MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE AND HAVE A VOICE , UNDERSTAND YOUR INTENTION , ASK FOR SUPPORT AND ADVICE AND JUST GO FOR IT .
WOMEN IN DATA CENTRES
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MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE AND HAVE A VOICE , UNDERSTAND YOUR INTENTION , ASK FOR SUPPORT AND ADVICE AND JUST GO FOR IT .
How can women learn to embrace their strengths and be more forthcoming when applying for leadership roles ?
I experienced this not too long ago . I think there are several aspects to it – first is about being honest and accurately assessing your skillset , what the new role requires and how your skills are aligned with those requirements . If you ’ re not quite clear about what success means for the next job , you should openly ask what you need to do to make your next position a success and what that looks like . That ’ s also something we need to work on as women – we don ’ t need to have all the skills to apply for the job , we need to have the core competencies and the rest we can learn on the job .
The second aspect is to reach out to other women in the company that you believe have had inspiring careers and ask them what they did – what steps did they take and what advice can they give you ? It ’ s about understanding that you are fully legitimate to apply for those roles .
What advice would you offer women wanting to take the next step in their career within this field but don ’ t have the confidence to do so ?
Ask your female colleagues . There are only a small group of women in this sector so we are very supportive of one another . If I had someone come to me and ask for advice on taking the next step but not knowing where to start , I ’ d be happy to spare some time to help . I ’ d help them understand what ’ s possible within this sector and what I found to be most effective in terms of progression and next steps .
It ’ s also important to share what didn ’ t work so they can avoid making the same mistakes . It ’ s good to learn from female colleagues but also to ask male colleagues for advice and support .
The lack of gender diversity within data centres is concerning for the future – what impact will this have on digital innovation and how can we prevent it ?
When I look at men and women , I believe we complement each other .
It ’ s not a competition that one gender is better than the other . We each offer something unique and bring something different to the table and if we have an industry or sector that is dominated either by men or women , you lack ideas and diversity . If we don ’ t increase female representation in the data centre industry , the reality is there ’ ll be no future innovation .
We therefore all need to make a conscious effort to showcase what this industry is all about and that needs to start from a young age . It ’ s too late to wait until university level to implement this because the idea is to increase the number of women in the pool of talent . We must start to encourage girls to enter engineering careers from primary school level , for example , to show them that there are so many possibilities .
Hopefully having these discussions will bring about change and in the near future people will feel they can take up a career in this industry and not feel overwhelmed by it .
So , be confident , get out there , be loud and be proud . �
The final piece is to understand the promotion process – who ’ s making the decision ? Who are they going to ask to inform the decision and if you can identify those people , go and market yourself and let them know you ’ re applying for the role .
Make yourself visible and have a voice , understand your intention , ask for support and advice and just go for it .
Women in data centres 7