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I agree with this. But DFW metro vs Atlanta metro is no contest and I honestly believe if someone explored both for a minimum of two weeks, they'd walk away saying DFW has the better metro
I don't think it's a matter of people not being open to it. I don't think people are necessarily shunning these employers at NSBE job fairs. I've known more than a few engineering majors who've found themselves in some non-ideal locations (Wisconsin, rural California, etc.). I know a lot of people who went to go work for P&G in Cincinnati.
The biggest issue, obviously, is that employers are competing for a tiny pool of candidates. A Black student who graduates from the top half of his/her class at UVA doesn't have to settle for a job in Western New York. And those are typically the only Black students large employers want to hire.
Is a Fortune 500 company settling though? I think the issue with a company like Corning has more to do with the lack knowledge about the community and amenities in regards to potential Black talent. That is why they are looking at the HBCU's and from what I've read, they want people to bring cultural amenities to the community. Elmira is the closest city with a substantial Black community, with Rochester and Syracuse both being about an hour and half away.
I'm not surprised by those that choose to work at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, as it is a city that is 45% Black and has some suburbs to the north with substantial to predominately Black populations. It is a company that seems to make an effort in looking for talent from a diverse range of people as well.
Is a Fortune 500 company settling though? I think the issue with a company like Corning has more to do with the lack knowledge about the community and amenities in regards to potential Black talent. That is why they are looking at the HBCU's and from what I've read, they want people to bring cultural amenities to the community. Elmira is the closest city with a substantial Black community, with Rochester and Syracuse both being about an hour and half away.
For a Black person who finishes in the top half of their class at UVA (assuming they majored in a field like finance, biology or engineering), yes, Western New York would be settling. Why go there when they could easily go to DC, Philly, NYC, Atlanta, Chicago, etc?
The reality of the situation is that most large companies and firms are only recruiting Black students from a small handful of schools. And then they are recruiting only the top Black students from these schools. There's some leeway there for Ivies but even then your degree will be discounted to an extent because they are going to assume you didn't get there on merit.
And these are the types of things that go unsaid on recruiting committees all across America. Some employers will go to great lengths to have a diverse workforce but others really couldn't care less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
I'm not surprised by those that choose to work at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, as it is a city that is 45% Black and has some suburbs to the north with substantial to predominately Black populations. It is a company that seems to make an effort in looking for talent from a diverse range of people as well.
They weren't excited about going there. They just went there because that's where P&G is headquartered.
I think he realizes that. He never said it was a fact that DFW was better.
No, but he implied that any random person would conclude such after a week in each. It's way too subjective. Honestly I think most who think one is clearly "better" do so based on preferences for living, not just casual visits.
The other thing about recruiting is that a lot of employers have hard GPA cutoffs. We can't just assume anybody with a certain degree can go work at a certain company. One of my boys working in the Bay Area is on the recruiting committee at his firm and says that there just aren't enough Black people meeting the GPA cutoff (on top of there not being that many Black candidates to begin with). The ones who do meet the hiring criteria could go work at dozens of different places.
For a Black person who finishes in the top half of their class at UVA (assuming they majored in a field like finance, biology or engineering), yes, Western New York would be settling. Why go there when they could easily go to DC, Philly, NYC, Atlanta, Chicago, etc?
The reality of the situation is that most large companies and firms are only recruiting Black students from a small handful of schools. And then they are recruiting only the top Black students from these schools. There's some leeway there for Ivies but even then your degree will be discounted to an extent because they are going to assume you didn't get there on merit.
And these are the types of things that go unsaid on recruiting committees all across America. Some employers will go to great lengths to have a diverse workforce but others really couldn't care less.
They weren't excited about going there. They just went there because that's where P&G is headquartered.
I understand what you are saying, but what about companies that actually care or are all of them just talk/smoke and mirrors? What about the fact that a company is actually looking at the HBCU's like a Corning Inc? Not to be picky, but Corning is in the Southern Tier, as they call it up here.
Also, the initial point is that looking at places outside of the box may help yield better results in terms of a job search and economically.
Have the sentiments changed at all about working at P&G and/or living in the Cincinnati area?
Even employers in large cities don't have many Blacks. Take a look at the NALP directory, which publishes racial demographic stats for various employers (one of the few industries that actually does this). Here are some of the biggest firms in Los Angeles and the number of Blacks employed there.
Even companies in large cities like Los Angeles have a difficult time recruiting the most talented Black students. In STEM fields, where there are even fewer Black students, it is easy see why companies in smaller markets would have no Black people at all.
One of my frat brothers who works for GE previously worked and lived in Milwaukee and was ready to move on once his time was up. We were discussing the article I posted earlier in a Facebook group and he said he's heard recruits say they would NOT recruit at XYZ school because they didn't think they'd be able to get people to move to the Midwest, so they end up recruiting only in the Midwest and there's not a lot of Black talent there compared to the East Coast and the South. It's a systemic cycle of sorts.
I understand what you are saying, but what about companies that actually care or are all of them just talk/smoke and mirrors? What about the fact that a company is actually looking at the HBCU's like a Corning Inc? Not to be picky, but Corning is in the Southern Tier, as they call it up here.
Also, the initial point is that looking at places outside of the box may help yield better results in terms of a job search and economically.
Have the sentiments changed at all about working at P&G and/or living in the Cincinnati area?
The companies that "care" tend to be the larger ones that are in the public eye. Apple and Facebook make headlines when their workforce is not sufficiently diverse. Fortune 500s that few people pay attention to, and in some cases have never even heard of, don't face the same public pressure.
I got the point about "looking outside of the box." I said that that would work okay for a few people who are already in larger markets and haven't been as successful there. But by and large, the Black engineering major with a 3.6 GPA from a USNWR Top 100 (or Howard, for that matter) doesn't have to do that. There are only so many Black engineering majors period, and even fewer with a 3.6 GPA from reputable schools, and firms aren't going to change their hiring criteria in the name of diversity. This is honestly, and sadly, why a lot of companies don't have any Black people.
So I don't think it's necessarily a matter of Black college graduates turning down perfectly good jobs in cities like Denver because they want to be in Atlanta or Chicago instead. That assumes they'd be able to get in the door at those companies anyway. Sure, some will land jobs in these cities, but employers are not going to go as deep into Bethune Cookman's Class of 2016 as they are into the University of Colorado's. They will cherrypick a valedictorian here or there and that's basically it.
The people I know who went to Cincinnati generally hated it. None of them are still there. It was a resume builder and they've gone off to greener pastures.
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