TXM Recruit BAME, Women in Transport, Inclusive Recruitment...
TXM Group Director Gary Lincoln heads up TXM Recruit’s commitment to get more females involved in engineering.
He is a prominent figure in Women in Transport’s work and helps delivering the Women in Transport mentoring programme.
Lincoln’s passion came from witnessing a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) event at his daughter’s school, and wondered where he could get involved to help educate and increase the chances of women entering the engineering sector.
“I’m a firm believer that it has to start with parents, schools and then universities and the industry, as most young people don’t understand the possibilities out there in the engineering sector,” explained Lincoln.
“If we can create joint strategies through contacts with like-minded organisations, in time we can make a difference to the declining skill shortage within engineering, whilst also trying to change the perception of young ladies who may feel engineering is for men only.
“The world of engineering is “wasting a lot of talent” because of outdated stereotypes. We need more parents, companies, schools, colleges and universities to assist in building a diverse and dynamic workforce for now and the future, and change perceptions amongst parents, teachers and young ladies.”
The challenge for Lincoln and TXM Recruit is to help increase the numbers of women working within the engineering sector; an area of work where the gender is very one-sided.
“According to figures from the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), female engineers make up less than 10% of the workforce. There is not only a massive skills shortage not only in the UK across all industry sectors, but it’s ageing. Through engagement and encouragement young females can be an integral part of the new breed of engineers helping to shorten the skill gap.
“As I said before, the world of engineering/transportation is missing out and wasting a lot of talent. It’s difficult to believe it’s 100 years since women were given the right to vote, now we are moving in the right direction but there is still a long way to go.”
