The information technology industry is shedding its geeky image in an attempt to attract more female graduates.

A report published this year by Crac, the career development organisation, indicated that only 7 per cent of women would choose a job in IT compared with 18 per cent of male graduates. The perception was that the sector was too technical.

However, IT companies value the skills that women bring, most notably team working, problem solving and communication, and they are making a big effort to attract them, according to the report. Job prospects are good and salaries high, it adds.

Web companies, IT services and specialist software houses offer plenty of non-technical roles.

IBM, at number 23 in the top 100 list, prides itself on being an equal opportunities employer. Jenny Taylor, head of graduate recruitment, says: “We recruit equal numbers of male and female graduates with all degrees and from all backgrounds for roles in sales, business, finance, consulting and project management. We are looking for business and personal skills and a passion to want to come and work for us.”

Taylor is less interested in an IT degree than in an enthusiasm for technology. She says: “Most university students, regardless of their degree subjects, surf the internet for their dissertations and network on Facebook.

“We try to capture this interest by holding recruitment fairs in second life — a virtual alternative world peopled by avatars. We get hundreds of students flying into our island in second life.”

IBM fast-tracks graduates through a programme of mentoring and training. Taylor points to Hollie Carr, who was nominated for the BlackBerry Women & Technology Awards.

“Hollie works in our press office and has invented an e-mail management tool that translates messages written in different languages by IT consultants working in virtual teams across Europe. It’s a brilliant invention,” she says.

The industry needs more role models such as Carr, according to Ann Swain, chief executive of the Association of Technology Staffing Companies. She says: “Female representation among IT staff across the UK is only 18 per cent because the industry simply does not sell itself well enough.

“The good news is that there is no glass ceiling in IT. The bad news is that there are fewer entry-level jobs as many have been moved off-shore.”

Maggie Berry, director of Women in Technology, a jobs and networking website, says: “There are a lot of openings in sales and marketing. The most popular vacancies on our site are for project managers for Java and business analysts and testers. We have 3,500 women in our network, including students and some geeky technocrats.”

Companies wanting to attract and retain women graduates pay great attention to career planning.

Philippa Snare, 34, Windows employment commercial director, mentors 12 women graduates within Microsoft. She encourages them to aim high. “The younger generation of women graduates is scary, bright and going places,” she says.

Victoria Yates, 25, who has a business degree, joined Microsoft, 31st on the list, three years ago as a technical sales specialist and is being encouraged to become a manager.

She predicts a rosy future for women in the industry: “When I see my 13-year-old sister building her own website and chatting online while updating her Facebook profile, I think there’s no stopping us. There is a pool of young people who are going to revolutionise this industry.”

Learn as you go

Kate Hofman, 23, an IT consultant, went to work with IBM straight after graduating with an honours degree in education and English literature from Durham University, Stephen Hoare writes.

Hofman, right, says: “I didn’t just think of IT — for me the company was the most important thing. I had heard really good things about IBM’s graduate scheme. I liked the fact that you could go into any part of the business and learn the ropes.”

Just over a year later, she is a consultant working with a team of project managers and technical architects. She works at clients’ premises, returning to IBM’s London offices one day a week.

Hofman is enthusiastic about her work and the training she received: “As a general graduate you do nine weeks of intensive training in programming and the principles of integrated computer systems. Now most of my learning is on the job.” Her first projects, helping to design and build a billing system for a telecommunications company and a self check-in system for an airline, have given her a taste for project management. “I see a career within IBM in strategy and business consultancy. I like the variety of the work and making a difference to clients.”

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