Hi! My name is Murron Cunningham, and my current role is an inside sales account manager working within the UK Glasgow small to medium business team. The main responsibilities within my current role is to work closely with my accounts and customers in order to provide them the best technology for their business. Within my role, I have a responsibility to ensure that I am fully up to date on all our selling concepts to allow me to propose the correct solution for customers with our hardware and software that will help drive their business forward.

Another area of my role is to maintain and create a good relationship with my accounts. This can be through acquiring them to start with and then transitioning that specific account into a consistent buyer from Dell Technologies.

How did you start your career at Dell Technologies?

I started my career with Dell via Women in Sport. I was playing at Heart of Midlothian football club at the time, and they had a partnership with Dell. Women in Sport was an association who assisted female athletes with a dual career. I was then invited to come along to an open day at Dell and got the job from the interview process afterward.

Why did you decide to become a mentor for the STEM Aspire Program?

I was encouraged by my manager at the time within my old role. They had previously worked alongside people who had completed the program. The main reason for joining was because I kept hearing about the confidence it can install in younger students to join the STEM industries after university. Alongside the confidence growth it can provide the students, it can also increase your own confidence as a mentor as you have the responsibility of listening, guiding and trying to achieve a common goal set between both you as the mentor and the mentee themselves.

For me personally, coming into the technology industry was always something that was heavily male dominated. These sectors were oriented around male interests or strengths. STEM provides a belief to younger female students that a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is achievable. Not only can you participate, but you can become a leader.

My time being a STEM mentor was rewarding as my mentee was a student studying pharmaceuticals. They found balancing their studies and course work a challenge alongside working part-time. For me, this was something I was passionate to help with as I manage a lot of responsibility alongside my job and have an active hobby in sport outside work which requires time management and high organisation.

Through the use of online check ins with one another, we were able to create a weekly timetable that allocated specific time to manage university, working and completing course work. This was a rewarding part of my journey as a STEM mentor as it is a transferrable skill that can be taken into a career to maximise someone’s potential through organisation.

What would say to encourage young women to consider STEM careers? 

STEM offers a platform that can make you feel more secure in transitioning into a career within STEM. It gives you a piece of mind that you are not alone in the industries that STEM covers and that there are many successful women who have had incredible careers in male dominated fields. Another factor to consider when looking to start your STEM career would be that both male and females together can offer different strengths which allows for greater success.

Next, read Hifsa’s story to learn more about the STEM Aspire Program.