The latest U.S. jobs report found that while overall job creation has begun to slow, the unemployment rates for Black workers have shown notable improvement, according to Fast Company. An Overall Decrease In Jobs Employers added 175,000 jobs in April, a deceleration from previous months. Yet, this slowdown comes after an unprecedented streak of low unemployment rates, remaining under 4% for 27 consecutive months—the longest stretch in over half a century. The overall unemployment rate experienced a slight increase to 3.9%, yet this minor increase doesn’t signal a weakening labor market.
Large U.S. employers are 9.5% more likely to contact candidates with names that suggested they were white than those presumed to be Black, a new study has revealed. Uncovering Systematic Bias In a study by leading economists Evan Rose, Patrick Kline and Christopher Walters, approximately 80,000 fabricated résumés were sent out 10,000 jobs at 97 of the largest companies in the U.S. The experiment explored racial and gender biases by alternating names on résumés to imply different ethnicities and genders—such as Latisha or Amy (suggesting Black or white women) and Lamar or
Tangent, a technology platform founded by former LinkedIn employee Gary Izunwa and Joe Adams, has secured $1.1 million in funding and officially launched out of beta. Tangent, an employee referral platform aims to make referrals accessible to everyone by increasing tech career opportunities for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. A Vision For Inclusive Tech Tangent’s approach centers on starting with tech sales roles, engaging companies like Revolut, Stripe, and Amazon to support the transition of talent from diverse backgrounds into the tech ecosystem. This strategy aligns with the broader vision of Tangent—to democratize access to tech careers and create
Filmmaker and entrepreneur Tyler Perry recently halted an $800 million expansion of his Atlanta-based studio due to the advancements in AI. Perry’s pause on expanding his 330-acre studio, which would have added 12 soundstages, underscores the disruptive potential of AI in the entertainment industry. AI’s Capabilities During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Perry expressed his awe at OpenAI’s Sora’s capabilities in particular. Sora can generate vivid and complex video scenes merely from text descriptions, potentially eliminating the need for location shooting or set building. “Being told it can do
The media industry has lost Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) leaders over the last two weeks with layoffs and resignations at Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Who Has Gone? After more than six years, Disney’s chief diversity officer Latondra Newton was the first to exit her role. She oversaw the company’s “commitment to producing entertainment that reflects a global audience and sustains a welcoming and inclusive workplace for everyone.” Disney said she was leaving to pursue “other endeavors.” Netflix’s first-ever head of
Over half (54%) of the jobs at tech companies are non-technical roles – which is great news for those of us who thought C# was a musical note. Here’s a roundup of some of the many ‘non-technical’ roles at tech companies you can apply for on POCIT! “I genuinely thought it was only the coders that would be able to make the most money and the biggest change in the tech world and I was wrong.” – Nakita Austin, Customer Success Director Marketing A tech company may make a life-changing
Remember the summer of 2020? Tech companies were posting Black squares on Instagram and mass hiring diversity consultants. Fast forward two years, and tech leaders are publicly delighting in the waning of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). We know it is easy to feel discouraged, but that’s where POCIT comes in! On our recruitment platform, you can find a whole gamut of roles for people of color in tech. Whether you’re a developer or business analyst, marketing genius or design boss, here are some of the many companies that want to
We recently did a roundup of some of the hottest tech internships currently accepting applications, but we know some of you are also looking for something a little more permanent. On the POCIT jobs board, we’ve got loads of entry-level and junior roles for software engineers in the early stages of their careers. And for those studying at college, taking online courses, or attending a boot camp, tech internships provide a great way to get some much-needed industry experience. So, if you’re intellectually curious, passionate about tech, and eager to
With constant news of layoffs, hiring freezes, and restructures, we know it’s a hard time for many in the tech industry – especially people of color. When underperforming, companies retreat to what they know and who they know. They default to what is familiar, and, all too often, this means older, white men. We saw this at the peak of the pandemic, and it seems we are seeing it now. POCIT was launched to platform the stories of people of color in tech but also to create new ones. Our recruitment platform has
A report conducted by Dice, a tech career-building company, found a 16 percent increase in job postings in this year’s second quarter. The company analyzed more than one million tech job postings between April and June 2021 and compared that analysis to the same data collected from January through March 2021. Burning Glass Technologies provided all of the data for Dice to analyze. The study also found tech job posting growth across locations, occupations, skills, and employers in the U.S. from Q1 to Q2. According to PR News, emerging tech hubs like
