10 Companies that Prioritize Recruiting from HBCUs
It’s no surprise that Historically Black Colleges and Universities are a great source of career-ready talent. In fact, 25% of all African Americans with STEM degrees graduate from HBCUs. With over 100 HBCUs across 20 states, there’s no shortage of schools for companies to recruit from. However, while HBCUs are gaining in national prominence, they’re unfortunately still overlooked by some companies in their recruiting efforts. Those companies that do prioritize recruiting from HBCUs hire top-notch candidates who bring a diversity of skill and experience to the team. Here are 10 companies who are committed to recruiting from HBCUs.
AllianceBernstein is a global investment firm that utilizes diverse perspectives and innovation to navigate capital markets. AB is committed to being a diverse and inclusive firm, and it shows in their recruiting efforts. They partner with many colleges and universities with diverse student bodies, including HBCUs. By partnering with HBCUs like Alabama A&M, along with diverse organizations like the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, INROADS, and HIVE Diversity, AB ensures that they can continue hiring diverse candidates. Their commitment to HBCUs is so strong that they held a forum just for HBCU students to help them discover different careers in financial services and learn from HBCU graduates currently working in the field. They leveraged employee alumni of HBCUs to lead the panels, breakouts, and seminars and in order to make it a truly valuable event. Due to their strong diversity and inclusion efforts, AB has received a score of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index for six years in a row.
American Airlines, one of the top airlines in the country, has a strong commitment to supporting and recruiting from HBCUs. For the past six years, American Airlines has hosted Black Enterprise’s Annual BE Smart Hackathon—an event that brings together more than 200 students from almost 30 HBCUs to compete, learn, and network. Students attend workshops, build relationships, learn career skills, and even get recruited for internships. American Airlines also offers a completion scholarship in partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to HBCU seniors in danger of not graduating due to financial difficulties. And the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts don’t end at recruitment. American Airlines proudly highlights their HBCU alumni talent on their website, showcasing the long careers HBCU graduates can have at American Airlines.
This famous national rail operator is dedicated to more than just providing high quality transportation. Amtrak is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce, which is why their university team prioritizes recruiting at HBCUs. The organization partners with HBCUs throughout the year and makes sure to have a presence at the HBCU Career Development Marketplace and NSBE in order to recruit top talent. Amtrak also partners with the United Negro Fund to provide travel scholarships to HBCU students. This unique scholarship provides up to 140 students from 28 HBCUs with vouchers to travel, allowing them to visit family and explore during school breaks. This scholarship is critical to helping students stay connected with their home communities while in college.
Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, recruits heavily from HBCUs. The company partners with 13 different HBCUs and hosts The Boeing HBCU Immersion Program with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund each spring. The three-day, highly-competitive program brings together some of the brightest freshman and sophomore HBCU students from across the country. The purpose of the program is to provide young students an exclusive look at life at Boeing, including helping them learn more about opportunities in the aerospace field. Students get the chance to engage with the Boeing team in a unique, intimate setting, while discovering potential future Boeing job opportunities in IT, Engineering, and Business. Boeing’s commitment to HBCUs doesn’t stop there. In fall 2020, Boeing announced an 18-month Mentor-Protégé agreement with Southern University and A&M College to work together on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program.
Crowe Global is one of the largest accounting, consulting, and technology firms in the United States. As a leader in DE&I, the firm has made commitments from the top levels of the organization, even implementing an Inclusive Excellence Council which deals with all strategy and direction of inclusion initiatives. Their DE&I work begins at the recruitment level, where the company has established an innovative HBCU recruiting program. The groundbreaking program began at Florida A&M University, but is now being expanded to campuses nationwide. The program initiates an internship-to-employment pipeline which keeps Crowe involved with students throughout their academic career. Students not only have access to job opportunities, but receive mentorship from the program, ensuring they’ll be ready to start their careers upon graduation. While targeted recruitment efforts are important, the company’s DE&I efforts do not end after the recruitment process. Crowe also offers a number of Business Resource Groups (BRGs) that give both interns and employees a chance to connect and innovate with their peers.
Deutsche Bank is a multinational investment bank and financial services company committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and global environment. They offer their dbAchieve internship program exclusively for diverse college sophomores, and work to specifically recruit HBCU students through HBCU Connect. DbAchieve includes a variety of internship positions, including roles in corporate finance, asset management, and global markets. At the end of the summer, successful interns are invited back for the company’s junior year Analyst Internship Program. Deutsche Bank not only encourages, but expects their leaders to build inclusive teams of people with different skills, styles, approaches, and backgrounds. This focus on inclusion is the key to retaining the diverse students they recruit.
GE Appliances, a leading American home appliance manufacturer, partnered with HBCU Connect to bring great opportunities to HBCU students and alumni. This partnership makes it so HBCU students and grads that may have been influenced by the pandemic can join a growing company that invests in their future. While 45% of management hires are already people of color, GE Appliances’s goal is to have 40% ethnic diversity across the entire company in the next four years. GE’s Angela McBride, Director of Sales Development and HBCU Alumna, stated that GE is a company “that not only has great products, inspires you to be your best but also walks the talk and embraces diversity.”
Microsoft, one of the most well-known companies in the world, makes recruiting at HBCUs a huge priority. Their decision to recruit heavily at HBCUs was recognized by HBCU CONNECT, who named them the #1 employer of HBCU students and graduates in 2021. This is likely due in part to Microsoft’s decision to “double down on their efforts to hire more African American Software Engineers and Program Managers” after collaborating with HBCU CONNECT on virtual recruiting events in 2020. Although they’ve recently committed to increasing their recruitment from HBCUs, Microsoft has had a long-standing partnership with HBCU CONNECT, working with them since 2014. In addition, Microsoft partners with a number of individual HBCUs, even giving one school a $300,000 grant in early 2021. Microsoft also announced the launch of the Imagine Cup HBCU Edition, a team competition that gives HBCU students the chance to learn about technology and how it can be used positively to change the world. It’s clear that Microsoft continues to look for new ways to support and recruit from HBCUs, making them a true leader and innovator in diversity recruitment.
Northrop Grumman specializes in solving the toughest problems in space, cyberspace, defense, and aeronautics, so it’s no surprise that they look for top diverse talent to help them achieve their goals. Northrop Grumman’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities / Minority Institutions Program works to develop relationships with HBCUs to support research, training, recruitment, and scholarships. The Northrop Grumman HBCU Invitational invites students to learn just how the company defines what’s possible. Each fall, the company hosts a series of workshops and interviews for undergraduate and graduate students studying computer science, business, or STEM. Participants engage in tech talks, webinars, and panel discussions with Northrop Grumman’s African American executives and early career employees. Students also get an exclusive chance to interview for full time and internship roles during the invitational.
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American aerospace and defense conglomerate based in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company participates in several initiatives to recruit students from HBCUs, including The Raytheon Technologies Scholarship Program. This scholarship is awarded to high-achieving Black students attending Howard University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University, Prairie View A&M University or Tuskegee University who show leadership, academic success and a commitment to their communities. Students must be pursuing a degree in STEM, Business or a similar field of study to receive the scholarship. Raytheon is also listed as a top-10 industry supporter of HBCU engineering schools, and offers the Raytheon Mentoring Program at another HBCU, Southern University. This program assigns students at the university a mentor from Raytheon, along with a book stipend for each semester they participate.
Each of these companies shows that it’s not enough to simply say they want to hire more diverse candidates. Through partnerships, programs, and scholarships, they work to support HBCU students in their development and prioritize hiring them once they graduate. These innovative programs and recruiting efforts certainly stand out!
