Hispanics are one of the largest, fastest growing and youngest minority populations in the United States. However, Hispanics are also one of the most underrepresented minority groups when looking at STEM careers and education. According to the US Department of Education, “less than 2 percent of the STEM workforce is Hispanic while almost 20 percent of the country’s youth population is Hispanic”. Additionally, at school they are performing lower in STEM subjects and often are not receiving adequate exposure to the topic in K-12 classes.
This hits close to home for Symantec on two fronts.
We have a comprehensive talent strategy in place to promote and increase the diversity of our workforce and educate diverse communities on STEM through a variety of initiatives. HOLA, Symantec’s Hispanic Employee Resource Group, is committed to strengthening the Hispanic communitys’ interest in the STEM fields as we discussed last week, and additionally, we are working hard to open doors for students interested in STEM careers, through our recently launched SC3 signature program.
For these reasons a key part of our diversity efforts are promoting STEM education for the Hispanic community. In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month I am happy to call out an ongoing partnership that is helping us do just this, our partnership with Latino Magazine, one of the nation’s leading publications for the Latino community. In 2014 Symantec will be featured in the magazine’s LatinoSTEM10 listing for our efforts to promote STEM education highlighting our signature SC3 program:
Symantec has long been supportive of advancing STEM education and recognizes the need for a diverse and skilled workforce in the cyber security industry has never been greater. To make a positive impact with an important societal issue, Symantec developed a first-of-its-kind program, the Symantec Cyber Career Connection (SC3) and invested $2 million to provide new career opportunities for underserved young adults who may not be college-bound. Announced in June 2014 at the Clinton Global Initiative America meeting, a pilot of the program kicked-off in the fall of 2014 in New York City, Baltimore and the San Francisco Bay Area, and will be implemented through a network of Symantec’s partners. Of the 50 students enrolled across the three pilot program locations, Symantec expects 80 percent of students to be placed into internships and 75 percent into full time positions following their participation. Overall, the goal is to scale the program to train 15,000 students a year over the next several years.
Additionally, we will serve as a key partner this December at Latino Magazine’s AHORA Student Days taking place in San Jose, California near our Mountain View corporate headquarters. AHORA Student Days “bring together high school students with outstanding role models from corporate America, the Federal government, U.S. Armed Forces and other careers.” The events educate students on the benefits of completing a high school and college degree, and provide them with the opportunity to directly interact with professionals learning more about potential careers in STEM. At the December event Symantec will participate on a panel as well as host a booth providing materials on careers at Symantec and the benefits of pursuing a career in STEM.
At Symantec, our ability to attract, develop, promote, retain, and fully engage diverse talent leads to enhanced innovation and creativity in our products and services, and this is no different for the STEM community at large. With an additional 1 million + new STEM jobs projected by 2022 and Hispanics as one of the fastest growing populations in the US, reaching out to and opening doors for the Hispanic community will continue to empower this growing community helping STEM industries, and our local communities and economies thrive.
Antoine Andrews is Symantec's Director, Global Diversity and Inclusion