While Google is Under Fire for Not Hiring Enough HBCU Grads, Microsoft Grows Partnership with HBCU CONNECT In 2021...
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Posted By: Will Moss on December 26, 2020 Recently in the news for all of the wrong reasons, Google has been struggling with their recruitment brand and image within the African American community as two highly regarded African American female employees broke ties with the company. Meanwhile, tech giant Microsoft out of Redmond, Washington, has been quietly investing in it's relationship with tech firm and social network, HBCU CONNECT, in an effort to bring more Black Tech talent into the company. HBCU CONNECT, an online social network started by an African American HBCU Graduate (Hampton University) based in Columbus, Ohio, has been helping companies like Microsoft recruit Black students and graduates from HBCUs for years. In 2013, Microsoft approached HBCU CONNECT with an opportunity and a challenge, to help them recruit more experienced African Americans for careers in Software Engineering and and Program Management. But the company did not just want more resumes and views on their job listings. At the time, then HR Diversity leader, Sean Kelley, wanted to see to it that talent delivered by HBCU CONNECT got to meet with hiring managers, recruiters and team members to have conversations that led to interviews and hires. The first event in 2013 was a huge success that saw tons of experienced Black professionals interested in careers with Microsoft, as well as a variety of hiring managers, recruiters, and African American employees supporting Microsoft's commitment. Fast forward 7 years and Microsoft has continued to partner with HBCU CONNECT every year since, to hire African American tech talent. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft really stepped up it's diversity hiring efforts in 2020, hosting 10 successful hiring events with HBCU CONNECT. In 2020 the diversity recruitment events pivoted from physical locations to virtual events that continued to result in interviews and offers going out to more and more African American tech professionals. Each hiring event sees roughly 140 seasoned African American and Latinx professionals with experience in Software Engineering, Program Management and sometimes areas such as Sales and Marketing. One of the events hosted by the Microsoft XBOX team had over 300 participants eager to land a career in game development and the XBOX ecosystem. In the first quarter of 2021, Microsoft is working with HBCU CONNECT to pull off at least 8 hiring events for Black and Latinx tech professionals that will result in hundreds of interviews and potentially hundreds of hires for the Redmond based tech giant. Black and Latinx professionals interested in careers at Microsoft in Software Engineering and Program Management should be sure to sign up for the upcoming events in 2021 using the following registration page: https://hbcuconnect.com/microsoft If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Will Moss CEO, HBCU CONNECT Hampton University class of 1995 Member Since June 1999 |
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