Opening up Opportunities for Women in Technology

Equalitec is piloting a new approach to opening up employment and career opportunities for women in technology. Equalitec is working with 22 partner organisations representing key players in the area of Information Technology, Electronics, Communications (ITEC); industry, professional and trade bodies, training institutions and women’s organisations. The focus is on women with higher levels of qualifications, or the equivalent level of experience, in ITEC (Information Technology, Electronics and Communications), who need assistance in returning to the labour market following a career break or a period of unemployment due to redundancy. As part of this pilot phase a number of interventions and support schemes aimed at increasing employability are being developed and tested. These activities are free to all participants until September 2007.

• Career advice on returning to work and career guides to help identify a suitable pathway;
• Mentoring Circles: - the opportunity for the Equalitec beneficiary to participate in a mentoring group, led by an experienced facilitator, which helps them towards identifying their goals and putting in place an action plan to achieve those goals. The Mentoring Circles(TM) have the added benefit, expressed by many of the women taking part in them, that ‘it is great to be part of a group of women all of whom are in a similar situation to me – it makes me feel so much less isolated’;
• Training: both softer skills training and technical training. The softer skills training relates to areas likely to be of benefit to all women returners. For example, we have recently held workshops on ‘Work/Life Balance’ and ‘Interview Skills’. Technical training, by definition, is specific to one or more beneficiaries and varies dependent on need.
• Placements: we are working with the Daphne Jackson Trust to develop a new Industrial Associate Placements scheme for employer organisations looking to recruit talent through non-traditional routes;
• Careers workshops: earlier this year two highly successful workshops were run in conjunction with the British Computer Society on ‘Internet Computing’ and ‘Health Informatics’. A further workshop is planned in conjunction with the IET in January. The aim is to provide an opportunity for women, employers, training providers and recruiters to raise awareness of each others aims and needs.

Any woman who feels they are ready to start thinking about their return to an ITEC career should contact us to see if we can help them. We’d also appreciate you contacting us if you feel you could assist us in reaching women who may benefit from this help. One of the most difficult aspects of what we do is letting women who may be eligible for help know it is available.

This pilot is being funded by the European Social Fund.

For further information please consult our website www.equalitec.org.uk. You may contact the Equalitec team by sending an email to lb@equalitec.org.uk or by telephoning us on 020 7367 5348.