NC-The-Tech-Skills-Gap-Gender-Disparity

Nicoll Curtin
Diversity & Inclusion Report
May 2015
Be Outstanding
www.nicollcurtin.com
THE TECH SKILLS GAP:
Gender Disparity

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May 2015
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The best predictor of an effective team is the presence of women. The
kind of collaborative, team-based work that creates great software and
great digital services has been proven to be vastly improved by the
presence of women. So let’s show what can be done – starting in our
schools, continuing all the way to the boardrooms.
Here’s a straightforward, achievable goal – let’s make the UK the best
place to be a female technologist in the world. Now.
The UK will need 1m people to fill the jobs created in the technology
sector by 2020. So let’s create an awesome new cohort of female
coders, creators, designers – women to take on any and every digital
role.
Why not launch a national challenge to find the best ideas to tackle this
problem?
Why not offer every unemployed woman free education and training?
Surely there must be a couple of new Ada Lovelaces lurking in this
land?
There are exciting projects happening in the UK such as Techmums,
Stemettes and Codebar but there need to be more of them, with bigger
impact, so we foster the maximum breadth and depth of digital talent.
Remember the next wave of women can come from all sorts of unlikely
places – look at me – An ancient historian!
- Martha Lane-Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho,
CBE, Co-Founder lastminute.com (Lane-Fox, 2015)

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INTRODUCTION 4
The Increasing Skills Gap 4
THE STATISTICS 5
The Tech Giants 5
Taking a Closer Look 6
Women in STEM: The Reality 6
THE WORKPLACE 7
A Problem of Retention 7
Barriers to Promotion 7
Unconscious Bias 7
Homogenous Culture 8
Overtly Discriminatory Environments 9
An Inclusive Solution 9
A Circular Problem 10
IN EDUCATION 11
The Statistics 11
A Problem of Calibre 12
A Problem of Numbers 12
Early Choices Limiting Prospects 13
Changing Entry Requirements: UCL 13
Influencing Choices Sooner 15
Ensuring it is Not a Sacrifice 15
The Lack of Role Models 17
CONCLUSION 18
Note from the Author 20
About Us 21
REFERENCES 22
CONTENTS

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The Increasing Skills Gap
There is an impending skills gap in the technology industry, yet the industry is failing to engage almost half of the
UK’s skilled workforce – women. With this paper we will explore at what point in women’s lives, educations or
professional development a career in technology is becoming unappealing or inaccessible and why.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) 2014 Skills and Demand in Industry survey found that:
 The demand for engineers remains high, with more than half of companies looking to recruit engineers
and more reporting difficulties in finding the people they need
 This year, 59% of companies indicated concerns that a shortage of engineers would be a threat to their
business in the UK.
 41% of organisations are planning to recruit engineering, IT or technical staff in the next 12 months.
 For the ninth year running the skills gap has increased and now stands at 44% of employers stating that
engineering, IT and technical recruits did not meet reasonable expectations for levels of skill.
Women make up 47% of the UK workforce (BITC Diversity - Opportunity now, 2015), yet a comparatively small
percentage of the STEM workforce. In order to minimise this skills gap going forward, the UK needs to ensure it is
reaching into every corner of its available talent pool.
.
INTRODUCTION
This is a lifelong journey, which
starts with parents then schools and
universities, we have to work
together.[…] People used to talk
about the glass ceiling, now we talk
about the leaky pipeline of women
in STEM
- Amanda Jenkins, Varkey GEMS
Foundation (Gurney-Read, 2014)

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The Tech Giants
The statistics below reveal the gender breakdown of employees at some of the giants of the tech world:
Source: (Information Is Beautiful, 2015)
Diversity statistics are usually provided by organisations to support transparency. However, even these statistics
often fail to provide a true representation of disparities which are still prevalent in organisations. So what happens
when we take a closer look at these demographics?
31
37
30
31
39
40
37
30
30
37
30
30
42
30
33
25
16
37
69
63
70
69
61
60
63
70
70
63
70
70
58
70
67
75
84
63
Facebook
flickr
Google+
Instagram
LinkedIn
Pinterest
tumblr
twitter
YouTube
amazon
Apple
Dell
ebay
Google
hp
intel
nvidia
Yahoo
%Women %Men
THE STATISTICS

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31
69
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Female Male
%
Facebook: The demographic
Male
85%
Female
15%
Facebook: Gender in Tech
689,207
4,710,031
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
4,000,000
4,500,000
5,000,000
Women Men
Number in STEM Occupations 2014, UK
Taking a Closer Look
These are Facebook’s demographics : However, role specific statistics show that:
Source: (Newsroom.fb.com, 2015)
Women in STEM: The Reality
Male
87.2%
Female
12.8%
% of STEM Occupations 2014, UK
Source: (Wisecampaign.org.uk, 2015)
THE STATISTICS

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A Problem of Retention
As aforementioned, women
occupy a mere 12.8% of STEM
occupations in the UK. When
these statistics are probed or
deconstructed further, the
professions with the lowest
proportions of women are
engineering with only 6% and
information and communication
technology with 12%. (House of
Commons Library, 2014)
A recent report by research firm
Gartner shows that even when
the technology industry recruits
similar numbers of men and
women, it then fails to retain
female employees for more
than a few years (Gibbs, 2014).
So why is the technology
industry loosing its women?
Consensus seems to suggest
the answer to that question is
two-fold:
1. Barriers to promotion
2. A homogenous, male
culture
Barriers to Promotion
Tina Nunno, VP at Gartner,
says “A lot of companies
thought this [poor retention of
women] was because women
were leaving to have families,
but more recent data tends to
show that women have become
very intolerant of situations
where they feel men who are
not as qualified as them have
been promoted over them,
frequently just leaving.
Systematically we have to
change the promotion structure
so that women are promoted
and kept engaged in the
company. That could be as
simple as changing the criteria
under which people are
promoted” (Gibbs, 2014).
Unconscious Bias
Indeed this criterion upon which
people are promoted is often
based upon unconscious bias.
Women in tech are the canary in the coal mine. Normally when the canary in
the coal mine starts dying you know the environment is toxic and you should
get the hell out. Instead, the tech industry is looking at the canary, wondering
why it can't breathe, saying “Lean in, canary. Lean in!” When one canary dies
they get a new one because getting more canaries is how you fix the lack of
canaries, right? Except the problem is that there isn't enough oxygen in the coal
mine, not that there are too few canaries.
- Kate Heddleston, Software Engineer & Public Speaker (Heddleston 2015)
THE WORKPLACE

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We have unspoken understandings,
assumptions, and biases about what it
means to work on a team, communicate
with others, build software, and be an
engineer. Despite living as engineers
every day, we're largely unaware of how
our unconscious biases create an
environment that is harmful to diversity. Is
arguing the best way for people to figure
out solutions to technical problems? Are
you more critical of some people than
others? Does that stupid idea suggested
during a meeting really deserve to be
publicly shot down?
Perhaps the most discussed and debated type of unconscious
bias suggests that many managers hire in their own image. This
type of bias is often accentuated by the interview process in which
‘women report that men promote in their own image and through
networks that are male-dominated.’ (REC, 2014)
The prevalence of men in senior, hiring positions creates a cycle
which only further restricts access to senior positions for women.
By innocuously selecting criterion for promotion which reflects their
own backgrounds, senior managers may overlook people with
other equally valid backgrounds and capabilities. It is essential
organisations understand the types of skills and experiences
necessary for senior roles in order to broaden what is considered a
‘successful profile’.
Nunno gives the example of the “hero mentality”; a mentality in
which individuals will work extremely hard to fix problems after
they occur. Men generally associate with the hero mentality, but
women are often better at identifying and rectifying problems
before they happen – but that means they are seen to be doing
less hard and crucial work (Gibbs, 2014).
Homogenous Culture
It seems gender discrimination in the technology sector is perhaps
not always as unconscious as it is generously labelled. Kieran
Snyder is a leading software designer and engineer; who writes
and blogs about the diversity problems. In a recent study she
collected stories from 716 women who had left the tech industry.
192 women cited discomfort working in environments that felt
overtly or implicitly discriminatory as a primary factor in their
decision to leave tech. That’s just over a quarter of the women
surveyed. (Snyder, 2014)
- Kate Heddleston, Software
Engineer and Public Speaker (Heddleston,
2015)
THE WORKPLACE
THE

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Overtly Discriminatory
Environments
Entrepreneur and writer Andrew
Keen writes in his book ‘The
Internet is Not the Answer’ that
indeed, the “tech bros” or
“brogrammers” mentality of the
technology industry encourages
the treatment of women as
sexual objects (Keen, 2015).
Keen evidences this statement
with the example of the
infamous “Titstare” incident at
the 2013 TechCruch Disrupt
conference in San Fransisco;
Titstare was introduced as “an
app where you take photos of
yourself staring at tits” (Morais,
2013) in front of a gender
diverse audience, including a
nine year old girl who was also
presenting. Unfortunately – this
is one incident of its kind
amongst many.
How do businesses go about
changing the “tech bros” or
“brogrammers” mentality? By
ensuring that the voices of
advocates supporting women in
technology are both many and
widely heard. Vivek Wadhwa,
lecturer at Stanford University
and ardent advocate of
promoting women in
technology, notes that: “These
days, it’s understood that
sexism exists in the technology
industry[…]Google, Apple,
Facebook, Intel, Microsoft, and
Twitter have disclosed their
dismal diversity data, and,
where there used to be silence
and ignorance, we hear their
CEOs pledging to create the
necessary opportunities.” He
attributes this progress to “years
of work by brave, vocal women
who have consistently and
eloquently raised the issue” by
“proposing ways in which to
make the industry a safer, more
welcoming place for women”
(Wadhwa, 2015).
An Inclusive Solution
However Wadhwa - who wrote
more than 75 articles on this
subject, completed numerous
research projects and worked
with many talented women to
create a book giving voice to
hundreds of women from all
over the world – has decided to
step out of the debate on
women in technology. Why?
Each time I tried to address the points of my critics, I found others piling on or taking my words out of
context. I got frustrated, and it showed, and the quality of the discussion suffered. […]The diversity
debate has itself become incendiary. Moderate voices are drowned out by shouting and vile invective.
But I may have made the mistake of fighting the battles of women in technology for too long. And I may
have taken the accusations too personally. So I am going to bow out of this debate.
- Vivek Wadhwa (Wadhwa, 2015)
THE WORKPLACE
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His withdrawal was following comments by a tech
blogger that “By appointing himself the unwanted
spokesman for women in tech he has kept actual,
qualified women’s voices from being heard widely in the
mainstream media.” (Greenhall, 2015)
If we are to change the culture of the technology industry
there has to be room for both the male and female voice.
If women are to find equality in male-dominated
industries, men have to be advocates of the change
too. Men are part of the solution as well as the problem.
A Circular Problem
However, diminishing the gender disparity will not be an
easy fix. In some cases the problem is circular. Some
women felt that their work environments were
discriminatory, but most reported something milder: the
simple discomfort of not fitting-in in an otherwise
homogenous setting.
I love coding. I have a masters in CS [computer
science]. I worked in tech for two decades. So
many women like me, so highly trained and for
what? It was hard enough being the only woman
on most projects. Try being the only woman over
40. Doesn’t matter how good you are, or even if
your colleagues respect you. Eventually you get
tired of being the odd duck. I took all my experience
and started my own thing where I could make the
rules. I’m never going back. (Snyder, 2014)
Supporting Organisation:
HeForShe
A Solidarity Movement for
Gender Equality
The movement for gender equality was
originally conceived as a struggle led
only by women.
In recent years men have begun to
stand-up in addressing inequalities
and discrimination faced by women
and girls.
Now it’s time to unify our efforts.
HeForShe is a solidarity movement for
gender equality that brings together
one half of humanity in support of the
other half of humanity, for the benefit
of all.
All over the world, men are taking a
stand for gender equality.
Join them by visiting:
http://www.heforshe.org/
THE WORKPLACE
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64
92.5
36
7.5
ICT
Computing
A-Levels sat UK 2014
%Male of Total Sat %Female of Total Sat
83.2
83
16.7
17
Computer Science
Engineering and Technology
Full-time HE student enrolements UK 2013/2014
Enrolements: %Male Enrolements: %Female
The Statistics
Source: (Sedghi and Arnett, 2014)
Source: (Arnett, 2014)
Source:: (Higher Education Statistics Agency, n.d.)
95
57
85
5
43
15
Other Technology
ICT
Computing
GCSEs sat UK 2014
%Male of Total Sat %Female of Total Sat
IN EDUCATION
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16
19
30
33
39
46
48
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Other
Lack of applications
Lack of practical experience/lab skills
Lack of appropriate attitude and aptitudes for working
life
Content of qualification(s) not relevant to business
needs
Lack of general workplace experience
Shortage of STEM graduates
Quality of STEM graduates
Barriers to recruiting STEM-skilled staff
A Problem of Calibre
As part of the CBI Education
and Skills Survey 2014, an
analysis of the causes of the
STEM skills shortage found
that: ‘Heading the list is the
troubling finding that nearly half
of those respondents (48%)
experiencing problems have
concerns about the quality of
STEM graduates’. This problem
seems to be compounded by a
widespread perception that the
content of qualifications is too
often not relevant to business
needs (cited by 33% of
respondents). A majority of 54%
concluded that this highlights
‘the need for firms and
education and training providers
to work together to ensure
programmes of study properly
reflect workplace developments
and technological advances’.
(CBI, 2014)
A Problem of Numbers
As part of the same survey,
46% of respondents cited a
shortage of STEM graduates as
a barrier to recruiting STEM-
skilled staff. We need to
increase the number of STEM
graduates by increasing the
number of young women
choosing to pursue STEM
subjects in higher education;
only 16.7% of higher education
Computer Science enrolments
in the UK 2013 were female – a
disparity which highlights the
number of intelligent and
educated young women these
degree programmes are
missing out on.
Source: (CBI,2014)
IN EDUCATION
% of respondents

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100
FEMALE BACHELOR
STUDENTS
12
STEM GRADUATES
3
STEM INDUSTRY
Of 100 female bachelor students, 12
graduate with as STEM major but only
3 continue to work in STEM fields 10
years after graduation. (TATA
Consultancy Services, 2014)
Early Choices Limiting
Prospects
The subject choices of young women at
GCSE and A-level are acting as a barrier
to careers in STEM. The entry
requirements of universities mean that
young women who would choose to
pursue a degree in a technology subject
are unable to because of subjects chosen
at ages as young as 14.
Changing Entry
Requirements: UCL
UCL suggests that the number of women taking up civil engineering degrees could be boosted dramatically, if
universities relaxed the requirements they set at A Level. UCL has seen female representation on degree courses
climb above 30% after removing a requirement that undergraduates must have A Level mathematics and a
science eight years ago. (Mann, 2014) The Civil Engineering department’s professor Richard Simons says:
We aimed to allow girls to come on to courses more comfortably – so we removed the requirement for
maths and science at A Level […] Now over 30% of our students are female, plus a third of our
academic staff and professors, and half of the department’s senior management team is also women
(Mann, 2014)
Other leading civil engineering universities have strict entry requirements which include A Level mathematics, and
usually a science as well. However Simon’s highlights the example of Rachel Smith, a 2011 civil engineering
graduate who joined UCL with A Levels in fine art, psychology, and chemistry. Smith said: “Like so many others,
when I was choosing my A Levels, I had reasons for not picking maths and physics, be it not getting on with the
teachers, or something else.” (Mann, 2014)
IN EDUCATION

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For Smith, the lack of A-Level
mathematics has been
unproblematic. Simon’s
explains that “The difference
with our approach is that
students are engaged with
engineering problems
immediately,” said Simons.
“They still have to do maths, but
in a project environment – so
the maths is more relevant.”
(Mann, 2014)
A new introduction this year
means undergraduates can
take a minor subject, in the style
of the US degree system, such
as mechanical engineering. “It
means they graduate with a civil
engineering degree, having
‘majored’ in civils, but with
another string to their bow in the
minor subject. Again, the aim is
to give them a more rounded
experience and skills more
suited to what employers are
demanding.”
This solution therefore, has a
positive impact on both of the
industry’s biggest problems in
sourcing STEM skilled staff. By
increasing the courses
accessibility and attracting more
female enrolments, it is
reducing the shortage of STEM
graduates. The situational,
project-centric style of teaching -
used to make the course
accessible to those without
recent mathematics
qualifications - addresses the
industry’s concerns around
graduates’ lack of
understanding of business
needs.
However, Simons says UCL
has been criticised for “dumbing
down” the engineering
profession in doing so. The
Guardian’s league disputes this
however: UCL has achieved
3rd, 1st and 1st in the past three
years. (Mann, 2014)
IN EDUCATION
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Influencing Choices
Sooner
GCSE choices affect A-Level
choices, A-Level choices affect
Higher Education choices,
Higher Education choices affect
career options. It is about starting
young; it comes down to
ensuring girls are growing up
thinking of a career in STEM as a
viable and appealing option.
Starting Young
We need to ensure that we are
breaking stereotypical gender
roles from an early age. The
Girguiding Survey 2011 found
that of 1200 girls aged between
7 and 11, 43% think that girls
opt for hairdressing because
some jobs are more for girls,
and 27% feel that engineering
loses out because some jobs
are more for boys. Girls
between 11 and 16 are
particularly likely to refer to girls’
or boys’ jobs. (Girlguiding,
2011)
Ensuring it is Not a
Sacrifice
Anne-Marie Imafidon, founder
of the STEMettes, highlights
that: “Some schools, often girl-
only schools, simply don't offer
ICT at A-level and the girls
wanting to do it have to go to a
nearby boys school to learn
it[…] Computer science often
clashes with things like drama
or music, meaning the girls can't
do both. If every other girl is
doing drama, you'd want to be
in a class with all your friends
rather than take the difficult
route and do computer
science." (Wakefield, 2013) As
teenagers, it is all too easy to
make decisions based on your
inclusion in your friendship
group. It is important we ensure
that STEM subjects are
timetabled in a way which they
can be taken alongside courses
which see high female
participation, so that the choice
to opt for a STEM subject is not
a sacrifice.
IN EDUCATION

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Improving Information
The 2011 Girlguiding UK survey found
that 43% of girls said they were put off
science and engineering careers
because they did not know enough
about the kind of careers available.
(Girlguiding, 2011) Careers advice
needs drastic improvement - 43% of 16-
18 year olds feel they received poor
advice or none at all from a careers
service (WISE, 2012). The same
careers information, advice and
guidance continues to reinforce gender
stereotypes (WISE, 2012).
Indeed it seems that many young female engineers stumble into degrees, specialisms or jobs without guidance to
get them there. Kate Heddleston, software engineer and public speaker writes of her experience in this vein:
“Picking a major in college is one of the most obnoxious and stressful decisions you make in your
young life. I knew I wanted to study engineering, but I wasn’t sure what kind.[…] My brother studied CS
and he told me that software engineers were in such high demand that everyone gets a job no matter
how mediocre their grades are in school. I thought to myself—mediocrity, I can manage that. So I did
what I’ve always done: I copied my brother.” (Kateheddleston.com, 2015)
For young women who don’t have a brother to copy, we need to ensure we are supplying them with the advice
needed to make an informed choice with an awareness of the resulting career prospects. We need to ensure that
young women who, like Kate, know they want to study engineering but aren’t sure what kind, are given visibility to
all of their options, to ensure those young women are retained in the right career for them.
IN EDUCATION

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The Lack of Role Models
Of respondents to the 2011 Girlguiding UK survey, 60% said they were put off a career in technology by a lack of
female role models. Anne-Marie Imafidon, head of the STEMettes Project, speaks of the impact media can have
on young girls and their perception of IT:
“The media has a role to play – how many techy girls do we see on children's TV and in papers and
magazines? Girls who aren't already in the industry or don't know anyone in the industry have nothing
to look to, or to aspire to.” (Williams, 2013)
High-visibility women within the IT industry are essential. If employers promote diverse images of IT professionals
within their companies, we can ensure girls are growing up with a perception of the IT industry as one in which
they belong.
IN EDUCATION

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Conclusion
As evidenced, the demand for STEM skills is high. As also evidenced, women’s participation in the STEM industry
is minimal. Women make up 47% of the UK workforce (BITC Diversity - Opportunity now, 2015); this a huge talent
pool with which the STEM industry is not fully accessing.
The industry needs to simultaneously focus on retaining the limited number of women whom are in STEM careers
or graduating with STEM degrees now; whilst improving pipeline by encouraging more young women to pursue
STEM qualifications and careers going forwards.
Women in technology are disengaging with their careers when male colleagues whom they perceive as less
qualified are being promoted over them. The suggestion is that this is occurring as a result of unconscious bias;
particularly men tending to recruit in their own image. To address this, the criterion for promotion should be
revaluated, formalised and made measurable in order to understand the types of skills and experiences
necessary for senior roles and to broaden what is considered a ‘successful profile’.
Respondents to the CBI Education and Skills Survey 2014 suggested the following actions to promote STEM
study:
Source: (CBI,2014)
CONCLUSION
14
31
36
38
40
50
54
57
57
0 20 40 60
Businesses should provide financial incentives
Streamlining of government and stakeholder initiatives
Businesses should provide more high quality work placements
Employees should be encouraged to become STEM ambassadors
Government should tilt higher education in favour of STEM subjects
Government should recruit and retain more specialist teachers
Closer working between business and universities to develop business-relevant STEM courses
More STEM apprenticeships
Businesses should engage with schools to enthuse pupils about STEM study
Priority action to promote STEM study
% of respondents

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Indeed, businesses engaging further with schools to enthuse pupils about STEM study has many positive
implications for engaging young women in technology.
This interaction with businesses will provide role models. WISE (a campaign to promote women in science,
technology and engineering) suggest that:
Girls respond to female role models plus an explanation of the range of different careers available,
using real jobs and current job titles. Role models should be promoted from primary school age and at
key decision points such as Year 9 when they chose GCSE subjects and Year 11 when they choose
whether to continue in education. (WISE, 2012)
These role models would be best presented as part of a diverse team, “rather than a single talking head” to
prevent a perception of women as an anomaly in technology.
This business-education partnership will also improve the provision of information. It is vital that both young
women and parents understand which qualifications and subjects are required for a career in technology. For
example, few young people will understand or realise that taking science at school can lead to a career in robotics
or computer gaming.
With many girls and young women categorising hairdressing a ‘girl’s job’ and engineering as a ‘boy’s job’ (as
detailed in the findings of the Girlguding survey); it is apparent that the implications of this discussion go well
beyond the technology industry and into a redefinition of societal gender norms. However, these actions are a
tangible and positive step towards engaging more women in careers in technology; a step towards closing the
STEM skills gaps by accessing the widest talent pool available.
CONCLUSION

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Note from the Author
There is huge demand for technical skills and the career prospects are extremely strong. In education I was a
strong mathematician and achieved good grades in physics. I have always found technological advances exciting.
The opportunities to innovate as part of a career in tech are engaging, as are the opportunities for creativity and
entrepreneurship.
Why did I not opt for a career in technology?
I made my GCSE choices at 14 years old, with an extremely limited view as to what careers were available. At
this age, your understanding of the careers available to you comes from the professions of the adults in your life,
be this parents, teachers or family friends. My perception of the technology industry was that you either worked in
IT support which did not appeal to me, or you were an inventor of kind, with genius level intelligence.
At 16, choosing my A-Levels, I did not believe that I could take Computing or ICT as I did not at GCSE. I was
completely unaware that maths or physics were applicable or utilised in pursuing technology subjects.
It is essential that we are educating young women on the scope and variety of roles available within technology
before they make these choices; using real women, real jobs and current job titles. It is about making these jobs
real, accessible options and ensuring an understanding of the skills and qualifications they require.
So in answer to my question, I didn't opt for a career in technology because it wasn’t even on my radar; I never
considered it an option.
Information is key to making the technology industry an option for all young women.
Ashleigh Clowes
Co-Head of Equality and Diversity
Researcher Senior Appointments
NOTE FROM THE
AUTHOR

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BITC Diversity - Opportunity now, (2015). Women and Work: The Facts. [online] Available at:
http://opportunitynow.bitc.org.uk/WomenWorkFactsheet [Accessed 27 Apr. 2015].
OUR STORY
Nicoll Curtin Senior Appointments was conceived and developed by Cian Loughnane (Head of Senior Appointments, Co-
Head of Diversity), following a central role in the business since 2004. He was tasked with spearheading Nicoll Curtin’s
Senior Appointments offering in 2011, in response to client demand for a service that reflected our successes in
contingency. He is passionate about Equality and Diversity and its role in the corporate sphere.
Cian is ably supported by Ashleigh Clowes (Senior Appointments Researcher and Co-Head of Diversity). Ashleigh takes
ownership of research functions, producing tailored research documents on topical issues of interest for clients.
OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUALITY & DIVERSITY
We fully acknowledge that an optimal business environment is a diverse one. We are committed to helping our clients
improve their business performance by providing them with the diverse talent required to constitute effective leadership.
We will challenge doubts and reinforce the attributes of non-traditional career pathways, broadening your definition of a
“successful profile” and providing appropriate weight to intrinsic competencies and capabilities. This process is
instrumental in facilitating equal opportunities for diverse and talented individuals.
Even when this takes the form of a difficult or ‘loaded’ conversation, we will probe, question and challenge often long-held
assumptions, revealing unconscious biases that may exist in specifications or selection processes.
We will engage candidates in the application process from under-represented characteristic groups by demonstrating your
commitment to diversity and your organisation’s mechanisms to help them succeed.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information please contact:
Cian Loughnane
Head of Senior Appointments
cian.loughnane@nicollcurtin.com
0207 397 0197
Ashleigh Clowes
Researcher for Senior Appointments
ashleigh.clowes@nicollcurtin.com
0207 397 0145

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Be Outstanding
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[Accessed 29 Apr. 2015].
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Keen, A. (2015). The Internet is not the answer. London: Atlantic Books.
Lane-Fox, M. (2015). Dot Everyone - Power, the Internet and You, Richard Dimbleby Annual Lecture.
Mann, W. (2014). Relax entry requirements to improve gender balance, says top university. New Civil Engineer.
[online] Available at: http://www.nce.co.uk/relax-entry-requirements-to-improve-gender-balance-says-top-
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Morais, B. (2013). The Unfunniest Joke in Technology - The New Yorker. [online] The New Yorker. Available at:
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Snyder, K. (2014). Why women leave tech: It's the culture, not because 'math is hard'. Fortune. [online] Available
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Wakefield, J. (2013). 100 Women: Why tech needs a makeover to attract girls - BBC News. [online] BBC News.
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Be Outstanding

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