Two senior members of the specialist construction and rail recruiter, One Way, have publicly spoken out on how recruitment firms operating in ‘male dominated’ fields can obtain more female professionals if clearer career progression and requisite training was demonstrated.
The firm, which has previously been vocal about the need to address the gender imbalance in the construction sectors, has highlighted that a lack of training and structured promotion opportunities is putting top talent off a career in recruitment.
One Way’s associate director, Emma Davis, started working for the company eight years ago as a trainee before being promoted and developing her own team; as well as opening and expanding an office in Greater London.
She explains her story: “When I began my career in construction recruitment I struggled as I didn’t have access to training that would not only help me perfect my hiring skills, but also my knowledge of the construction industry. When you add this to a lack of obvious career progression, it might come as no surprise that I was put off construction recruitment in general.”
Davis continues: “However, following some persuasion from a rec-to-rec hirer, I went for an interview with One Way and was instantly put back on track. After meeting with the managing director it was clear that the company really valued its team members and would put me through the necessary recruitment and construction training. The latter option enabled me to expand my credibility within the industry and put me in a much stronger position when dealing with clients and candidates alike.”
Managing director at One Way, Paul Payne, also comments: “If firms want to increase diversity in their company they need to review their training and development opportunities to ensure they appeal to everyone. Stories like Emma’s are quite common in recruitment, but for firms operating in male dominated industries, attracting some of the best female recruiters will only be made all the more difficult if they cannot demonstrate the potential to develop a career in their business and the support they will offer to help staff achieve this.”
“At One Way, our culture is driven by the passion of our people and we will always ensure that we offer any necessary training to not only provide a highly positive client and candidate experience, but, perhaps more importantly, also retain the best recruitment talent.”
