ENGINEERING A GREAT CAREER

Strong female role models and Manchester Met’s progressive approach to supporting women in leadership roles has enabled Eve Ayoola to make great leaps in her career as an Assistant Collaboration Engineer.

Eve, who studied for a degree in Chemistry at the University, could see she might be able to secure her dream job when she was interviewed by an all-female panel in 2019.

“I knew that the University was a major supporter of inclusivity and gender equal rights and I felt so encouraged to see women in senior positions. It meant I would be given the same chance as everyone else to prove my abilities and there were obviously opportunities to scale the career ladder.”

“I’ve had previous jobs in retail where you can experience gender and age discrimination daily. With customers referring to you with pet names, which could be perceived as endearment, or a slip of the tongue, but it doesn’t have a place in a professional situation.

Luckily for Eve, she grew up with a mother with a strong sense of identity and self-belief, she says: “My mum really believed in herself and had a dream, and she was going to overcome any challenge. She never ever thought that she was incapable of anything and instilled that self-belief in me.

“Still, she had some challenges. I had seen my mum, who works in Information Security, juggling motherhood, looking after me and my two brothers, while striving to succeed in extremely difficult circumstances.

“She was one of the first women in a male dominated department of her company. The opportunity came with a lot of preconceived notions that she might not be able to do the job and she was constantly micro-managed. Because she was a woman, she felt someone would be looking over her shoulder to make sure she was doing the right thing, not out of support, but because they didn’t trust her. 

It’s quite a barrier to push past, but she did and she passed her determination on to me. I’ve never believed I wasn’t capable or couldn’t do something because of my gender. If I have the ability, I can do it.”

After two years working at Manchester Met, with her eyes firmly set on developing a rewarding career, Eve was promoted from Service Desk Analyst to Junior Infrastructure Engineer. She said: “It is extremely rare to jump from first line support to a third line support role, especially without formal qualifications in IT or a background in tech,” says Eve, who’s has since progressed even further to an Assistant Collaboration Engineer.  

“Manchester Met has really showed that they believe in me, as much as I believe in myself. My role ticks all the boxes to help me on my journey and because of the diversity within the team, I feel comfortable and excited about the future.”

“Working here, I know I am appreciated for my skills and attributes first and foremost,” says Eve, “but I am my own harshest critic. To combat this, I prefer to look at the facts and I know I have proven myself to progress.”

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY           

A celebration of how far we have come in society, Eve believes that International Women’s Day is truly an inspiration for those who are still struggling to find their identity and demonstrate their strengths as a woman. It also gives them an important sense of belonging.

“I feel like everyone should believe they can do anything regardless of gender. If they feel otherwise, it’s because someone told them that, but that’s their personal bias, so don’t listen. Rather than allow other people’s projections to dictate your narrative, create your own.”

TIPS FOR STARTERS      

For anyone at the beginning of their career and feeling overwhelmed, Eve has some advice. “Accept that failure will happen, but that it leads to success. So don’t be put off for trying. Secondly, you are only one person and sometimes, especially in the workplace, we’re told to compartmentalise our feelings. However, the only way you’ll be able to persevere is to acknowledge how you feel, what you’re thinking and address things. If you don’t, you could get to a point where it comes out in a way you can’t avoid. Take ownership of it or it will control you.”

“Lastly be compassionate towards yourself. If there are struggles that you’re dealing with allow yourself to deal with them. It might be uncomfortable initially, but like the analogy that I tell my friends, if you fall off a bike and scrape your knee, you can jump straight on the back on, but your knee is still going to hurt. However, if you take the time off from riding and let your knee get better then you’ll be able to ride your bike for longer. So, if you need to give yourself that time do it. In the long run it will benefit you so much more, and with your career you must think about the long game as well as the short game.”