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100 women in tech tackle gender diversity at Australia’s first speed-interview event

Announcement posted by Hotwire PR 23 Feb 2016

Peoplebank launches Next 100 Women in IT event in Melbourne to address gender diversity in Australia’s tech industry, sponsored by NAB, Telstra, MYOB and Cogent
Melbourne, Australia, February 23 2016. Peoplebank, Australia’s leading IT recruitment agency, held an Australian-first event with its Next 100 Women in IT, on February 18 in Melbourne. Through this unique initiative, Peoplebank aims to provide 100 women with new career opportunities and proactively address the growing issue of gender imbalance in Australia’s technology industry.

The event will be sponsored by a range of Australian organisations, including NAB, Telstra, MYOB, and Cogent, that are currently working with Peoplebank to address the issue of gender equality.

The 100 attendees are mid-career women, all looking at their next career step in technology. The event aimed to help different profiles of women, and attendees were split into three main categories:
  • IT Now: Women currently working in the IT industry, looking for the next step in their career
  • IT Curious: Women who have no experience in the IT industry, and are interested in a career change
  • IT Fringe: Women who have some indirect experience with the IT industry, and are interested in deepening their skills and involvement in this field

Next 100 Women in IT was established to provide “speed-interviewing” opportunities between 100 women and the event’s corporate sponsors, aiming to help Australian businesses address the issue of gender equality head-on by hiring women at or following the event, particularly for their IT teams. For candidates, the event aimed to provide women with a unique opportunity to meet with and raise their profile among some of the country’s largest employers in a single day.

Romy Panzera, Account Director and Diversity Council Member at Peoplebank, drove this event in a proactive effort to directly affect the gender diversity issue in Australia’s IT industry, and to enable positive change in the lives and careers of Australian women. Following the event, Romy will continue to work closely with attendees and sponsors to ensure the event’s impact on these women’s careers and on the corporations’ workplace gender balance is long-lasting.

“There’s a lot of conversation about gender diversity and there are various theories on how to address the issue,” said Romy. “When I came up with the idea for Next 100 Women in IT, a lot of people asked me why I was doing it. My answer to them is ‘Why not?’ We need to be taking more action and at Peoplebank, we have a fantastic opportunity to share our networks and expertise in this space to drive actual change.”

Peoplebank has won several awards for gender diversity within its own organisation, including gaining WGEA accreditation in 2015. Peter Acheson, CEO of Peoplebank, believes gender diversity is a key issue that all businesses should be addressing to ensure sustainable business and financial growth.

“We genuinely believe diverse teams, including those with high gender balance, are smarter, more effective and more creative,” explained Peter. “We’re passionate about driving workplace equality within Peoplebank and within the organisations of our clients. Next 100 Women in IT marks the next step in our journey to take action on this very important issue in the industry. We are very appreciative of the support we have received from event sponsors, Peoplebank clients, and our network of IT professionals so far.”

Penelope Barr, General Manager of Cogent, also commented on the event,

“We're always looking for great people, and are very interested in new ways to attract these people.  We're committed to attracting and retaining a diverse workforce because we truly value individual differences and contributions. That's why we're excited to be involved in the Next 100 Women in IT event.  We've been impressed by the approach to source good women from a range of areas across technology; and are excited to see if any of the women we met become employees at Cogent.”

To find out more about Next 100 Women in IT, please visit the Peoplebank website or follow the #100womenintech hashtag on Twitter.
 

PR Contact
Mylan Vu, Hotwire PR
Mylan.vu@hotwirepr.com
02 8985 7295

 
About Peoplebank
Founded in 1990 Peoplebank is Asia Pacific's leading IT and digital recruitment company, specialising in contract and permanent IT recruitment. Peoplebank has a long history of working with its key clients, some of Australia and Asia’s largest blue-chip organisations. We make finding IT and digital talent, or finding IT and digital jobs an easy and enjoyable experience.