SecuriGroup-Code First Girls partnership opens door to tech careers

Since launching the initiative, SecuriGroup has recruited the women from non-traditional backgrounds into technology roles and witnessed one of those recruits being promoted into a leadership role within its technology team.

This hugely positive news emerges at a time when women still remain significantly underrepresented across the technology sector. In fact, women account for only around 29% of the UK’s technology workforce, while in Scotland (where SecuriGroup is headquartered) they occupy just 23% of digital technology roles, despite continued growth and demand for technology skills.

Recognising both the challenge and the opportunity, SecuriGroup partnered with Code First Girls to help create new pathways into technology careers for women from non-traditional backgrounds. The partnership was built on a shared belief that career potential is not defined by an individual’s first career choice and, what’s more, that individuals who actively choose to reinvent themselves often bring exceptional motivation, adaptability and fresh perspectives to bear.

Support for core operations

Recruits from hospitality, finance, insurance and the charity sector now contribute across software development, data engineering and business intelligence, supporting SecuriGroup’s core operations and a cohort of more than 4,500 operatives across the UK.

Recent partnership outcomes, then, include the four women being recruited into technology roles (all of them 100% career changers from non-technical industries), one recruit being promoted into a leadership role and 100% of these participants recommending the Code First Girls technical coaching programme

The success of the latter was recently marked by the visit of Code First Girls’ CEO Anna Brailsford MBE to SecuriGroup’s Glasgow head office, where discussions focused on expanding opportunities for women pursuing careers in technology.

The partnership’s impact extends beyond those recruited directly into employment. Under their Social Value Model, for every woman deployed into employment, more than ten women are trained through Code First Girls-designed programmes.

Based on the four women recruited by SecuriGroup, this represents training for more than 40 additional women through Code First Girls.

Motivated candidates

George Dunlop, director of technology at SecuriGroup, explained: “Before working with Code First Girls, we primarily recruited through platforms such as Indeed or via recruitment agencies. However, candidate quality could be inconsistent, both in terms of skills and experience, and there was an equal discrepancy in terms of how easily individuals managed to adapt to our culture and ways of working.”

Dunlop continued: “Code First Girls helped to address these challenges by providing motivated and capable candidates who demonstrated both humility and a tremendous willingness to learn.”

On that note, one of the recruits contributed towards a significant technology development within her first six months in the business, supporting systems used during a major national sporting operation.

The new programme’s impact has been strengthened by ongoing technical coaching delivered by Code First Girls, helping participants to build their confidence, improve technical expertise and accelerate their development.

Jordan Coyle, lead front end software developer at SecuriGroup, stated: “The Code First Girls hires who I manage are hungry for knowledge. It has been great to see how their experience gained in non-tech roles filters into SecuriGroup and brings different perspectives to the team. We’ve worked with other talent firms before and the experience has been somewhat mixed. The aftercare and ongoing development provided by Code First Girls has been very important.”

Successful careers 

The programme has provided an opportunity to turn interests in technology into successful careers. For employees such as Rebecca Stewart, now the lead BI developer at SecuriGroup, it meant finding a career that played to her strengths, where she could problem-solve, keep learning and take on new challenges.

Stewart explained: “I was looking for a career change. Moving into the data world felt like a natural next step. My role at SecuriGroup has been a steep learning curve, but I’ve taken on board so much very quickly. The team is really friendly and approachable, which has made settling in much easier. I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned to building a data warehouse and creating more reliable and impactful data solutions.”

As an organisation, SecuriGroup believes the new partnership demonstrates the potential benefits of widening access to technology careers and challenging traditional assumptions around recruitment.

George Dunlop concluded: “The technical coaching provided by the Code First Girls teams delivers real strategic value return for our organisation. It has given the hires a strong foundation, enabling them to contribute on a swift basis, while continuing to develop towards a more independent and impactful way of working.”

*Further information is available online at www.securigroup.co.uk and www.codefirstgirls.com