How a Diverse Talent Pool Leads to Better Tech Talent

As a black man and the leader of talent acquisition for one of the top employers in the world, it is a priority of mine to help to open the doors of opportunity and create a more level playing field for individuals that remind me of myself 25 years ago... smart, driven, but not quite sure how the game works. I grew up in a modest, middle class family in the suburbs of Chicago, but without role models in Corporate America. I was lucky as there were a few people who took an interest in helping me figure out how to get a foot in the door. Specifically, I was keen for that foot to land inside the door at PwC—and I’m happy to say that’s where I started my career as an associate in our assurance (audit) practice. My work ethic, grit and determination, combined with a team of coaches, mentors and advocates who sponsored me, have enabled me to grow and develop as a PwC professional. As a result, I am fortunate enough to still be at PwC today—and to still be developing each day.

One of the many things I love about PwC is our unwavering commitment to diversity. Our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. And our success in delivering on that purpose hinges on having diverse teams at the table. A tremendous body of research supports the need for diversity of talent and thought in business—and the impact that diversity has on team morale, workplace culture, innovation and, ultimately, the bottom line. This is fact. It’s not debatable. 

As we prepare for an increasingly digital future, few business issues are as important today as building a diverse and inclusive workplace. There is a growing gap between the skills required for tech-enabled roles of the future and people who have the skills to fill them—currently, there are over 500,000 unfilled tech jobs.

It’s critical that we broaden the scope of where—and how—we look for talent. Reaching and hiring diverse talent has always been a priority of PwC’s talent acquisition strategy and, over time, we have found that it’s not enough to simply recruit via traditional means. Annual job fairs and the like are simply not getting the job done. To reach, prepare, and recruit diverse talent, organizations including ours need to present our brands in different ways—and we need to invest earlier. One way we have done this historically is through our partnerships with HBCUs—strategic sources where top-performing students are graduating every year. Our commitment to HBCUs goes beyond their remarkable students. Even though we continue to invest in the digital skills of everyone from the day they join PwC, we know that preparing students for the future workforce starts in the classroom—regardless of where their careers take them thereafter. That’s why we have doubled down and invested in the professors on these campuses—both their skills and the curricula they’re developing. 

PwC held our inaugural HBCU Faculty Forum in June 2019 with over 80 attendees including HBCU faculty members alongside PwC partners and staff. During the forum, PwC leadership facilitated discussions with the faculty about the importance of HBCUs in our national recruiting strategy and how to incorporate the critical digital skills their students need into their existing curriculum. The forum also included a panel with signatories of CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion™ focused on diversity recruiting efforts, as well as a guest speaker, Dr. Bryant Marks, who addressed unconscious bias and preparing HBCU students to succeed in the corporate world. The HBCU Faculty Forum was a huge milestone in strengthening our relationships in the HBCU community.

We’ve also made our Digital Fitness app available to professors to support their personal upskilling efforts. Understanding the vital role that professors play in the preparation of students to enter the workforce, we are offering hands-on learning opportunities to academics, free of charge, that focus on giving professors the tools—and thought-starters—they need to  incorporate more digital learnings into their mindsets and their courses.

As professors learn more about digital tools available to them in our increasingly tech-enabled landscape, they can then take this knowledge back to the classroom to better prepare students for their future careers. Our Analytics Academies for professors continue to grow in popularity, with HBCU faculty traveling to events in three cities this fall to learn and fully immerse themselves in emerging technologies.

But we can’t stop there. Upskilling and empowering students at traditionally diverse academic institutions is just the first step. We are offering scholarships to help overcome the hurdles associated with the growing cost of education—just this year we awarded $150,000 in HBCU scholarships. We’re also working internally through HBCU alumni to reach and recruit graduates, and to empower them with the knowledge of modern job opportunities that are available to them. 

Further, as a leader in CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion™, we’re working with fellow signatories like the National HBCU Business Dean’s Roundtable to plan events to promote the pipeline of talent from HBCUs and build stronger connections between HBCU deans and executives of leading companies.

While there is much work left to do, these efforts are already starting to pay off. We’re actively hiring from five times more HBCU sources than we were two years ago and have seen a 72% increase in hires year over year. 

As a firm, advancing diversity and inclusion continues to be a critical area of focus that drives our sense of purpose. At the heart of our strategic approach is continuing to enhance the talent pipeline by strengthening our partnerships with HBCUs and historically diverse academic institutions. 

Our relationships, support and hiring from HBCUs is an important factor in how we make a difference for our clients, our people and our society. And we are unwavering on that commitment.