The Next Tech Girls initiative, which is working to improve female talent pipelines within STEM through providing access to work experience, is celebrating reaching its target of placing 100 year 10 students before the 2016 summer break.

Developed by the global recruitment consultancy, Empiric, the programme was launched with the aim of inspiring 5,000 more females to pursue careers within technology roles in the UK by 2020.

Director at Empiric and programme manager at Next Tech Girls, Steve Brown, commented: “’m delighted although not altogether surprised that this initiative has already been such a success. The talent shortages that the tech and digital sectors are currently facing are intrinsically linked with female under-representation, and we are not alone in seeking a solution to this challenge.”

He continued: “I am pleased to report that interest from clients looking to host students has been greater than we’d ever anticipated and I’d like to thank all the organisations involved – without your time and resources this would not be possible.”

As the company reports that there seems to be a declining number of women working in the sector, the Next Tech Girls campaign is actively working with education institutions and employers to place girls into relevant work experience opportunities.

Brown added: ““Less than a year after inception, Next Tech Girls has already proved that there is a real appetite to tap into fresh young talent pools – the only piece missing from the jigsaw was a facilitator. We’re currently applying improvements from feedback and automating processes to ensure the initiative can be scaled to meet future demand. Applying a digital by default methodology and improving through iteration. We’re already working on Next Tech Girls 2017 and well on target to secure 5,000 placements by 2020.”

Learn more about Next Tech Girls here