50 percent of open tech positions to be filled by women
IT – an all-male domain? Dr. Michael Müller-Wünsch (MüWü), CIO at OTTO, wants to change that.
MüWü, Women in Tech is a topic close to your heart. Why?
MICHAEL MÜLLER-WÜNSCH: There are various reasons for that: From a business perspective, I have long considered the potential of diverse teams to be extremely relevant. And by “diverse” I don't just mean different genders, age structures or nationalities. We also need as many different types of people as possible in terms of mindset and personality. I also have a 16-year-old daughter and have experienced first-hand the partially outdated role models that are still anchored in the minds of some parents, teachers and consequently the children themselves. I would like to change that and make a contribution to change.
At OTTO, we have around 30 percent women in IT, which is above the national average. Is that enough?
Absolutely not! For the current financial year, we have set ourselves the goal of filling at least 50 percent of newly advertised positions with women.
That's pretty ambitious, isn't it?
How do you plan to reach the 50 percent target?
Through different approaches. I have agreed with our recruiting department that we will consciously accept that the time-to-hire will increase. Statements like "There were no suitable women" are not acceptable. We have to look for them even more carefully and perhaps for longer, and make the benefits of a career at OTTO even clearer to women. In addition, we support women's networks, sponsor events, cooperate with initiatives such as neue fische, and host developHER, our own continuing education format, every year. In this way, we want to get more women interested in tech topics and also enable them to make a lateral entry into IT. We also work closely with the Hacker School and universities to encourage girls and students to take an interest in IT at an early stage.
What advice would you give to women who are thinking about moving into tech fields?
