Returners & Career Changers:

Best practices in adapting to a

changing workforce and

attracting untapped talent

Returners & Career Changers: Best practices in adapting to

a changing workforce and attracting untapped talent

How WISE members are balancing the work-life needs of returners,

and insights into the initiatives that are attracting career changers.

Returners & Career Changers: Best practices in adapting to a

changing workforce and attracting untapped talent

Rebooting and rerouting: Best practice for STEM career break returners

Dr Clem Herman, Director of eSTEeM (OU Centre for STEM Pedagogy), The Open University

Relaunch Your Career Programme

Anouska Ladds, VP Airlines, Hotels and OTA’s, European Business Development, Mastercard

Get Into Tech Initiative

Conrad Langworthy, Academy Leader, Group Technology, Sky

Vicki Marshall, Associate Software Developer, Sky

Returner Programmes - what we have learnt

Julie Thornton, Head of Human Resources, Tideway

Returners & Career Changers: Best practices in adapting to

a changing workforce and attracting untapped talent

Rebooting and rerouting: Best practice for STEM

career break returners

Dr Clem Herman, Director of eSTEeM (OU Centre for STEM

Pedagogy), The Open University

REBOOTING AND REROUTING: BEST PRACTICE FOR STEM

CAREER BREAK RETURNERS

DR CLEM HERMAN

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

LEAVING STEM

Over two thirds of women with STEM qualifications don’t go back into STEM sector work after a break

(Maximising Returns 2002)

• Traditional cultures and career structures within established professions like engineering

and scientific research. New masculine cultures of exclusion in IT sector.

• The ‘ideal worker’ is still considered the norm within many companies. Uninterrupted full-

time careers are what get rewarded and leads to ‘success’.

• Gendered organisations (Acker 1990) reproduce gendered patterns of career

• But women’s careers are often non-linear and thus perceived as frayed or broken (Sabelis

and Schilling 2012, Herman 2015)

GENDERED CAREERS IN STEM

RETURNERS

• Returners are diverse in age, background and reasons for being out of work

• Maternity isn’t the only reason for leaving – often it is a combination of push factors and pull factors (Hewlett et al., 2008)

• The longer the break, the harder it is to get back into STEM work

• Getting back into STEM more difficult than other sectors because of gendered employment norms, and rapid change in skills/knowledge

• Career breaks and periods of part time work can have negative impact on career progression and employability.

• The parenthood penalty - recent research showing that stay at home parents are less likely to get call back for interviews than others who have been ‘unemployed’ (Weisshaar 2018)

Locality and mobility

OPEN UNIVERSITY INTERVENTIONS

Gender role normativity

Structural/ Institutional barriers

• UK government funded Open University to develop Return to SET course.

• national partnership led by UKRC• First large scale online course for women returners• Over 1000 women took the course between 2005 and 2011• Longitudinal follow up study in 2011/12• Survey of 167 women 5 years after they had completed the course• Biographical semi-structured interviews with 23 women• Identified barriers as well as success strategies in returning

Key barriers to return were identified as:

Return to SET – 5 years on

The course improved my confidence … and got me in touch with other women in the same situation. It was great to know that I wasn’t alone. I managed to build a good network out of it, and most importantly for me, it helped me put together a successful job application.

I have recently accepted a job working as a software engineer. The Open University course was a crucial part in my journey towards getting started in commercial work again. It was so important in building up my confidence and helping me make key decisions about my own skills set and the opportunities available to me locally

Getting Back InReturning after a career break – 5 top strategies

OPEN LEARN: Badged Open Courses

• These courses are a key part of The Open University’s mission ‘to promote the educational well-being of the community’.

• Journeys from informal to formal learning.

• Badged Open Courses differ from formal Open University courses – no start or finish date, can take however long you like.

• 8 weeks 3 hours a week (24 hours)

• Interactive quizzes each week

• Completers of the course get a Digital Badge

Returning to STEMFree course from the OU

Week 1 – The story so far

Week 2 – Presenting yourself

Week 3 – What’s going on in your sector

Week 4 – New ways of working

Week 5 – Work life balance

Week 6 – Getting support

Week 7 – Finding your STEM opportunity

Week 8 – Planning Your Next Steps

• Curriculum partnership with Equate Scotland - women returners to STEM in Scotland studied the BOC as part of a 9 month integrated programme.

• Equate secured funding from Scottish government. 40 women enrolled to their returners programme in March 2017. Studied the BOC between April and June. Initial seminar and then ongoing support from OU Associate Lecturer via Linked In group.

• Equate organised additional webinars and face to face career clinic, plus returnships in industry.

FEEDBACK FROM EQUATE RETURNERS PROGRAMME

Lesley (Equate)

• Employers are very aware that they want to improve the gender balance within their staffing profile but they’re not always sure where to start. So the great thing about the project is it’s an opportunity to take action.

The programme’s got me from, in the beginning, not having a clue where to start, to now, in a couple of weeks’ time I’m going to start a six month placement.

The workplace is a different environment from where I left it. There are new ways of establishing yourself, of making yourself known, of expressing yourself and there are new ways of understanding that you can work flexibly.

This programme makes me feel like my past experience and my past knowledge and skills are actually worth something. ….It’s a relief and it brings hope back into my life.

RECOMMENDATIONS• Develop more bespoke programmes for returners

• Community building and peer support to combat experience of isolation

• Use online tools and environments, plus face to face meetings

• Promote networking as a job seeking strategy – explore the hidden job market

• For employers

• Promote and encourage returnships

• Work with recruiters to combat discrimination against returners

LINKS TO RESOURCES

Returning to STEM Badged Open Course

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/returning-stem/content-section-overview

Reboot your STEM career – interactive toolkit

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/stemreboot

Contact me Clem Herman – email:clem.herman@open.ac.uk Twitter: @clemherman or on Linked In

Returners & Career Changers: Best practices in adapting to

a changing workforce and attracting untapped talent

Relaunch Your Career Programme

Anouska Ladds, VP Airlines, Hotels and OTA’s, European Business

Development, Mastercard

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• Manager Training. Session to educate managers on the individual they are supporting, their needs and how to ensure they have meaningful work/projects during their time with Mastercard.

• Induction Programme (2 days):

– Internal sessions covering Business Overview, Product Knowledge essentials, HR Intro/Degreed overview

– External sessions covering Preparing for personal change, Building strengths and confidence, Making the Most of the opportunities, Resilience and Creating a clear vision, goals and action plan for the returnship.

• How Mastercard Makes Money. 1-2 hours session run by Finance. Take place 2 weeks after the start date.

• Buddy Assigned. Select individuals who would relate well to the challenges of coming back to work having gone through similar experience.

• Lunch & Learns with senior leaders. To take place within first 6-8 weeks of the programme, and cover business relevant areas. Minimum 2, maximum 4 sessions recommended.

• Ongoing Learning Support. Participants are introduced to Degreed as a one-stop resource for learning. They complete Relaunch Your Career pathway through the duration of the programme (including professional skills training, Welcome to Mastercard and Payments 101 on Degreed).

Relaunch Your Career Development Programme Overview

Manager Training

Induction Programme

Buddy Assigned

How Mastercard

Makes Money

Lunch & Learns

Ongoing learning support

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJyqB7NDgFc

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Returners & Career Changers: Best practices in adapting to

a changing workforce and attracting untapped talent

Get Into Tech Initiative

Conrad Langworthy, Academy Leader, Group Technology, Sky

Vicki Marshall, Associate Software Developer, Sky

Get into Tech Conrad

Head of Software Engineering Academy

Get into TechConrad Langworthy

Head of Software Engineering Academy

25

Launched 2016

Opportunity Balanced workforce

Learn, Support &

Evolve

Run in Osterley &

Leeds

26

Agile, Javascript, PHP, HTML, CSS

Dedicated external instructor

Support from our Software Engineering professionals

Evolve young people into Software Engineers and address the gender balance

Taster Event 1-2-1 discussion

15 weeks training (1 week full immersion,

14 weeks evening course) on the Sky

Campus

Practical exercises and group Software

Project

Mid week Google Hangout sessions

Develop skills to apply for a place on the

Software Engineering Academy

Started 15th January and 19th February

2018

27

GraduateDeveloper &

Tester

ApprenticeDeveloper

Get into TechFor Women

WorkExperience

SummerPlacement

Academy Master

Agile University

28

Oct 2017

Get into Tech attraction and

selection

Nov 2017

Get into Tech insight event

Dec 2017

Get into Tech attraction & selection

Jan 2018

Get into Tech starts

Apr 2018

Get into Tech Complete

May 2018

Software Engineering Academy attraction &

selection

July 2018

Software Engineering Academy start

Sept 2018

Level 4 qualification starts

Dec 2018

Delivery team placement

Jan 2019 Software Engineering Academy ends

Sept 2019

Level 5 qualification starts

Dec 2019

Expected promotion to a mid rage developer

Sept 2020

Level 6 qualification starts

May 2021

Degree qualification complete

Continued delivery team placement

Applications Creating female developers Transformation

• Over 700 women have applied for our Get into Tech scheme

• 154 women have taken a place on a course

• So far 27 women from Get into Tech have secured a place on the Software Engineering Academy

• They are now fully fledged software developers in our business

• Last year the Software Engineering Academy was 47% female rather than 8% in previous years

The Nut Job

Returners & Career Changers: Best practices in adapting to

a changing workforce and attracting untapped talent

Returner Programmes - what we have learnt

Julie Thornton, Head of Human Resources, Tideway

Tideway Returners – What We Have LearntJulie Thornton

27 February 2018

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Tideway – who are we

34

A brief history of our progammes

2015 – first programme – 7 returners join Tideway

Project based – Corporate Finance, Legal, Project Management, Asset Management,

Internal Communications, Business Planning

2016 – Joint programme with Main Works Contractors – 3 returners join Tideway

Role based – Quality, Commercial, Innovation

2017 – 2 Returners Join Tideway

Role based – Training, Internal Communications

• 12 week programme of paid employment

• Supported by Women Returners

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What we learnt

• Senior Executive endorsement is critical but:

• Managers need to understand the practicalities – not just the concept

• No detailed job descriptions / person specs

• Probably no immediate up-to-date experience

• Technical skills – may need updating

• First month may need more support – a good buddy is essential

Organisation buy-in

• Consider programme roles v recruiting to vacant positions

• Roles that can use appropriate transferable skills – give greatest pool of

candidates

• Individuals may use the role as a stepping stone or opportunity to change

career

• New roles –often returners shaped them

• Learnings:

• Consider the real technical needs of the role and whether a returner

is a suitable route

• Junior/mid level roles can be easier to source candidates

Returner Roles

• Labour intensive – potential high volumes to screen

• Screening – has to be personal – finding the gap and the match

• High level of briefing required if using 3rd party recruitment companies

• Pick your channels job/boards well

• Joint programmes – can become logistically complicated

• Be VERY specific in the adverts, programme details and process

• Support managers in different selection/interview style

• Have one person responsible for the whole programme

Recruitment

• Full time or part time – we increased flexibility but set parameters

• Mentors and buddies need to be introduced day 1

• Cohorts – provide self help and support following programmes

• Internal communication – how do you position the programme

• Value of external specialist support

The Programme

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What we confirmed

• Returners are a valuable addition to the Company

• They bring enthusiasm, skills and experience and are “up and running” in a short period of

time

• They are no more “risky” than any other external hire!

• Returners programmes work if you have family friendly inclusive organisations which

support all employees

• They can help improve diversity in an organisation