Colleagues from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) and its parent company Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) attended Sutton Girls School Careers Fair last week to share their experiences of working in the electricity industry, and hopefully encourage more girls to think about a similar career path.
Maria Ebue, an SSEN System Planning Engineer based in Forbury Place, Andrew Roper, SSEN's Director of Engineering and Investment and Caitlin McGill from SSE's Clyde Wind Farm set up stall at the Careers Fair alongside international engineering firms Rolls Royce and WSP and other companies from across a wide range of business sectors.
Andrew Roper said that he really enjoyed speaking to a wide range of children and their parents, and showing them how studying maths and physics can lead to an exciting career in engineering: "One key criteria in selecting an employer nowadays is that you want to feel a sense of purpose and that you are delivering for society. What better job than to be an engineer involved in solving the problem of how we deliver smart and sustainable energy system for our country. And wouldn't it be better if the people engineering our country's infrastructure represented our diverse population?"
Speaking after the event, Maria explained why it is so important to engage with young women to encourage them to consider a career in engineering: "Women represent only 9% of the engineers in the UK. Inspiring a generation by working with and supporting schools like Sutton Coldfield Grammar School with their Careers Fair is a good way to interest girls with a career in engineering?"
"Events like this are an excellent opportunity to instil the limitless opportunities that engineering has and attract the future workforce into it. There were students who expressed interest and it is wonderful to think that sharing our experiences and our journeys as electrical and power engineers with pupils could ignite their thinking of being an engineer someday. Overall, it has been an enjoyable experience."