Hello, I received the following message from somebody that would like to remain anonymous and I would like to invite you to give some advice / information if you can.
''I am a woman with an HND in marine engineering. In 2013, I decided that I would prefer to work on land as the long trips away were not what I wanted to be doing any more.
Since that time, I have been trying to get a job where I can use my qualifications, I have not heard back from nearly every job except for the odd rejection letter. I would dearly like a job in the rail industry, which is apparently looking to employ more women in STEM. I heard back from Colas rail in May this year saying that they would like to take me on with their on track machinery, but I haven't heard anything back from them. I tried calling their talent acquisition team and they informed me that HR wasn't releasing anyone for interviews, that was in June.
I am currently trying to make ends meet by welding bits of agricultural equipment back together. In the past couple of years I have done an NVQ 3 just to get by and get me closer to the kind of job I would like to do.
It is very frustrating knowing I am capable of so much more but no one seems to be giving me the chance.
Please can you tell me where all these jobs for women are in engineering?''
If you do have some advice that you could offer, please reply to this post or e-mail me at womensnetwork@theiet.org and I will forward your comments on.
Kind regards,
Jo
