A new career lifeline with Leonardo
We are proud to announce our new collaboration with Leonardo, which will provide a vital career lifeline to professionals keen to return to the workplace.
At STEM Returners, our programme removes the barriers people face when trying to return to work. We provide candidates with real work experience and mentoring during a placement, helping them adjust to life back in work. Over the past five years, 45 people have successfully restarted their careers at Leonardo through our programme.
Our new programme with Leonardo will see a further 10 professionals return across the global security company’s sites in Bristol, Edinburgh, Luton, Southampton, Newcastle, Lincoln, and Basildon.
We create clear routes for returners to rise through the organisations they join, showing how transferable skills strengthen workforces. We focus on identifying an individual’s skills and helping them reapply those skills in new roles.
One example is Heidi. After a series of disappointing interviews, she found herself at a career crossroads. Although she didn’t have a traditional route into engineering, she had built 20 years of experience in business before completing an MSc in Space Science and Technology. After nearly securing a job that was withdrawn at the last minute, she was unsure what to do next. Her placement with Leonardo recognised the value of her skills and experience.
“It was disheartening,” Heidi said. “I was struggling to find jobs where I fulfilled enough of the employer’s job criteria. STEM Returners clearly understood the value that years of work, whether directly related or not, and life experience, can bring to a career. They gave me the confidence that I could change my career.
“I’ve had such a positive experience with Leonardo. They’ve given me the time and support to learn, as well as the opportunity to contribute to the work of the team from the start of the placement. I’m now in a permanent position as a Senior Systems Engineer on the Typhoon programme. I’m where I’m meant to be.”
Heidi, a STEM returner
Our research, the STEM Returners Index, highlights the challenges people face when returning to work after a career break. Recruitment bias is the main barrier, and women are more likely than men to experience this bias.
Our Director, Natalie Desty, said:
“Leonardo UK has become one of our most supportive allies in updating outmoded attitudes to career breaks, helping us return nearly 50 people back into the industry. We are very proud to be continuing our partnership with Leonardo and hope it will enable more people to return to the profession they love.”
Rachel Ruxton, Head of Inclusion and Diversity at Leonardo, said:
“STEM Returners has helped us to identify talented and motivated individuals across the UK and we’re set to expand our workforce in the coming months, to hire more experienced professionals including engineers at our Bristol, Edinburgh, Luton, Southampton, Newcastle, Lincoln and Basildon sites. We’ve found that the diversity of thought and experience that STEM returners can bring to our business has been a tremendous source of inspiration and dynamism for our business.”
Since we launched in 2017, more than 600 candidates have joined STEM Returners programmes across the UK.
To view our live opportunities, visit: https://stemreturners.com/live-programmes/
