Written by Flick West - People Ops Specialist
I'm excited to share our journey in hosting the first-ever Tech Insights Day at our Brighton office.
In our continuous efforts for diversity and fresh perspectives in our Tech team, we decided to attend the Careers Fair again in 2023. We discussed how to best utilise our presence at the Fair, and when the team discussed the possibility of holding an event following the fair - the idea for an Insights Day took root. We focused on engaging with University of Sussex students, placing special emphasis on connecting with Women in Tech groups as well as the university's careers team.
We used the Careers Fair as an ideal platform to introduce INSHUR to the students, discuss our mission, and promote our upcoming Tech Insights Day. Alongside this, we started to design our Tech Insights Day and are pleased to say that 40% of the students shortlisted were female which is impressive in a very male-dominated industry. We've initiated connections with strong female candidates who couldn't join us for the day, encouraging them to consider applying for future roles within the engineering team.
Our presence at the Careers Fair set the stage, with our team pitching our company mission and the upcoming Insights Day. The student's response was fantastic; they viewed INSHUR as an innovative leader in the tech industry and were eager to apply for the upcoming Tech Insights Day or connect with us for other future opportunities. In the coming days, we sifted through applications to select students with standout skills and impressive CVs for our Insights Day.
The day kicked off with introductions to our various departments, sparking insightful questions from the students. Jon Lawrence and Ronen Ghoshal's marshmallow challenge tested their creative problem-solving skills. We then ran a 4-hour programming task, designed by Louise Zenasni Daniel Williams, and Antony Koch, to assess not just technical skills but also teamwork and leadership qualities. The students' demos were impressive and very confidently presented in front of the INSHUR team. Despite a few dropping out due to sickness, the seven attendees were nothing short of exceptional - showcasing remarkable technical skills, teamwork, and composure under pressure.
This project surpassed our expectations, and we're thrilled to announce that we'll be offering at least one placement to these exceptionally talented students. (Read about their first 6 weeks at INSHUR). Their evident passion and dedication have convinced us that they will be outstanding additions to the INSHUR team.
The feedback we received from the students was overwhelmingly positive:
"The friendly team environment was a highlight; it felt less intimidating and more like joining a family for the day."
"It was memorable. We all felt like we'd found a family for the day! :)"
"Speaking to people with so much knowledge opened my eyes to what my future could look like."
While celebrating our successes is important, we also acknowledge areas for improvement to enhance future events. One notable challenge was the initial setup time for systems like GitHub (humorously dubbed 'Voldemort' by the students). To streamline this, the solution would be to implement a pre-event setup process, ensuring students are well-prepared and ready to dive into programming tasks upon arrival.
Additionally, we recognised the need for more time. Both the team and the students felt the constraints of our schedule, suggesting that extending the event to 1.5 or 2 days would allow a more relaxed and productive environment. This adjustment would provide students ample opportunity to fully engage with and complete their programming tasks.
Some feedback for improvements:
"Networking with Inshur team members was good, however, I would’ve loved to perhaps work with the team themselves and learn about the way they work, as opposed to other students."
"Encourage attendees to set up and learn some basic GIT before arriving, provide a list of useful technologies and frameworks, and encourage attendees to practice with them before coming to hit the ground running with the group activity."
"It would have been great if each one of us had an extra event or an aptitude test maybe to showcase our ability because sometimes when you work in a group some might not be able to show their individual ability."
We're already planning a retro to refine our approach for potential future events, ensuring even more impactful experiences for students, along with planning the next steps to get the placements set up so watch this space!
Flick 😃