Welcome everyone. Um That is actually me on the photo, I have to admit um my partner, he took the photo using a drone. So just a bit of bit of background.Um So it's really with great pleasure that I'm here today and speaking before and alongside some distinguished women in the world of technology, our world is actually becoming more connected than ever. And this is due particularly to technological innovation and this new environment obviously has consequences both positive and negative. However, this session today and the conference in general, I think is really an opportunity to take advantage of what I think is positive globalization.

It hasn't been an easy year for anyone. So um having these connecting events are really fantastic and really an uplift, I think for a lot of people on to the next slide. So my name is Angela Janovic. Um I'm a senior advisor currently working in Belgium on sir, I know it's a bit of a tricky move in the current times, but I thought I would bite the bullet. Um But I'm usually based in Southampton in the UK where I work at KPMG um as an it within the it risk management team. Um Throughout my time at KPMG, I've consistently been looking for ways to help as much as I can with the progression of my role within the team, as well as I think, challenge myself and take on opportunities outside of my job role. And this is the one of the reasons why I applied to be a speaker here at the Women in Tech Global Conference. So as you can see, this is me as a young child and who'd have thought really that soft skills such as languages would be so useful in the world of technology. Certainly not me at that age.

Um Having studied modern languages and European studies at university, most people never really thought that I could get a job in technology in a big four company. In fact, I think very few people believe that languages are useful in the world of technology at all. Um through my studies and sort of through my upbringing, I think I've learned that soft skills are just as important as the hard ones if you want to put it that way. Um for example, the hard skills like knowledge of computers or controls or the way systems operate. And I'd even go further to say that these soft skills are the hardest to understand, learn and also to system. And that's why I really think or I believe that's what gives us the edge over future automation at the moment. So when starting at KPMG in 2016, I was quite nervous that I would fall behind having not studied computer science or maths. But I don't think that was the case at all these soft skills that I'd learned, such as clear communication, creativity, and even empathy coupled. Obviously, with what you learn, you can't just go through life just using the soft skills has definitely opened doors and they certainly have. For me, my life journey, I think has given me confidence to discuss and advise clients on their systems, teach internal training sessions and speak in front of audiences at external technology events such as this one.

And I think a message here is your life journey can do just the same for you or even the younger generation looking into technology careers just really have that confidence and use your um life journey and what you've learned to move you forward. I think a lot of people have thought um success is to be achieved by selecting the brightest man or the brightest woman, putting sort of a group of them into a room building a company and bingo you've got a successful company out of it. But I don't think that's always the case that can lead to competitiveness, aggression. And also just a real waste of people's values. And time studies have actually even shown that social sensitivity, empathy to one another emotional intelligence such as these softer skills is playing a straw as strong of a role as having a high IQ. So for me, this rivalry and competitiveness, sometimes that we get in the corporate world or in our world of working, I think has to be replaced with social capital. We've tried to motivate people with the use of money despite money being a cause of connections breaking down between people. So therefore, I think we need to invest in soft skills and relationships in one another.

And this is where mentoring comes in when the going gets tough or you've got a problem, everyone wants to turn to somebody for advice, whether that's your mum, your dad, a friend, a colleague. This person for me is what I would class as a mentor in terms of some statistics in the world of technology, women represent only 17% of the technology workforce despite representing 47% of the UK workforce. And these targeted interventions such as mentoring and getting your profile out there, I think are required to bring about a change. There's always someone else coming up behind you who needs guidance and can benefit from your wisdom. I certainly learnt that from people before me.

And I never thought that this was true until also gaining experience and then having graduates or younger, less experienced hires um come and ask me for advice. I've only been in the industry for a few years and you might think you don't have the experience to be a mentor or to mentor effectively, but don't doubt yourself because you might actually be really good at it and precisely because you are new, you'll remember things that the more established people have perhaps forgotten along the way.

Plus, you can always learn what has been passed on to you. I think programs aimed at support retention, community and progression can make tangible leaps to gender parity and being a mentor and a mentee. I think I recognize the role I play in creating this step change in the wider industry. Yes, little me. The one in the first slide when I was a young girl and I think this is what women within technology should be confident enough to feel as well. So what is mentoring for me, mentoring is seen as in an informal supportive relationship that is set up to assist an individual's long-term career plan, working on their personal and professional development. So if we look at it a little bit to see what's on the slides, what does a mentor actually do? Supports and teaches um the mentee around career development, they advise on work assignments. They provide a safe space to ask questions, which I think is really important and they share their own network and experiences that they've had who is mentoring for. I believe it's for everyone. You don't have to sort of categorize it by age or gender. Um It's really for everyone and some of the key characteristics of a mentor is someone I would say, with a bit more knowledge or more experience than you, you don't necessarily want someone on exactly the same sort of playing field as you because otherwise it's too similar and you might not learn as much or get as much out of it as you want.

You want to have a positive role model and you want them to have the same values as you as a starting point. And how does it work? I would say for me, mentoring is a long term goal and it's often one year or more and it's designed to sort of focus on the relationship and build it and you should commit perhaps to having meetings, I would say at least once a month. So as a mentor, um you want to ensure you're also giving clear instructions to your mentee, you don't just want to keep it very broad. Obviously, you can question them and that's very important. But giving clear instructions is also important and one just quick fun way of seeing how good you are at giving instructions that I learned is asking someone to put on a blindfold and you give them the instructions to draw what you see on the screen. And it's quite a funny outcome because you have to be really specific, obviously, where you have to understand like where the line is drawn, um where the box is, where the circle is. So just give it a go and this is just a little side note and a bit of a tip on how to become better at giving clearer instructions. So setting expectations up front in your mentoring relationship is really important.

And as it says here, it's a push pull continuum. It's all about finding that balance being helpful. As a mentor doesn't mean that you need to know everything, but it means you can work among people who are keen to give and get help. And for me, a mentoring relationship shouldn't be for the short haul. As I said before, teams and people work better together when they know each other and when they've worked together for longer, I think there's a better outcome because you've had the time to get to know one another. So build your mentoring relationship out. That's obviously not to say that if you're incompatible to stick with it, don't. Um But it's always important to select a mentor that's fit with you and is willing to support your personal brand that moves me on quite nicely to personal brand. So what is a personal brand? This is really a package that makes up you as a person. And I was told sort of these four areas are really important when you're building your personal brand. And I'd like to share them with you. So think about what people see the visual image of you, what people might hear a description of you, what people might say. So other people's opinions of you and what people might read. So that's your digital footprint.

Another way of putting it is also thinking to yourself about 3 to 5 things that you think people would say about you. If you weren't in a room, are you satisfied with it? And are there things that you could perhaps work on or are you or do you, are you very happy with, with the outcome or your image or perception um on other people? Another way is also obviously the digital footprint as I mentioned, think about what appears if you Google yourself, are you satisfied there with the results? Because this is how people might see and judge your brand initially, especially in our sort of technological world. So have a think about what's out there. You obviously want to keep it professional, you want to keep it clean, think about who your audience is and if you've got something to say, say it, but also understand your audience. This is just a little bit about what appears when I Googled myself and some of the proud moments actually that I pulled out and things that I'm glad is on the internet. But as you can see, obviously, it's not all about me. Um there are different, different people and different profiles, but it's just quite a fun um exercise, I guess to see what's out there about you and how people might perceive you just by Googling your own name.

So the next slide is just a diagram that shows I would say the attributes and the core skills that make up personal impact, confidence and courage, which is also important to have when you're building your personal brand. And I think each of these attributes play a role in the context of making and enhancing a personal impact. So if we think about relating, for example, it takes only a few seconds for somebody to evaluate you in a meeting, for example. And I think we all know the saying you don't get a second chance at a first impression. And this is why in the context also of mentoring as well, you want to understand your mentee and understand how they want to portray themselves in terms of influencing another example, this is also not just about showing yourself but about active listening. What gestures are you using when you're listening? Are you smiling? Are you nodding? Um sometimes that can really help people in the room and also something that I also need to work on is you don't always need to fill a silence, you can have time to think. So I really enjoy sort of sharing my story and showing that a young female can achieve something in the world of technology despite not coming from a tech background.

And I hope my talk has highlighted the importance of building up these soft skills and putting time into mentoring and thinking about your brand. Technology is always changing. And is and also and so are our times as well. They're constantly evolving. So tomorrow isn't like today and it's definitely not like yesterday. And I think knowing this makes it sometimes easier to cope with this change. So thanks very much for listening. And if you've got any questions, I'd be happy to take them. I can just see that. Yeah. Thanks Sarah. Your comment. I strongly believe in mentoring. I'm looking for mentors for mums, getting back to work in different fields. Anyone interested help? Yeah, that's fantastic. Especially um as you say, for women that do go on maternity leave, it can sometimes I guess be trickier to integrate yourself back into a network and get right into mentoring. So if you've got that network of women and especially moms that can do that for one another, I think that's a great opportunity. Yeah, of course, I'll share my um linkedin so on here and then we can um connect for sure. Yeah. Happy to also provide you with the slides. How would you? Hi, Kelly. How would you encourage mid-level career to invest their time to finding mentoring in a corporate event though? There is no not formal in place, nothing formal in place. Yeah.

So it's really difficult to one find that time and also get um I guess push from senior people. So I I would say start there, get that push from senior management, get a sponsor and maybe set up like a a mentoring network within your firm. So one that KPMG has is called its a future, which um does exactly that it connects people sort of two grades above one another to build that mentoring relationship. So maybe try that speak to people um above you and then also speak to people at a more junior level and ask them if they would want to be involved because I bet you they would. Hi Miriam. I would love to have a mentor. What advice do you give to potential mentees like me who are struggling to approach potential mentors? And also is it advisable to have more than one mentor? So what I would say is um personally, I think it's quite good to keep um to just have a few mentors. So people that you really trust, you see as a role model and that you think can help you build your career and build your brand. That doesn't say um focus on just one mentor at all. I think having a few is definitely useful because you can get different perspectives. But I would say maybe don't have more than three formal mentors. Obviously, lots of people have mentors, for example, I don't know family members and colleagues and things like that.

Um But formal mentors, I would keep them quite limited. And so advice in terms of approaching mentors again, maybe get that input from senior people within your firm or if there's somebody that you see as a role model in your company, reach out to them over teams or over your chat function that you have in your company or over an email to say, look, I really look up to you.

Would you be my mentor? Because often enough people are going to jump at that opportunity. You've also complimented them to say that you really trust in their opinion and you think that they can help you with their story. So I would do that, reach out, be bold and just ask them the worst they can say is, oh, sorry, I don't have enough time, which is fine because you'll find somebody else that can help you. And then also I would say look out for mentoring programs externally. So one example is outreach which where you could get involved as being a mentor to young students um around the country. So have a Google of that as well. And see you might work very well on the flip side, being a mentor rather than a mentee. Hi, Sarah. Uh Do you think a mentor and mentee need to first know each other before starting a mentoring relationship? That's a good question. I don't think so. So in my experience, my mentor in the UK, um we didn't know each other before, but what we did have was a face to face meeting, which I think is really important. She pushed that initially and I thought, oh, we can just do it over um teams or, you know, over a quick call. But I think that face to face contact initially is really important because then you can, how do you say it?

You can sort of get the vibe as to whether you work together as to whether you think you will get along. And if that is a person that can really help you to develop your career. And yeah, I really look forward to, hopefully you having gotten something out of my talk and building up those mentoring relationships. Thanks very much and looking forward to connecting with you on linkedin or in the future as well.