Name: WES Virtual Student Conference
Start: 25/11/2021 12:00 PM +00:00
End: 26/11/2021 02:30 PM +00:00

Ball Corporation manufactures aluminum packaging for beverage, personal care and household products, and provides aerospace and other technologies for commercial and government customers. In 2019, the company started producing and marketing the first infinitely recyclable aluminum cup &ndash; another innovation that demonstrates our commitment to sustainability. We are headquartered in Westminster (USA) but our reach is global, with more than 21,000 employees worldwide. Our aluminum beverage can and end operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) includes more than twenty plants in addition to our regional main office in Luton (UK) and five other regional offices throughout EMEA.&nbsp;

Ball Corporation

CBRE is the world&rsquo;s leading full-service real estate services and investment firm with broader and deeper capabilities than any company in our sector. We offer a broad range of integrated services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services.
At CBRE, we are committed to providing a work environment that attracts, develops and retains the best people and celebrates the professional success of every individual. By creating an environment where each and every individual is valued for who they are, recognised for their contributions and given the chance to grow, we open our business up to new perspectives and opportunities.

CBRE

Kickstart your career and help us unleash Britain&rsquo;s potential
We&rsquo;re on a mission to build the UK&rsquo;s finest digital infrastructure and accelerate its full fibre future - transforming the way we live, work, and communicate. We&rsquo;ve believed in shaking up our industry from day one. And we&rsquo;re not going to stop until we are a full fibre nation. We already have significant investments in 60+ towns and cities, making us the UK&rsquo;s leading alternative provider of wholesale full fibre network infrastructure. With 8 million homes and businesses to connect in our sights, and a &pound;4bn investment programme to make it happen, we have a busy and exciting journey ahead.
Building a national digital infrastructure platform demands an amazing and fast-growing team. This in turn, creates huge opportunities. What unites us is a drive to change up the way the UK connects, to transform communities and boost Britain&rsquo;s economy.
We&rsquo;re really proud of our culture The CityFibre Way and our people who make it what it is. It makes CityFibre a lively, innovative, and engaging place to work and it&rsquo;s why we enjoy our work so much.. Take a look at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7s5NaU6B60" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The CityFibre Way video</a> to learn more about our way of doing things. &nbsp;
Diversity &amp; Inclusion is a cornerstone of The CityFibre Way. &ldquo;Having a diverse group of employees brings diversity of thought, new ideas and a great working environment where people want to be. To me, that is a great outcome for us to aim for.&rdquo; explains Greg Mesch, our founder and CEO. CityFibre is a place where we celebrate differences and you can be yourselves - our Disability &amp; Carers, Cultural Inclusion, LGBT+ and Gender networks empower every employee at CityFibre to drive positive change and make sure we have an inclusive workplace. You can hear from some of our employees on our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT5glKaddtE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inclusion - The CityFibre Way video</a>. Our innovative approach saw us recognised as a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hsvYmY0yu4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Times Top 50 Employer for Women 2021</a>.
To be successful in delivering our mission, we need you - our emerging talent - with innovative ideas and fresh perspectives, to help us make a difference.&nbsp;
If you join our vibrant graduate community, we&rsquo;ll be dedicated to ensuring that you have make the most of every opportunity. We offer training and development, mentoring programmes, and Leadership &amp; Management Development programmes to help you develop your skills, achieve your objectives, and develop your career.
Looking for a career where you can really change it up? Why not have a chat to us in the conference breaks or visit us in the Virtual Lounge. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s never been a more exciting time to join the CityFibre team.

CityFibre

Dialog Semiconductor is a world-leading provider of low-power, advanced mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs). Our products support a wide range of applications, including wearables, smart home appliances, connected medical devices, automotive applications, wireless audio, haptics feedback and the industrial IoT. &nbsp; Our semiconductor-based solutions are offered as standard, configurable and custom products to provide customers with the highest degree of flexibility for differentiating their own products and accelerating their time-to-market. Certified to Industrial and Automotive grade quality standards, Dialog&rsquo;s ICs empower customers to develop the next generation of devices that are enhancing consumer product functionality, accelerating the pace of innovation and powering the smart connected future. &nbsp; Dialog has a renowned reputation for flexible, dynamic support and world-class innovation. We are a socially responsible employer pursuing programs that benefit our employees, stakeholders and community, and are backed by world-class manufacturing partners. Those leading electronics manufacturers and suppliers trust Dialog to deliver, thanks to our decades of experience as an established business partner in the rapid development of custom ICs. ​www.dialog-semiconductor.com
At Dialog we value diversity at every level as we know it makes our business stronger. This year we have a strong focus on gender diversity and we are proud to partner with the Women in Engineering Society (WES). Partnering with WES will enable our female engineers to participate in events and learn from the available resources, networks and thought leadership. We will also advertise on the WES job board to attract fellow female engineers to our open opportunities. Partnering with WES will aid us in our initiative to raise the awareness of opportunities for women within the Engineering and Technology sector.

Dialog Semiconductor

McLaren Racing is pioneering a strategic alliance with four expert partners to drive forward a programme of collaborative initiatives to diversify talent in motorsport.&nbsp;
The four partners are: Women&rsquo;s Engineering Society (WES); EqualEngineers; The Smallpeice Trust; and Creative Access.&nbsp;
The alliance, known as McLaren Racing Engage, will advance the team&rsquo;s diversity, equality and inclusion agenda as part of its broader sustainability programme, including its commitment to F1&rsquo;s WeRaceAsOne platform. &nbsp;
The alliance will drive a shared agenda to: &nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Promote STEM and F1 as an accessible vocation to under-represented and under-privileged groups</li>
<li>Foster a diverse and inclusive culture within McLaren&rsquo;s workforce and communities by providing accessibility to young people and under-represented groups</li>
<li>Advance meaningful and sustained change for McLaren Racing as an employer, and F1 as a sport and industry</li>
</ul>
McLaren Racing Engage will be the first of its kind in F1, uniting each partner to significantly improve diversity and inclusion across the industry, and to inspire future generations of talent.  The alliance will run a programme of initiatives over multiple years, which is accessible to all by investing in grassroots-level education and training through various STEM initiatives, funding and mentorship programmes.

McLaren Racing 

At BAE Systems, we provide some of the world&rsquo;s most advanced, technology-led defence, aerospace and security solutions. We employ a skilled workforce of 87,800 people in more than 40 countries. We help our customers to stay a step ahead when protecting people and national security, critical infrastructure and vital information. We also work closely with local partners to support economic development through the transfer of knowledge, skills and technology.
As one of the world&rsquo;s most innovative companies, we can offer you an exciting and fulfilling career. If you have the drive and enthusiasm to improve within your chosen field, you&rsquo;ll receive the support you need to be creative and pioneering in all sorts of ways.
Passion. That&rsquo;s our secret. You&rsquo;ll need it here to be successful. We want you to see opportunity where others see problems and find a way through challenges that others can&rsquo;t navigate. You&rsquo;ll use our extensive resources and the skills you&rsquo;ll develop to collaborate with your team and find solutions to real problems.
We place great importance not only on what we do, but how and why we do it. Our employees take pride in their work and the role we play for our customers and our communities. Working for BAE Systems, you can go home at the end of each day knowing that what you do really makes a difference.
We have a wealth of graduate and undergraduate opportunities in engineering, business, IT, finance and consulting. Our programmes will prepare you with the skills and knowledge you need to navigate challenges that bring others to a standstill. If you have the potential, we will support you all the way because your success drives ours. With us, you&rsquo;ll go home every day knowing your work makes a difference, where it counts.

BAE Systems

Welcome. I am Matthew Parry, Director of SME Graduate Employment - the specialist graduate recruitment agency for SMEs. I connect university students and graduates with small to medium sized businesses, through permanent graduate jobs, internships, and sandwich placements. Although I cover most industry sectors and job types, engineering is the main area.
An SME is generally seen as an employer with 250 or less staff. But many of the businesses I work with are bigger. Others have fewer than 10 staff. What they have in common is offering great career opportunities- but they often find it difficult to make students and graduates aware of them.
As you may have guessed, I am a huge believer in the benefits of working for an SME &ndash; it&rsquo;s why I choose to recruit for them. Chances are you won&rsquo;t have heard of many of them before: they don&rsquo;t generally have graduate schemes, nor are they listed in the books showing the &lsquo;top graduate employers&rsquo;.
But there are around 6 million different SMEs in the UK, making up 99% of all businesses &ndash; and accounting for around 60% of all private sector jobs.
So, clearly SMEs are a vital part of the UK economy. But as an undergraduate or recent graduate, why should you work for an SME? There are many reasons, including:
<ul>
<li>A flatter structure, and the most senior people in the business know you.</li>
<li>Working on, and sometimes taking charge of, a range of projects.</li>
<li>A more varied role, where you can add to your skills and duties as you progress. Often creating your own job description.</li>
<li>Learning on the job, and getting stuck in from your first day.</li>
<li>You will be one of only a few graduates, maybe the only one in a year or more.</li>
<li>You can generally contribute more in businesses with less employees.</li>
<li>With less red tape and a smaller structure, SMEs can often innovate more quickly and adapt to changes in market conditions.</li>
<li>More opportunities in different areas, rather than just the big cities.</li>
<li>Research has shown that job satisfaction is often higher within SMEs.</li>
<li>The application and interview process is generally more straightforward. Some of the assessment methods used by a lot of the bigger employers that can be a disadvantage for some applicants.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Many SMEs do regularly take on graduates; so although its maybe not a formal scheme, they have the infrastructure in place to support you. Your appointment will be a big thing for them, as there are less employees, and it is important that they get the right person (just as it&rsquo;s important for you to find the right employer).
You will often be managed by people who started as graduates themselves. I know of many graduates who have risen to department-head or director level with smaller businesses (I got a lot of them their first job after leaving university) so there can be opportunities for those who are looking to advance in the longer term.
If there is a downside, it&rsquo;s perhaps that it&rsquo;s not as easy to plan ahead. While many SMEs do have set periods when they take on graduates, others generally recruit as and when they need someone, and this could be at any time of the year; perhaps due to a new project or someone being promoted. The positive aspect of this is that there are opportunities throughout the year, and it&rsquo;s important to keep a look out for them. Many also offer summer internship or sandwich placement opportunities for undergraduates.
I already work with a range of employers, and speak with new ones every day. When they recruit can vary. Vacancies are advertised on my website and Instagram.
Visit my website here https://sme-graduates.co.uk/candidate/
You can find out more about my services, see testimonials from other undergraduates and graduates who I have helped, and access free content with hints and tips to help you with applications.
You can contact me by email at matthew@sme-graduates.co.uk or by phone 0370 774 9500&nbsp;

SME Graduate Employment 

The WES ECB (Early Careers Board) consists of twelve WES Members who are working, training or studying in an engineering field and consider themselves to be early in their career. The board was originally formed in June 2016 as the WES Young Members' Board and changed its name in February 2020.
What is the aim of the Early Careers Board? The aim of the ECB is to make WES more accessible to younger members, to reflect their concerns and priorities and provide input to WES Trustees and staff, allowing the voices of younger engineers to be heard. The Members making up the ECB also act as role models for young women considering engineering and applied science. The ECB enable early career WES members to influence the direction of travel of WES, with the opportunity for personal, professional and leadership development through board experience and involvement in projects and strategy setting.
What projects have the Early Careers Board done? Since the WES ECB was formed, it has been both a partner and inventor of many projects including the WES Lottie Tour, WES 100 Violets Challenge, Draw an Engineer, Essay Competition, &lsquo;Engineering a Better World&rsquo; poster and has created its own YouTube channel of STEM challenges for the Year of Engineering.
The next exciting event the WES ECB is looking forward to is the WES 100 Violets Challenge. &nbsp;This event invites engineers to take part and compete by designing an interactive exhibit to showcase their innovative area of work. &nbsp;The event was due to take place on 21 March 2020, but has been postponed due to the situation with Covid-19. &nbsp;<a href="https://www.wes.org.uk/events/wes-100-violets-interactive-engineering-exhibition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Find out more information about the WES 100 Violets Challenge here</a>.
The Board sets their own agenda of projects and activities in line with WES vision, and is supporting the &ldquo;100 for 100&rdquo; campaign, part of the WES Centenary activities.&nbsp;
WES Lottie Tour
<a href="https://www.wes.org.uk/lottietour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Annual WES Lottie Tour</a>&nbsp;
Competitions
<a href="https://www.wes.org.uk/content/give-yourself-edge-0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Give Yourself the Edge : Essay Competition for School Students Aged 11-18</a> Draw an Engineer : Competition for School Students Aged 4-11 Projects confused.com Gallery of Engineers
How do I contact the WES ECB? To find out more and keep up to date with social media activities, WES ECB can be followed on Twitter at @WESECB1919, on Instagram at @WESECB and can now be contacted via email at <a href="mailto:ecb@wes.org.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ecb@wes.org.uk</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Visit our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVrAmqmTdxSoZ55hMcGxXow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube Channel</a>&nbsp;

WES Early Careers Board 

Keynote address to the conference by Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister, Digital, Science &amp; Technology.

Elizabeth Donnelly

Susan Robson

Chi Onwurah

Serving Society: Keynote Address

Maria Sabatini from Dialog Semiconductor will share career lessons and advice, such as&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>the reasons for choosing engineering as a career and the main factors that influenced that choice</li>
<li>the main challenges and opportunities faced - and the responses to them&nbsp;</li>
<li>the key ways in which engineers can and do serve society today and how engineers can respond specifically to the global challenges of our times</li>
<li>advice on entering the profession</li>
</ul>

Maria Sabatini

Life Lessons From Engineering 4

Farai Mwashita and Liz Johnson from CBRE will share career lessons and advice, such as:
<ul>
<li>the reasons for choosing engineering as a career and the main factors that influenced that choice</li>
<li>the main challenges and opportunities faced - and the responses to them&nbsp;</li>
<li>the key ways in which engineers can and do serve society today and how engineers can respond specifically to the global challenges of our times</li>
<li>advice on entering the profession</li>
</ul>

Farai Mwashita

Liz Johnson

Life Lessons From Engineering 5

Helena Dodd provides advice and tips on how to pursue a research-focused career in academia and beyond.&nbsp;

Helena Dodd

Pursuing Research 

Imisi Joseph shares her advice and top tips for gaining the most from mentoring programmes as both mentor and mentee.&nbsp;

WES Virtual Student Conference

Agenda

Speakers26 Speakers

Caitlin McCall

Karen Donaldson

Mara Tafadzwa Makoni

Amelia Lewis

Kathryn Jennings

Klara Svedberg

Adam Parnell

Enrica Ippoliti

Nikita Hari

Paula McMahon

Helen Famodimu

Caroline Devaney

Chi Onwurah

Maria Sabatini

Liz Johnson

Helena Dodd

Courtney Depala

Blessing Danha

Imisi Joseph

Andrea Pearson

Gaynor Baldwin

Hua Dong