2013-05-22T14:59:45-04:00 Sheila Flavell http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=sheila-flavell Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Sheila Flavell Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1681864 2012-07-18T05:03:26-04:00 2012-09-16T05:12:12-04:00

Sheila Flavell http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheila-flavell/
As written by Steve Rosenbaum (CEO, Magnify.net) earlier this year on The Huffington Post, Mayer claims she never saw herself as a minority amongst her peers whilst studying Computer Science at Stanford University, but as a 'good student' as opposed to being 'good for a girl'. It wasn't until she read an article in the college newspaper, The Stanford Daily that she came to realise that "[she] was somewhat unusual". Mayer never saw gender as an important factor in her success, which she attributes partly to excelling on her own terms. This is somewhat humbling as she was Google's first female engineer when she joined as their 20th employee in 1999.

In today's UK IT editorial space, this information would be highlighted almost immediately as we see just 14% of IT roles populated by women despite the success of numerous women in the technological landscape, like Mayer. The sudden influx of editorial surrounding the lack of women in IT (in the UK and worldwide) has taken centre stage of the gender imbalance debate as to whether it is a hindrance on the sector. Research released by Computer Weekly has shown that men in the industry acknowledge a more creative and innovative environment with clearer communications due to having women in their teams. So, why don't we have more female representation? This is a question with unlimited possibilities.

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending and judging Computer Weekly's inaugural Top 25 Most Influential Women in UK IT Awards, which saw 25 women commended, celebrated and applauded for their influence in IT throughout various sectors including government, education and banking amongst many others. With nine insightful and inspirational talks, I can conclude that there is no one right answer. We discussed multiple possibilities to keep women in the industry in addition to encouraging more women to pursue a career in IT. On top, came the importance of networking and female role models in the industry, and Mayer is one of many.

The fact is, networking is absolutely key to creating a supportive network within any industry, whether male dominated or not. With women holding such an acute minority in this sector, it is great to see the blogosphere sitting up and taking note of the successes of women within IT and the appointment of Mayer at Yahoo! has positively contributed to the mass of articles online championing women in IT.

Moreover, role models and subsequently mentoring are essential to help women with their professional growth in addition to encouraging more women to consider IT as a career path. With Mayer hitting the technological headlines, she is highlighting the vital roles women all over the world are playing in technological development. Despite Mayer not instantly recognising the lack of female peers on her Computer Sciences course, there are many women out there who do, which consequently deters them from IT careers. It is for these reasons that I believe wholeheartedly in FDM's Women in IT campaign and Female Champions initiative.

Since launching the initiatives in October, we have seen a steady rise in female applicants and we are retaining the women we have. This is because we lead by example with the majority of our management team being female and we are passionate about supporting our workforce. As I mentioned, with the spotlight now on Mayer's new position and her inevitable success at Yahoo!, it is great to see more people writing about women in IT and showcasing to the world the talent of women and subsequent female role models within the sector.

With this in mind, I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes from Timothy Leary, American writer and psychologist, "Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition."]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1535825 2012-05-23T19:00:00-04:00 2012-07-23T05:12:05-04:00

Sheila Flavell http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheila-flavell/
Whilst many companies are beginning to understand that gender balance in the work force is a valuable corporate resource, we need to do more to encourage women to consider IT as a career path. Recent figures released by e-skills reveal that women account for only 18% of the IT and Telecoms industries despite 47% of the UK workforce being female.

However this imbalance is not just UK focused; the shortage of women in IT is a worldwide issue and must be addressed by every company in the sector. According to jobs board TotalJobs.com, employment in the UK IT industry is predicted to grow at a rate nearly five times the UK average. The estimated demand for IT and Telecoms roles will be over half a million in the next five years, but in its current state the industry does not have enough potential candidates to fill them.

So where and why are we losing women to other industries? I believe that one of the main reasons for the shortage of women in IT is due to the lack of female role models in the industry - what if Steve Jobs had been a woman? It's not that he could do things that women can't but he was at the forefront of new technologies and his legacy and innovative spirit will continue to live on at Apple. He was also the 'face' of Apple and became a recognisable businessman all over the world. If he had been a woman, perhaps more girls would accept IT and technology as a career path as it would showcase that there are successful female leaders in such a male-dominated field.

I've deliberately mentioned 'girls' and not 'women' because I believe we are losing females at an early age. The noticeable gender divide within the industry stems partly from negative experiences of GCSE ICT, according to The Chartered Institute for IT. Females account for just 9% of those taking computing A-Levels with this number steadily declining over the last five years, despite females consistently achieving higher grades in ICT than their male equivalents.

There's been a great deal of debate in the news over the last few months regarding the changes to the ICT curriculum, which many current students believe to be uninteresting. To combat this, we all need to take an interest in what schools are teaching our children in order to ensure that ICT comes across as the fun and exciting subject it is. Some of the most rewarding careers are in IT because it involves creativity and innovation. Technology is now very much at the forefront of business success, not the 'geeky' back-office stereotype that the industry has developed throughout the years. Many of these facts and figures are well known and widespread across the news agenda, so why am I telling you this?

The apparent skills shortage will inevitably lead to the industry and eventually the economy suffering. We need to work together to promote the diverse opportunities available within the IT industry, whether these are technical or softer skilled roles. Last year we launched our Women in IT campaign to encourage more females to consider IT as a career path and the campaign has been a great success so far. If all companies were to invest time and resources into initiatives like this, it'll be a giant leap towards achieving gender balance.

As the Computer Scientist and advocate of women in computing, Anita Borg, said, "Leaders of the future will have to be visionary and be able to bring people in - real communicators. These are things that women bring to leadership and executive positions, and it's going to be incredibly valuable and incredibly in demand."]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1083946 2011-11-09T10:51:37-05:00 2012-01-09T05:12:02-05:00

Sheila Flavell http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheila-flavell/
Despite the fact that a few of the participants felt that female workers could benefit from the technique because women are not naturally geared towards networking in the way that men are (a bizarre concept I think you'll agree), the discussion touched on this very significant and topical issue.

The impact of the practice was also hit upon by Home Secretary Theresa May, who announced the launch of a £2million mentoring scheme for female entrepreneurs the following day.

As the Chief Operating Officer of a leading IT services supplier I have long been an advocate of mentoring for women and strongly believe that the method is especially relevant for women working within the field of IT.

Unfortunately, the industry remains largely male dominated and just 14.4% of IT professionals in the UK are currently female.

The prospect of operating within a distinct minority, coupled with the fact that there is an even greater lack of women in senior positions, often deters women from this lucrative industry.

A reality that is hindering both the development of the careers of extremely able women, as well as the industry as a whole.

Therefore, although the practice is clearly applicable to all sectors, I believe female mentorship could become an incredibly useful tool for creating and sustaining a strong female workforce within the IT industry.

Forging relationships with women in IT who have succeeded in climbing the career ladder will not only demonstrate to mentees that their goals are fully achievable but receiving encouragement from a woman they aspire to be could also push these women to set their sights even higher.

Providing this level of support may also position mentors as key figures of inspiration within an industry and often improves leadership skills considerably, thus creating an even stronger collection of women at the top.

Therefore, I believe that female mentorship could create a generation of driven, ambitious and confident women in technology, which will ultimately benefit the industry and therefore the economy as a whole.

At FDM Group we are certainly practising what we preach and recently launched our very own female mentorship programme.

FDM Female Champions will be on hand to offer mentorship and advice to female employees at all levels on an ad hoc basis as well as running regular drop in sessions.

I would like to encourage businesses within all industries to realise the true potential of their female employees by launching similar schemes.

I can assure you, you will soon reap the benefits.
]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1082014 2011-11-08T19:00:00-05:00 2012-01-08T05:12:01-05:00

Sheila Flavell http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheila-flavell/
The HECSU's annual What Do Graduates Do? survey of graduates who had left university six months previously showed that unemployment within this group had dropped from 8.9% in 2009 to 8.5% in 2010.

Ok, so the improvement isn't exactly drastic and we shouldn't forget that graduate unemployment remains at a far higher level than it was before the recession, but we do need to take these figures as a positive sign and use them to motivate graduates and prospective students.

In a media-driven world where it seems bad news is good news, graduates are becoming increasingly disillusioned as labels including the "lost" and the "boomerang" generation are being firmly embedded in their minds.

A day hardly passes when I'm not confronted with shocking youth unemployment figures and the Press Association even used the seemingly positive results of the HECSU survey to a run a story entitled "Graduates 'struggling to find work'." In August the Office for National Statistics added fuel to the fire by revealing figures which showed that 20% of graduates earned less than the median wage of those educated to A level standard.

Is it any wonder then that graduates are taking on roles they had prior to university and living at home because they feel they can't make it alone?

It seems to be a vicious cycle without which a few national papers, who shall remain nameless, would run dry. Worryingly, the prospect of paying the equivalent of a deposit on a flat for a university education, coupled with these sensational stories also seems to be deterring school leavers from applying to university.

Anyone who hasn't heard at least one cleverly hand picked A level student speaking to the media about their rejection of a university education in favour of gaining "real life experience" must have been sunning themselves in Aruba for the passed six months, quite frankly!

In contrast to what you may have heard I would like to draw your attention to a recent study conducted by reed.co.uk which found that two thirds of the employed graduates surveyed believed their degree had played an important part in securing them their first role.

At FDM Group we firmly believe that the value of a university education should not be underestimated. We have kickstarted the careers of over 3,000 graduates to date placing them within major blue-chip companies including HSBC, RBS, Credit Suisse, BSkyB and Virgin Media. And although we have trained all of these individuals within a very specific area of IT, they would not have been able to land these roles without a university degree.

The bottom line is that the next generation of professionals may not be able to progress to senior levels without a bachelor's degree at the very least, in which case they truly would become a "lost generation". Instead of creating a cloud of pessimism around graduate job prospects and the true benefits to achieving a university degree, the media should be highlighting the opportunities currently available to graduates and the progress that is being made.

As a company that is recruiting 1,000 graduates this year alone we believe that businesses should also be recognising the need to provide graduate opportunities in an effort to support the professionals of the future and ultimately the economy as a whole.

Whilst announcing the results of the HECSU's survey the company's Deputy Researcher, Charlie Ball, echoed this belief by stating, "Slow but sustained economic recovery should be mirrored in the graduate labour market."

Frankly I couldn't agree more. ]]>