VMware Inc.

01/18/2022 | News release | Distributed by Public on 01/18/2022 10:20

‘Spotted’: How One Employee-Led Initiative for Empowering Women is Going Global

VMwarePower of Difference communities (PODs) are employee-driven groups that enhance VMware's inclusive culture and harness the power of human difference. Our PODs are open to anyone in the company and designed to help participants grow as leaders, engage with different communities, and drive business impact.

Circe Romero Uruñuela is a Technical Account Manager in VMware Spain and a member of the Women@VMware EMEA POD. Recently she created the 'Spotted' initiative, which she is running along with Iva Benkova (Associate Digital Solution Engineer) and Sylvie Ngo (Technical Account Manager). Launched in October 2021, Spotted is a new initiative that combines a networking event with a presentation from women leaders in VMware. The leaders give insights into their team or department, discuss the nuts of bolts of day-to-day life in certain roles and give an overview of roles that the team is currently hiring for.

The name 'Spotted' comes from hiring managers being able to spot new talent through opening up conversations with attendees, but also from attendees spotting and discovering new roles internally.

"We had noticed that there was a reluctance at times from our female colleagues to apply for certain technical roles", Circe says, "But as Iva, Sylvie and I work in technical roles, we wanted to dispel certain myths and empower our EMEA colleagues to grow their networks, engage directly with hiring managers and get more insights into the skills required for different roles. And so we created the 'Spotted' workshop series in collaboration with the Women's POD and the WISE (Women in Solution Engineering) community in EMEA.

Joining up with the Women's POD (Power of Difference group) in EMEA is fantastic as the POD provides a platform to distribute 'Spotted' across more VMware teams globally and to attract a larger audience of women and allies to the women's POD. I am a big supporter of this POD because it provides a platform to uplift women, help them feel like they are part of something greater, and it means I can help women and their allies feel like they belong to VMware."

In addition to networking and the insights from a female leader, the co-founders also wanted success stories and case studies from individuals who were comfortable in sharing something they have done to stand out, for example, a customer engagement project, or whatever it means for a particular role.

Feedback from questionnaires circulated at the end of each session has been amazing, and the team is pleasantly surprised at just how well the events have been received. One of the most popular elements is when the speakers talk about their career path and the skills and experience required to get to where they are today.

Since the launch, there have been three sessions held for EMEA employees in 2021, and as a result of the success of the pilot initiative, Spotted is being launched in the US in early 2022.

Circe says, "We are already starting to partner with Nigitha Alugubelli in the US to coordinate the sessions to suit both US and EMEA timezones. Also, we are starting to brainstorm other roles and teams that would be applicable, and a phase two called 'Spotted 2.0''.

Exciting times ahead! Learn more about our POD's here.

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