Friendships of our Future Talent

Sadiya and I met at university within the first month on the Computer Science group chat. Due to COVID, we had very limited social events so it was difficult to meet new people, despite wanting that social interaction.

In order to overcome this, Sadiya and I would have regular Zoom calls where we talked and got to know each other, until it was eventually safe to meet in person, where we did an escape room with our other friends.

From this moment on, we knew we were going to be best friends forever!

When applying for industrial placements, I initially didn’t know which company I wanted to apply for, but through research, Vodafone stood out to me because of their values. Their commitment to 'Inclusion for All' particularly interested us, because as girls in technology, we’ve experienced the effects of gender inequality in the field. We saw that Vodafone were making steps to close this gap by connecting women to tech and their ‘Code Like a Girl’ programme particularly resonated with us.

And so we both applied!

Fast forward and we were both invited to the same assessment centre. We prepared together by asking each other questions that may pop up in the interviews and practiced our answers. On the day, we kept in touch between each interview, talking about how they went and supporting each other through any worries. Having a break in between the interviews really made the process less intimidating and put our minds at ease.

We were interviewed by three different Vodafone employees each, which was great as we were able to ask them about their own journey, learn about their overall Vodafone experience and gain any advice they may have for us.

Out of all the Industrial Placement interview days, Vodafone’s was the most positive experience.