Black History Month Special Edition
Who's helping Black students thrive in the job market?
There are no shortage of stats on the disparity of employment outcomes post-university for Black and ethnic minority students with the situation only worsening during Covid. But, what can be done about it?
Well, we wanted to spend the 2021 Black History Month showcasing some of the best organisations in the United Kingdom supporting Black students to fulfil their potential in the job market. Hopefully through their work, as well as the work of others, some of these stats will be relegated to the history books forever.
Get yourself out there
Being proactive and engaging with networking groups and targeted recruitment agencies will increase your chances of securing a job interview and landing your dream job. Take a look through this handy list we’ve compiled as a resource to help you in your search. Knowing that these organisations are actively recruiting Black students should make it easier to take the first step of getting yourself out there.
Have you thought about the difference you can make?
Chances are, if you’re already at university, you’ve put in the hours to get good grades and potentially broken some barriers. You probably already have something to offer those coming up behind you.
Why not approach your old school or college and ask to do a talk to year 12 or 13 students about what university is like and how to succeed there? Or offer to mentor younger students to help them excel both academically and socially? University can be a daunting prospect, but you can make a huge difference in someone else's life by showing them what can be achieved with a little bit of hard work.
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Rare Recruitment meets up with candidates and provides one-to-one development with experts and events to help you prepare your application to companies. Rare has helped candidates apply to jobs within business & finance, law, the public sector and universities. These companies include Morgan Stanley, Latham & Watkins LLP, Civil Service and the University of Oxford.
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BYP Network is dedicated to changing the black narrative, where black people are under-represented yet have so many talents available. BYP Network put on events for black talents to connect with each other. There is also a job board on the website for applicants to apply to their corporate partners, including HSBC, Google, PwC, The Telegraph, AirBnB and more.
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#10000 Black Interns plan to offer 10,000 internships over 5 years across 24 sectors involving more than 700 companies, including American Express, UK Research and Innovation, St. James’s Place, RQC Group, M&S and others. They all offer paid work experience across a wide range of sectors each year. Sectors include investment management, consumer & retail, education, financial services, data & tech, marketing & advertising and legal services, to name a few. They also offer the ‘Mt Kilimanjaro’ training programme, which offers interviews with industry leaders, webinars, panel discussions, mentor and buddy sessions, team bonding sessions, and online training programmes.
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SEO London provides programmes for black students in areas of corporate law, investment, technology, insurance and investment banking and asset management.
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The Aleto Foundation has partnered up with Avanade to help participants learn how to thrive in the digital age. The programme includes a 3 day virtual leadership bootcamp with challenges and workshops. Followed up by professional mentoring and technology workshops to thrive in the industry.
The Future Leaders Magazine is an annual publication profiling 100 outstanding UK Black university students. It is aimed at sixth form, college and university aiming to inspire and raise attainment.
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Mission44 is the brainchild of Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton. Their mission is to support organisations and programmes that address the issues of inequality in education and employment systems within the UK. Through targeted programmes, they aim to support BAME students to access and progress in spaces, such as education and careers, that traditionally have poor levels of diversity.
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This scholarship is catered to students from an under-represented and unprivileged background. The scholarship will contribute £5,000 to tuition, a possible 10 week or 1 year paid internship at Rolls Royce, an award produced by Rolls Royce and the recipient’s name added to a roll of honour plaque in the Royal Academy of Engineering. The scholarship aims to promote personal development.
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Successful applicants will be reporting to the Head of Coaching. Through a carefully structured programme of learning and development opportunities, they will gain invaluable experience and exposure within a professional environment. There are a total of 16 spots available in 16 professional clubs.
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Successful applicants will be working and learning key skills needed for the industries of communications, public relations or marketing. Candidates will be involved in creating campaigns, influencing how customers use transport in London and shaping TfL’s reputation.
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Over the two days of virtual events, candidates will participate in panel events, interactive activities and discussions. This may fast-track candidates to summer internships, industrial placements and graduate schemes.
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A three day paid programme seeing what life at PwC would look like. Through interactive activities, this will better prepare students for professional settings.
If you know of other organisations doing great work to improve Black students' prospects in employability, please email us with their details and we’ll add them to this list! Email rachel@studentcrowd.com
At StudentCrowd, we love to hear from students what their experiences have been like at uni, whether it’s good, bad or ugly. While you’re here, why not take a moment to review your university and share with future students what uni life is like?
