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Capgemini’s Avancer program helps women ace their careers

Capgemini
December 17, 2020

Facing challenges, asking for help, and learning to juggle

Being a woman in the workforce can bring certain challenges beyond ones like training and upskilling. For example, there can be the expectation that motherhood will come first in women’s lives, and they will put their career on hold while they raise their children. However, that doesn’t always have to be the case.

Motherhood doesn’t automatically mean women will give up their careers the way it has in the past. In fact, more and more women all across the globe are choosing to stay in their jobs even after they become mothers. What this means is that they need to be transparent when they need help while learning how to juggle several different things at once, especially when challenges like illness or big projects arise. It is amazing how helpful colleagues, especially old school managers, can be if you ask for help. And learning how to do this, especially as they climb the corporate ladder, can make a huge difference when it comes to leading teams and managing people.

Dedicated to advancing women in the workplace

Capgemini has long been a champion of women in the workplace. It believes that nurturing and supporting women in career advancement helps create a richer, more diverse workspace, which is better for everyone. This is especially true when it comes to women in management roles.

“Avancer is a great opportunity to help nurture self-confidence in the participants and encourage them to climb the corporate ladder, while they learn about their capabilities to make things happen.”

Cindy Eugenia Lorenzana, HR Business Partner Manager, Capgemini Guatemala

By encouraging diversity in organizations of any size, but especially large multinational corporations, opens a world of possibilities in every aspect of how to do business. New ideas on how to engage with clients, inspire employees, find solutions to tricky situations, as well as just the basic day to day running of companies benefit from having a variety of voices and creative ideas.

“Gender balance is key to ensure diversity in the workplace I also get a lot of from this program: exposure to other cultures, genuine conversations, understanding my female colleagues point of view, and how to keep each other motivated.”

Alain Mathon, Senior Service Delivery Manager

The Avancer program

Capgemini launched the Avancer program to help women successfully climb the corporate ladder. This revolutionary campaign enables women who are already in mid-level roles to learn new skills and apply them to their careers to create future female managers today.

In this inaugural cycle of the Avancer program, 146 Capgemini women from all around the world are working with 79 mentors, both men and women, to learn skills that will set them apart as they take control of their career trajectory.

On top of all the soft skills they learn over the six-month course, there are also a series of modules designed to help these women gain the needed hard skills to move into more senior management roles, as well as monthly meetings with mentors and message boards to touch base with other participants to discuss what they are learning, how to approach the assignments, and just exchange ideas.

“Every time I meet with my mentees, I see how they have flourished and hear the excitement in their voice when they talk about their accomplishments; I’m starting to see our future women leaders blossom in front of me.”

Cathy Henderson, Manager NA HR Services

It is also important to remember, the best advice for up and coming women leaders in business is to dream big, be fearless, and, above all, believe in yourself. That can help you ace your career.

Read other blogs in this series

This blog is written by Susan Steer and Vanessa Tullio.

Susan Steer is a Human Resources Leader and member of the Global Learning & Development team for the Business Services BU – North America. She is involved in every step of the employee life cycle. In addition to strategic support, she guides and mentors employees, enabling them to flourish, stay engaged and reach their potential.

Vanessa Tullio is a Human Resource manager with deep knowledge on employee engagement analysis and action plans involving learning, compliance training and learning management systems. She handles global learning and development for Capgemini and is in-charge of the certification programs.

For more information about Capgemini’s Avancer Program and how it is creating the female leaders of tomorrow today, reach out to Vanessa Tullio and and Susan Steer