Three months into my graduate scheme at Deloitte and absolutely loving it. I’ve just completed my fourth week on a client project after our initial six weeks of training. I have to say the thing that most shocked me during our training was the male to female ratio. Having come from a mixed school, sixth form and university where the male to female ratio was pretty consistent, it was something I noticed almost straight away. Not necessarily a bad thing, but just unusual for me. Of around the seventy that joined the London office for Technology Consulting this year, approximately twenty of us are women. However, this isn’t reflected in my current project team, where there are three males and three females.
I’m assured the aim is to get more women into technology. Since joining Deloitte, I’ve joined the Women in Technology network, one of the many networks available to get involved in. The Women in Technology network is a great way for Women in Technology to share ideas and learn from each other. As well as frequent activity on the firm’s social networking site, the network also organises social events and networking opportunities. The latest networking event was a presentation by Judi James, one of the UK's leading body language/behaviour experts followed by a Bollywood dance session!
I perhaps think that people see Technology and think you have to be an IT geek or an expert programmer to be good at it. That is completely not the case. Yes, Deloitte needs the super techies but I’ve come across people who’ve joined Technology that studied History, Social Sciences and Law to name a few. I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t sure how ‘techy’ you needed to be. I come from a broad business background, having done a Management and Strategy degree at Aston University and a placement year at McDonald’s in their Business Strategy and Insight department. A keen interest in technology is important.
Technology excites me because it’s everywhere, it’s all around us. Think about what you’ve done today and how much you’ve used technology. Could you have even done it without technology? It’s the future. And it’s the most exciting place to be. With this in mind, one of my aims during my time at Deloitte is to get as many people, especially young women, involved and interested in applying for Deloitte and the Technology Consulting graduate scheme. You can read more about Technology Consulting (and the other graduate schemes Deloitte has to offer) here.
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