Accenture South East Asia, Australia and Korea (SEAAK) was pleased to be the Gold Sponsors for the first Broad Advantage event which took place in Sydney from 7 to 9 July 2008.

The three-day conference was run specifically for undergraduate women and was aimed at educating attendees on opportunities for women in business. The purpose of Accenture's alignment with Broad Advantage was to reach across the SEAAK region and to promote Accenture as an employer of choice for women.

Delegates attended seminars and lectures on topics such as financial services, consulting, journalism, publishing, marketing, advertising, PR, entrepreneurship, accounting, law, insurance, risk management and financial planning. The program also included public speaking, interviewing, resume building and working with university career services.

Accenture’s participation as gold sponsors of the event involved a site visit to our offices in Sydney on the second day of the conference. This session was attended by 65 delegates and was facilitated by Michelle Lee from the Accenture graduate recruitment team. A presentation on Accenture graduate career and training opportunities given by Yomarie Socarras, a senior manager in Communications and High Tech, generated much interest by the audience, which carried through to the question and answer session. The session also featured contribution from Lynne Barry, HR director in SEAAK, who spoke of Accenture’s global career and training opportunities for women.

The site visit generated high interest in opportunities for women in Accenture and provided a positive introduction to the Career Fair on the following day. Delegates were able to speak directly to recent graduates, and to hear of their experience first-hand at the fair.

Attending delegates study across a wide range of disciplines including, mathematics, political/social science, management, engineering and international business.

Our sponsorship provided Accenture with the opportunity to directly connect with future female leaders.

“I had the privilege of meeting the Broad Advantage participants in our North Sydney offices during their event. What an amazing group of young women! The room came alive with their intelligence, their inquisitiveness and their drive, and I came away feeling energised about the next generation of women that is about to enter the workforce in Australia and beyond.

These young women have strong views on what they were looking for in an employer, and they probed very thoughtfully so that they could determine if Accenture was going to be aligned with their goals and values. I got the sense that by the end of the afternoon, they left with a much deeper knowledge of who we are and what we do, and also the type of culture we offer. I have great hopes that many of these women will be looking to start their career in Accenture.” Lynne Barry, HR Director, SEAAK

The feedback was very positive from the attendees as well, read a sample of the great feedback we received:

• "I am very impressed with Accenture. It was not a company I had previously considered, but now I’m going to apply for their grad program!"
• "Session was fantastic. They covered several aspects starting from their recruitment policy which I think is very necessary for us, future graduates looking for jobs."
• "Feel comfortable entering the workforce. If these women can do it then so can I. I will follow their lead."
• "Accenture visit was really interesting, the women were great. Presenter Yomi was interesting. Venue gorgeous. On site is good idea. Great to see where the office is located. "

To find out more about 85Broads or for you ladies to join, visit Accenture’s Broad Impact site.