August 16, 2022

Step UP: Vodafone UK Case Study with Aileen Walsh & Haziqah Shahari

As part of Step Up, a six-month program for female students in their penultimate year of university, we offer participants access to skills development training, career events and mentorship. Working with our sponsoring businesses, BT, HSBC UK, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone, we pair our students with mentors to work with them for six months. 

As we prepare for the Step Up program to open applications in August 2022, we’re catching up with our mentors and mentees to find out how the process benefited both parties. 

Vodafone UK Case Study with Aileen Walsh & Haziqah Shahari

Mentor: Aileen Walsh, National Account Manager at Vodafone Business

Why did you choose to be a mentor in the Step Up program?

Having started my career as a graduate at Virgin Media Business in 2016, I have been lucky to have incredible female mentors to inspire and support me. Now that I am more established in my career, I was keen to start paying it forward and supporting the next generation of women entering the technology world. It can sometimes be intimidating to find you are the only woman in a room of men, but I want to help instil confidence in other young women and to remind them they have a seat at the table for a reason – so use your voice!

If you could summarise the Step Up program in three words, what would they be? 

Inspiring, educational and supportive. 

What was the highlight of the Step Up program for you?

My highlight was 100% seeing my mentee come more and more out of her shell as we got deeper in our discussions. Seeing her start to think about the kind of career she might like and pulling together a plan of how she could get there was wonderful to watch, and I was so proud to see her speak on the Step Up graduation evening! I look forward to watching her career develop over the coming years!

Can you share your most impactful learning(s) from being a mentor? 

The importance of having a plan/ agenda for mentorship discussions. Having never mentored before, I was unsure of how to best be a support to my mentee, and I think in our initial sessions, I felt like I was talking at her rather than being someone to bounce ideas off and think things through with. That changed as we started to set much more firm agendas for our sessions, particularly linking the agenda to Step Up’s workshop that month. Once we made the change, I think a lot more value came from the sessions, and my mentees’ confidence grew.

Mentee: Haziqah Shahari 

Haziqah is currently at the end of her second year of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol. Last summer, she completed a Partnership Development internship where she learned about stakeholder management and engagement. There, Haziqah learned the importance of social media marketing. This motivated her to further her interest by managing the social media accounts for the Malaysian Cultural Society at university. Furthermore, the blend of creative and analytical skills involved in social media management piqued Haziqahs interest in the Tech industry. As such, she was curious to learn more about it. 

Did the Step Up program make you feel more empowered to progress in a career in tech? If so, how? 

Step Up allowed me to explore my interests within the Tech industry. The broad and fast-paced nature of the industry initially made me apprehensive about pursuing it. In addition, I found the range of roles to be overwhelming. However, my mentor and I discussed potential roles to create a more focused career trajectory according to my strengths and interests! My mentor also gave me personalised feedback on my application material and provided her insight into the industry. It was inspiring and motivating to hear about her personal experience.

What was the highlight of the Step Up program for you?

Having a mentor was my favourite part of Step Up! I first met my mentor, Aileen, at the Mentor Selection Event, where the mentees were introduced to potential mentors. Her journey into the tech sector, having studied History previously, intrigued me as I believe my Mechanical Engineering background is also an unconventional route into tech. I loved how we could tailor the mentoring sessions to specific topics I wanted to focus on. Aileen has been very supportive in further developing my employability skills through conducting mock interviews and reviewing my CV and cover letters.

Can you share your most impactful learnings?  

The masterclasses with the guest speakers taught me the importance of being open to new opportunities and creating meaningful connections, as we can often learn a lot from others. I loved the safe space the Girls Talk London team had created for us to talk and hear about people’s experiences. I especially enjoyed the masterclass on Imposter Syndrome, where the mentees were open to sharing their experience about it, making me realise that we have more in common than I had previously thought! Having access to this community, I felt supported throughout my career journey. 

Have you received any new opportunities during or since completing the program? 

At the start of Step Up, I was in the process of making summer internship applications. I was fortunate to have the encouragement of my mentor throughout this period and was offered a Summer Research internship with my faculty, which I have since completed. 

Having had the opportunity to be in Step Up, I have been able to learn much more about the Tech sector and the range of (technical and non-technical) roles available! I am looking forward to applying to tech roles in the upcoming year!

If you’d like to learn more about sponsoring our 2023 Step Up program, empowering women in tech and investing in the next-gen of talent, get in touch with the team today on info@girlstalklondon.com.

If you’re keen to experience the mentorship of one of our valued partners, you can apply to the 2023 Step Up program here. We can’t wait to get started!