After an ice-breaker activity, the students split into small groups where they were able to have informal chats about career options, technical apprenticeships, and higher education pathways. Towards the end of the session, there was a presentation about PwC Degree Apprenticeship recruitment and the Apprenticeship and Graduate Internship Programmes.
Tae, Media student at Bromley, said: "I wanted help to understand my next steps and the pathway options that are available to me. Today was interesting and has given me ideas to start to make plans for my future."
We welcomed six female visitors to the event, and their reasons for joining us varied. Anna has just completed her degree apprenticeship and wanted to share her experience with the students. Shree attended a talk at university from Microsoft staff and because of the talk, decided to seek a career in IT - she hopes that talking to our students will inspire them to see their future in IT. Lisa explained that not having a graduate background might be relatable to our students.
Michelle Luckens, Student Placement Team Leader, says: "This Women in Tech session is essential so that we retain our female learners on more tech-centric courses. Our volunteers today have helped our learners realise their career aspirations and that they have several options open to them. This is the start of a further collaboration to promote and retain female students on these courses."
All agreed that the session had been worthwhile and recommended a follow-up session. It has been suggested that the follow-up session will be more focused on career options and planning, university or apprenticeship choices, and interview techniques and tips.
Having a female-only environment meant that our female students felt more comfortable talking about their personal experiences and were able to share their future plans.
Work Experience Advisor, Teresa Riordan, said: "I have really enjoyed putting this event together and to see our young women chatting informally to amazing role models about their plans made the hard work worthwhile. I cannot thank PwC enough for their support of our employer engagement programme. Our relationship is incredibly special and keeps growing with every new idea we have."
Media student at Bromley, Aaliya, added: "To learn about being a woman in the industry and getting to know about student recruitment was very useful. I enjoyed the session."
We will continue to hold a series of workshops for female students in male-dominated subject areas to inspire them to continue with their studies. In the future, we plan to encourage Year 10 and 11 girls at secondary schools to choose IT as their vocational course at college.