Member Article

Corecom Consulting helps to bridge tech gender gap

Female leaders across Yorkshire including Burberry, Lloyds Banking Group, EE, Sky Betting and Gaming and the University of Huddersfield, participated in industry research conducted at WITBoss; an annual award-winning event for female leaders in technology, hosted by IT recruitment company Corecom Consulting. This revealed that 65% of female tech leaders said that they think that their team is gender diverse. What’s more, 57% said that over the next five years, having more female Senior Managers and Directors within a company would encourage women to take up technology roles.

Ann-Marie Gilbert, Digital Coach and Trainer at Google Digital Garage, delivered an engaging talk titled ‘Resilience: How to bounce back like a boss’, emphasising the importance of resilience in the workplace, she said:

“It was great to share the realities of the confidence gap between men and women at work. The feedback showed that they were highly engaged, very motivated and inspired by the presentation to challenge their own self-perception and to grow in confidence”.

WITBoss creates a unique community for female leaders in technology to network, debate, discuss hot topics, and learn from reputable and established speakers who are leaders in the industry. The event took place the day prior to International Women’s day; a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and marking a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

Three students from Leeds Beckett University’s STEM Power Society took the opportunity to network and take advice from delegated, taking part in the following discussions:

• how to attract more female applications for tech roles • balancing a high-profile role • work-life balance

BSc Computer Forensics and Security student, Keeley Stainthorp and STEM Power Society president said:

“Myself and my fellow society members felt truly inspired by the WITBoss event. We were greeted and welcomed into the group and found it an amazing opportunity to network with such interesting and inspirational people. We learnt so much, especially around interview techniques and how to put ourselves forward as the best we can be.”

Tammy Kennedy, Architect and Design Team Lead at EE said:

“Attracting more women into the industry, especially higher up the ladder is something I’m very interested in, so it was good to have such an open, honest discussion and share thoughts and ideas with likeminded women.”

“It’s always great to hear success stories from women who are making their mark in the industry but more importantly it’s great that they are happy to share their experience and advice with others. It’s too easy to forget how much work we’ve all put in so far and that it’s not always an easy journey. We all need to take time to celebrate how far we’ve come whilst looking to take that journey forwards.”

Jonathan Sanderson, Managing Director at Corecom Consulting said:

“At Corecom Consulting, there is an ongoing effort to help to change the perception of women in technology at various levels of the education system. This is why we are working closely with local universities, such as Leeds Beckett University, and educational institutions.”

“We recognise that young females are not choosing the technology sector because of a lack of female role models and a lack of advice and guidance for women in technology. We will continue to encourage conversations around women’s involvement in the technology industry and to showcase successful women such as Ann-Marie, in order to bridge the gender gap further.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Cowman .