Mantel Group’s diversity-focused tech traineeship underway for 2021

Australian technology consultancy Mantel Group has launched its 2021 traineeship program for women and gender minority groups, aiming to address the lack of diversity in the technology sector and ease the talent shortage.

The program will provide trainees with experience in roles across software engineering, cloud engineering, and design and research, with participants in Melbourne and Sydney, the company said in a statement.

This is the fourth year for the program which has been expanded for 2021 with 15 trainees signed up for the first nine-week course. Mantel said it expects to offer trainees who successfully complete the program permanent roles within the business.

A second program is planned for later this year, aiming for 40 trainees to complete the program in FY22.

“It’s no secret that technology businesses across Australia are struggling to find great people with technology skills, so we had to get creative about how we could fill that gap in our business,” Mantel Group chief executive Con Mouzouris said. 

“Mantel Group has grown rapidly to a point where we’re able to support less-experienced hires and invest in their development and we’re excited to be able to provide such a strong program to these new trainees.” 

The program includes two weeks of training from senior leaders across each of Mantel’s businesses, six weeks working on internal projects replicating client work, and the last week shadowing mentors on client work; plus, there will be dedicated social events.

The company claimed the program will cost over one million dollars in mentoring time as it offers one mentor per three trainees.

“We know that access to quality training is a barrier to people reskilling into tech roles,” Mouzouris added. 

“With that in mind, we’ve invested heavily in providing a quality training program, followed by six weeks of real, hands-on work experience that will really help participants get a leg up and kick off their career in the tech industry.”  

Jess Odri, a trainee from 2018, is today a software engineer with Mantel, working as the lead on a customer project.

Mantel Group added that it has 150 open roles across its seven brands and is actively recruiting across ANZ.

Those interested in registering as a trainee can contact the company.