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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.
That's true. You could say it's a self-fulfilling prophecy but I also think there's a certain reality that underpins that thinking. There's a certain assumption that DC and Atlanta employers are "fully stocked" on Black people when that's not really the case. Firms in those cities are competing for the same small pool of Black talent that firms in Seattle are. Firms in certain cities won't go after those candidates because they have no chance of getting them. It's no different than Dartmouth not going all in to land a 5-star basketball recruit.
Typically, the professionals I meet who live in cities like Denver or Seattle went to school there, and generally performed well relative to their peers.
That's true. You could say it's a self-fulfilling prophecy but I also think there's a certain reality that underpins that thinking. There's a certain assumption that DC and Atlanta employers are "fully stocked" on Black people when that's not really the case. Firms in those cities are competing for the same small pool of Black talent that firms in Seattle are. Firms in certain cities won't go after those candidates because they have no chance of getting them. It's no different than Dartmouth not going all in to land a 5-star basketball recruit.
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.
I totally get this and it is sad.
I will say just speaking for what I know about Corning Inc is that it also has manufacturing facilities in the area and does have a history of having some Black folks migrate there for such jobs. There are some Black employees in regards to STEM R&D, like some of people from that church, but I'm also under the impression that they are always looking for more talent. It may be a matter of turnover in Black talent at its HQ's.
For those that don't or may not know, it is a company known for its glassware for cooking, Gorilla Glass for iPhones and has been involved in fiber optic development. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corning_Inc.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 12-07-2015 at 06:27 PM..
Q: Are we anywhere near being on track where we’ll see more African American representation in the sciences?
Tyson: No. So, let me offer you a perspective. When I graduated college, there were something like 130 black graduates in my graduating class. This is the Harvard class of 1980. Of those 130, there was an article about the graduating class in The New York Times, and it cited these 130. Two went on for advanced academic degrees. And I was one of those two. Here I was, graduating from one of the most storied institutions of the land, where if there’s any institution that you might expect to be feeding academia, it would be the population of graduates from there. And there were only two. The simplest way I can understand that is that the community at that time did not yet have the luxury of using that education for that purpose.
And so, what that means is, if you’re the first to go to college or the first to go to a selective school where there’s a high expectation of opportunity, is the first thing you’re thinking of, “Oh, let me study science?” No, you’re going to sort of build capital. You’re going to choose a job where income is guaranteed and high. So, the legal, the finance, the business school, the law school, medical school.
Just let that sink in for a moment. Here is a guy who has degrees in physics and astrophysics from some of the finest institutions in the world and people are still questioning his bona fides. If people are reacting this way to someone of his pedigree, then what do they think of your average Black college graduate?
Just let that sink in for a moment. Here is a guy who has degrees in physics and astrophysics from some of the finest institutions in the world and people are still questioning his bona fides. If people are reacting this way to someone of his pedigree, then what do they think of your average Black college graduate?
Dude, you already know...
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