TOGETHER We Inspired the Next Generation of Automotive Women – The Lasting Impact of Inspiring Automotive Women Day Event 2020
In November the Automotive 30% Club broadcast its annual Inspiring Automotive Women Day event live into seven secondary schools across the country, as well as facilitating thirty digital reach out visits into primary and secondary schools.
The day event was held on the 17th of November and saw sixteen Inspiring Automotive Women, from within the Automotive 30% Club member companies, participate in a series of live activities, each focusing on providing the 350 female students with a greater understanding of the career opportunities for diverse females and males in the automotive industry.
The day event was split into three 1-hour sessions, with a mixture of pre-recorded and live activities.To start the event, students heard inspiring messages from Julia Muir, CEO of Gaia Innovation Ltd and Founder of the Automotive 30% Club and Kristian Elvefors, MD of Volvo Car UK. This was followed by a live Young Real Model Success Stories Panel.
In sessions two and three, students watched an energising video which showed ‘Behind the Scenes at Volvo’, participated in a live interactive Career Speed Networking activity, watched an Essential Skills Masterclass discussion and finally had the wonderful opportunity to ask questions to our Inspiring Automotive Women Panel.
You can read more about each of these activities here.
Throughout the day event, students were asked a series of evaluation questions, focusing on the individual activities and also the overall digital event. It is extremely important that we conduct this evaluation exercise, as it enables us to continually improve our events as well as providing essential feedback to the volunteers who kindly took time out of their working day to be a part of it. In total, a staggering 93% of students said the event had provided them with a greater understanding of the career opportunities for diverse females and males in the automotive industry and 93% also agreed with the statement that they had enjoyed the digital presentation.
The Inspiring Automotive Women Day school visits took place throughout November. Our volunteers spoke digitally to students in thirty schools to inspire their female pupils to consider careers within the automotive sector. The volunteers specifically spoke about their education and career pathways, their current job, and why they would recommend a career in the automotive industry.
Students were asked an evaluation question “I now have a greater understanding of the career opportunities for diverse women and men in the automotive industry.” 90% of the students agreed with this statement and 87% said that they had really enjoyed the digital presentation.
Julia Muir, CEO Gaia Innovation and Founder of the Automotive 30% Club commented: “This was the first digital Inspiring Automotive Women Day event, and it was a great success thanks to the commitment and professional support of the Volvo Car UK team. Our dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers were amazing, and feedback from the female students and their teachers show that they were truly inspired by the day. I urge all our member companies to enable their female employees to support the day in the future.”
Inspiring Automotive Women Day 2020 was an amazing experience for all the students who participated and we are extremely grateful to all the Inspiring Automotive Women who were involved.
If your employer is a member of the Automotive 30% Club and you would like to join our volunteer network to support our ongoing events, please contact Nicola Thompson at nicola@automotive30club.co.uk.
Article written by Nicola Thompson, Inspiring Super-Network Manager