Highlights from the STEM Women UK Engineering Event, Sponsored by Ball Corporation

On Wednesday 20^th October 2021, we hosted our first UK Careers Event targeted towards the Engineering industry. This event was perfect for STEM students and recent graduates who identify as female or non-binary and were looking to start their careers in engineering.

We had 834 student and graduates signed up for this event, with 381 logging in on the day, they were predominately studying mechanical engineering followed by chemical/process engineering and automotive & aerospace engineering. We also welcomed 14 top employers from the engineering industry who included our event sponsors Ball Corporation, alongside ARM, AWE, BUUK, Caterpillar, Edwards Vacuum, EUMETSAT, ESA (European Space Agency), Honeywell, IMI, Procter & Gamble, Rolls-Royce, Schlumberger, and Veolia.

During the day, attendees and employers had 616 conversations, sending 3,297 chat messages! Attendees made 371 job applications. Attendees could also watch live presentations and a panel session during the event, and we recorded a peak audience of 189.

Our Engineering event followed the same agenda as our previous STEM Women events, beginning with a welcome talk from STEM Women Events Host, Sophie Chadwick, who gave everyone an overview of the day and the exhibiting companies.

This was followed by a welcome address from our event sponsors, Ball Corporation. Klara Svedberg, Senior Director for Strategy and Transformation led this talk and covered her experiences as a female engineer and what she has learnt during her career. She also spoke about what avenues a degree in engineering open up for you and the exciting opportunities that are available at Ball Corporation.

Attendees were then invited to ask their questions to a panel of women working in engineering, the panel was hosted by Sophie Chadwick. Our fantastic panelists were Kathryn Bailey from Procter & Gamble, Sophie Austen from Rolls-Royce, Valerie Guillebert from Ball Corporation, and Loretta Wootton from Honeywell. We heard some invaluable advice focusing on how to navigate the interview and onboarding process virtually, how to make the transition from studying to the workplace and the top skills needed to enter into an engineering role. The panelists also spoke about what motivated them to join their respective companies and what makes them most excited to go to work every day.

After the panel session, we then had a short networking break, where attendees could browse company stalls, apply for jobs and network live with company representatives.

At 1.30pm, our employer speaker sessions then began with a presentation from Frida Nzaba, Manufacturing Engineer – EOS Lineside at Rolls Royce. Frida began her presentation with a video about Rolls Royce which went into more detail about the company and their three key business areas; aerospace, defence, and power systems. She then spoke about her personal journey into the company and completing the Rolls-Royce apprenticeship. She gave attendees an in-depth overview of the projects she has worked on, her day-today tasks and the key skills she needed to succeed. The presentation ended with an insight into the excellent opportunities that are available at the company.

Next up we welcomed Michelle Lyle, Lead Engineer of Global Engineering Product Design at Ball Corporation. Michelle’s session gave attendees a fascinating insight into who Ball are, what they do, and highlighted the beverage packaging side of the business in particular. Michelle spoke about how Ball are expanding their engineering teams and their commitment to sustainability. She then went on to talk about her personal journey from moving to the UK from Canada, securing her role at Ball and how she has progressed to Lead Engineer. She ended her presentation by talking about the careers available, the talent they are looking for and the talent programmes they offer.

Our penultimate talk was from Katie Malone, Fairy Liquid Operations Leader at Procter & Gamble. She started with an overview of her education, and how she secured her industrial placement with P&G. She then went into more detail about Procter & Gamble, the leading brands they work with and the products they create. Katie highlighted three main things she wished she had known when graduating and highlighted the importance of communication and learning. Her presentation ended with an insight into what P&G offer graduates and the structured plan they have in place to help employees progress into leadership roles.

Our last speaker session was presented by Loretta Wootton, Engineering Director at Honeywell. Loretta gave attendees a fantastic overview of Honeywell and what they do. She played three videos throughout the talk which covered the business areas they work in, their commitment to helping the environment and their culture. She also spoke about the vast scope of the business and it’s four key divisions; aerospace, building technologies, performance materials and technology and safety and productivity solutions. The presentation ended with the roles and positions they have to offer and how to apply.

Our first Engineering event was a huge success, and we hope to host many more in the future. Both attendees and employers gave us some great feedback after the event.

“Fantastic experience, well organised and great work!” Sweta Shylaja Radhakrishnan, MSc Mechanical Engineering. 

Our final event of the autumn 2021 season is our Benelux Region STEM Careers Event on Wednesday 27^th October. We are also hosting a number of careers events in early 2022 and autumn 2022. For more information visit www.stemwomenevents.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for event updates.

There are still a few employer spaces left for upcoming event. If you’re interested in exhibiting, get in touch with laurenj@stemwomen.co.uk.