Who runs the world? GIRLS

Who runs the world? GIRLS

Posted October 5, 2020

The average Australian ASX listed business has a 30% proportion of female directors according to a study completed by The Australian Institute of Company Directors in late 2019. At TwoScots, whilst significantly smaller than the polled businesses, we’re proud of our 50/50 director board comprising two men and two women.

And whilst we’re proud of our commitment to bringing diversity into our senior decision making, we can’t take all the credit. Surely, that must go to the two fantastic women who through years of dedication have transformed our business and achieved their senior roles.

In August, Rebecca Lazar celebrated four years with TwoScots whilst Bree Abbott celebrated a whopping ten years with the company! There are plenty of reasons why this gives us all the positive ~feels~; again because of how proud we are to represent women where it matters; because these two women are such powerful and effective leaders; even because longevity in an industry often characterised by a revolving door of hiring certainly reflects well on our culture but mostly we love it because of how integral they are to our team.

As a celebration of all that they have achieved personally, professionally, for the TwoScots brand and for each team member individually, we’d like to share a little more about their career stories and perspectives. Why? Well, because you cannot be what you cannot see and we think all younger women should have role models like Bec and Bree!

Over to you ladies!

Rebecca Lazar

‘I accelerated quickly in the early stages of my career moving from Team Leader to Executive Manager in around two years. This Executive Management position is how I was noticed by Jason and Jeremy, Directors of TwoScots who approached me to establish and grow their Office Support division. Within just months we had made huge steps to reaching the phenomenal growth which has enabled our team to be a major player in the Professional Services and Education industries.

Every step up or opportunity I have had has been because I’ve been approached for it; whether that be building new, high performing teams or as has happened frequently within multiple organisations, to build strong teams and divisions from scratch. Being a woman in business has certainly influenced my drive to excel as it has inspired me to always strive for excellence.

Now, I want to enable other women and young people to thrive and this is what inspired me to train in confidence and career coaching. Women often need that extra support to request what men can easily. A Hewlett Packard internal report even found that men will apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications whilst women will not unless they meet 100% of them. As a recruiter, this is fascinating to me as I can apply it to both my team and the candidates with which we work everyday.

Within TwoScots, we have plenty of female professionals, in fact for better or worse women outweigh the men by far. However, the aforementioned statistic means that they will need far more coaching to be as precocious as their male counterparts. A challenge I’m willing to accept!’

Bree Abbott

‘Whilst graduating, finding a job you loved and staying with that company long-term used to be the norm, people are often shocked that TwoScots was my first and only employer in my career out of university (I was also their first employee incidentally!) However, I’ve certainly played the field in terms of working across lots of teams, mastering lots of skills and progressing my career from Graduate Recruiter through to Director and go-to woman for most of the team – even right now when I’m technically on maternity leave with my first child.

Talking about myself isn’t my strong point but what i can do is talk about a brand and a business that I feel not only so privileged to have been a part of but one that for 10 years I have lived and breathed.

I have been asked many times why I haven’t moved on from TS and the answer is simple, the culture I joined was and still is irreplaceable. TS has allowed me to learn, thrive and contribute in a really meaningful way. As our business has grown year on year so have the challenges Jason and Jeremy continue to present to me. I have never felt like my career is stagnating and in fact even now, while i’m on maternity leave i still feel very much connected to everyone.

I joined a business with two Scottish guys who were much older than me, we worked in a tiny office with no windows and I had no idea what a recruiter actually did day to day. 10 years on and I am very proud of the journey I have been on and even more proud of the journey we have all had with TS.

With 6 divisions and a team of amazing people across the business, leaving Lenny in March and getting back to work will be a very easy transition.’