not just for school-leavers. Some people are older and looking to retrain in a different job, some have been unemployed for a while, and some have taken a break to raise a family. More than a third of our apprentices are women.”

Incommunities is the largest social landlord in the district, with around 22,000 rented homes and almost 1,000 leasehold properties. Its three-year apprenticeship programme combines college studies with working alongside the group’s experienced tradespeople on its multi-million-pound maintenance and modernisation programme.

Anthony Veigas, 19, Incommunities’ Apprentice of the Year 2010/2011, is now in his final year of a four-year plumbing apprenticeship and has ambitions to move into management.

He said: “You learn a lot on the job, and come into contact with many different people, so there’s a customer services aspect to it too.

“You can’t beat hands-on experience, and I’m starting to work more independently now. I also enjoy the college side of it.”

For more information on apprenticeships with Incommunities, call (01274) 257051.

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