Employers are struggling to attract apprentices and trainees to fill entry-level roles.
At the same time, many women do not realise an apprenticeship or traineeship in a trade of choice can kickstart a rewarding career.
To help bridge the gap, the Women in STEM Project is helping to support female apprentices and trainees in STEM industries such as engineering, IT and Industry 4.0.
Attracting females into these industries is difficult because women considering a trade tend to steer towards traditional apprenticeships such as carpentry, plumbing or electrical.
To support employers struggling to find apprentices, we have discussed ways in which they can broaden their traditional thinking and more readily consider women as apprentices.
The Operations Manager of one Ai Group member, a large engineering and manufacturing business in Victoria, shared his thoughts on why it seems to be difficult to attract female apprentices and trainees.
Although the business, which provides products and services to the defence industry, has recently taken on two female apprentices in Mechanical Engineering, it desperately needs more apprentices, male or female, to fill entry-level positions.
“Many secondary school students, parents and teachers don’t know apprenticeships are available in engineering and manufacturing,” the Operations Manager said.
“Young males might have an idea, usually because they have family who are involved in engineering but if females want to take up a trade, they are often encouraged to start a traineeship in an area that ‘girls do’, such as hairdressing and hospitality.
“There is a view that engineering is a male’s job and that females couldn’t take the dirty, dusty and heavy work on site.
“However, advances in technology have changed the way work is done.”
The Operations Manager shared the steps he has taken to attract and retain the company’s female apprentices, one of whom has finished her apprenticeship and the other is in her second year.
“We realised our usual approach to recruitment was not attracting females,” he said.
“The words and description of the advertised apprenticeship were targeting males.
“If we wanted to attract 100% of possible candidates, we needed to change our approach.”
On site, the company has provided appropriate facilities for women and set out clear expectations to all staff regarding the treatment of female colleagues. A supervisor has been designated to support female apprentices.
The Operations Manager said their female apprentices had added much value to the organisation, bringing with them strong communication skills in areas such as problem solving and decision making.
“The culture on site has improved, and male team members have developed better communication skills over time,” he said.
“If we don’t broaden our thinking and include females, then we are losing out on the opportunity to recruit talented individuals.”
To address traditional beliefs about engineering as a trade, strategies are being put in place to improve:
Encouraging females to apply for apprenticeships and traineeships has many benefits.
It may help to resolve the skills shortage, create a healthier workplace culture and significantly improve the business brand.
In addition, increasing gender equity and diversity within STEM businesses will boost growth and prosperity.
