A financial advisor has begun a recruitment drive to add more than 100 people to its staff.

Portal Financial wants to hire more workers to its call centre to deal with a rising number of people calling for advice on their retirement options.

The Strood-based company aims to appoint 30 people within three months and 100 during the next 18 months.

The firm has pledged to hire 24 apprentices through the Kick Start Kent campaign run by the KM Group, who will be trained at MidKent College.

These will be split 50/50, with 12 in business administration and 12 in sales. The company is also looking to take on five traineeships through the college.

There is no need for specific skills or qualifications.

Medway’s unemployment rate of 3.1% is higher than the national average of 2.9%, South East at 1.8% and the rest of Kent at 2.4%.

Operations manager Nick Blunt said: “We have already enjoyed great success by hiring locally in Medway and have been able to fast-track people’s careers due to the speed of our growth.

“For many of our younger staff this is their first opportunity for a proper career and we encourage them to make the most of it.

“The right attitude is what we are looking for more than anything, and we are particularly excited to be taking on apprentices for the first time.”

Anyone interested in applying should send a CV and a brief cover letter to recruitment@portalfinancial.co.uk.

The KM Group aims to get 100 companies to hire apprentices within the year as part of the Kick Start Kent campaign.

For details about how an apprentice could help your firm, email kickstartkent@thekmgroup.co.uk