HackerRank, the developer skills company, today announced a partnership with the National Association of College Deans, Registrars, and Admissions Officers of HBCUs (NACDRAO) to extend the fall Virtual Career Fair with a third day focused on students and recent graduates from more than 100 HBCUs. The event will be held in a virtual setting on September 23, 2020, with dedicated programming on career tools and entrepreneurship from Black business leaders. Exhibiting companies and HBCU students will have the opportunity to network throughout the three-day Virtual Career Fair, connecting a wider talent pool with business needs.
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The technology industry is deeply behind in attracting and retaining diverse talent. The percentage of Black employees is in the single digits still at most of the top tech companies, and this event is specifically designed to address that problem. Exhibitors for the inaugural virtual career fair include Twilio, Bloomberg, Moody’s Analytics, Comcast Corporation, PayPal, Riot Games, Duolingo, GoDaddy, AirBnB, BNY Mellon and Roblox.
Trier Bryant is slated to keynote the day with tailored tools for early talent entering the tech job market. As the Chief People Officer at Astra, an aerospace company in the San Francisco Bay Area, Trier leads the teams that optimize employees’ impact at Astra, including HR, Recruiting, L&OD, Workplace Experience and Safety. Previously, she held leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, Twitter and served in the United States Air Force as a Captain leading engineering teams. Prior to leaving the military, Trier was requested by name by the Pentagon to lead diversity, inclusion and talent development initiatives for the Air Force Academy, the Air Force and the Department of Defense.
“There are more than 100 HBCUs in the United States that rely on in-person career fairs to find computer science internships and full-time jobs each year,” said Dr. Jerome Goodwin, President of NACDRAO. “Our partnership with HackerRank will open up opportunities that might have been lost this year and provide access to world-class companies, which could have lasting positive impacts on all students majoring in computer science, data science, engineering and related majors at our member schools.”
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“Partnering with NACDRAO and focusing on programming for HBCUs enhances our Virtual Career Fair for everyone involved,” said Vivek Ravisankar, Co-Founder and CEO of HackerRank. “The best technology is built by teams of developers who have diverse backgrounds. Diversity of thought fosters more creative outcomes, fresh perspectives and the generation of new, groundbreaking ideas. Access to this pool of candidates will have a significant impact on those efforts.”
Before the fair, participants can register in the HackerRank Community to start practicing their skills and earn certificates to help them stand out to potential employers. Once they’ve completed at least one assessment, the system creates a personal profile where they can showcase certifications and scores for assessments they’ve taken. From there, participants can access the company exhibitor page to view company profiles who are hiring for full-time and intern positions. If a student is interested in a company, they can easily apply with the click of a button and the Virtual Career Fair will facilitate an introduction if there is mutual interest.
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