Ms McVittie has volunteered for IOR Scotland for many years and became a Fellow of the IOR in 2012. She has held many key positions with IOR Scotland including becoming IOR Scotland’s first female chair. Linda has also been involved with the IOR’s Women in RACHP Network allowing her to share her story and help to spotlight the variety of careers available to women in the RACHP industry.
Speaking about her nomination, Ms McVittie said: “I do feel honoured to be nominated. I hope it would be an indication to younger women in RACHP that refrigeration could be a job for life if you want it to be. Younger people can see I’ve been in the industry for so many years - you might move job but there are so many different paths you can take.”
A STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) Ambassador, Ms McVittie is enthusiastic about encouraging young people to pursue a career in engineering – she has assisted with mentoring forums, support mechanisms and promoted job opportunities available to women in engineering. She recently took on the role of mentor for a young engineer to help further their career in the refrigeration industry and is enthusiastic about STEM initiatives aimed at young people. Discussing the latter, she said “young people (girls and boys) can be influenced or even made aware that refrigeration can be a career of choice - I was never aware that RACHP was a job you could move into and enjoy.”
The IOR will be hosting Cool Careers - an event focusing on careers and training on 24th June to mark World Refrigeration Week. In addition the IOR’s Women in RACHP network has scheduled an event on how women engineers are inspiring the next generation on 23 June. Both events are free, and participants can register at ior.org.uk/events