Leading global companies, which are members of the National Association of Women in Operations (NAWO) gave high-school girls and pre-career girls an opportunity to explore exciting careers in fields such as research and development, innovation and technology.
ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, took part in a Girls Experience Industry Day in Melbourne on April 7th, 2014 and in Sydney on April 14th, 2014.
According to the press release by ABB, the girls were taken on morning visits to the companies where they learned about the needed skills and technologies and were encouraged to take part in hand-on activities.
All the participating companies came together at the careers fair where they presented to the girls what the company actually does, showcased their products and the careers they have available.
In Melbourne, participating companies included ABB, BP, Coca-Cola Amatil, Mondelez, GlaxoSmithKline, Orora and Ridley, while ABB, BevChain, Bluescope, CHEP and Goodman Fielder took part in the open industry days in Sydney.
“We were pleased to welcome a number of girls to ABB on the NAWO Girls Experience Industry Days. The girls heard from our female graduates and senior managers on their experience in working in a global engineering company and also had hands-on fun interacting with ABB’s robots and building solar powered toy cars. These are the kinds of technologies that we work with every day,” said Rebecca Roberts, Country HR Manager for ABB in Australia.
“NAWO is creating a number of development programs and networking opportunities for women in industry, but it’s also important that we attract and engage young women in their formative years of thinking about which career path they will take. Understanding how a business runs, i.e. ‘the engine room’, is critical for women to be strong leaders and we are working with industry to create opportunities for women. If you look at engineering, females comprise approximately 10 per cent of the Australian engineering labour force. This is a very low number when you consider women make up 51 percent of all professionals in Australia,” said Angela Tatlis, Chair of NAWO.
For more information about NAWO, go to www.nawo.org.au
