Acorn, a specialist recruiter, have highlighted the number of female consultants they employ who are making a significant difference in male dominated industries. With a 57/43 female to male staff split, Acorn has consultants all over the UK placing people into various roles into the traditionally male dominated industries such as manufacturing, industrial, technical, engineering, construction, driving and rail.
Deborah Symons, contracts manager at Acorn has placed over 100 male candidates into HGV related mechanical and electrical roles in the past few months alone, and is positive about changes and developments to come to enable the gender balance.
“Whilst there is a presence of male dominance in these industries particularly within the lower scaled roles, over recent years we’ve definitely seen a change in the number of women in middle management roles.” She said.
Deborah works on-site up to five days a week placing mechanical and electrical vehicle specialists into roles required by a large-scale client in the defence industry.
“Every business we work with is really keen to encourage more women into their industries and Acorn is perfectly placed to support this,” she said. “Acorn speaks to a variety of people at jobs fairs, universities, and through our network of UK branches to showcase the range of opportunities available for women, and has hosted many events and recruitment campaigns, particularly within the construction industry, to encourage more women to consider a career in the sector.
“Of course, in addition to this, education plays a huge role in the required changes – our specialist IT and Technology recruiters have seen a great increase in women in Tech over the past few years, so we know it’s possible but everyone – employers, government and education authorities have to work together.”
Deborah added: “There is always work to be done in terms of achieving full gender equality regardless of the industry you happen to work in, but as one of those tasked with bringing new talent into a traditionally male-dominated industry it’s great to be part of change that will have a positive effect on industries for many years to come.
Symons is a manager of three people, two of which are women. She reports to the company’s director of operations who is also a woman as is her counterpart in the business.
