We have a long history of working with the Career Services Offices at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and helping employers connect with diversity candidates. Beginning in 1997 we promoted, organized and managed regional diversity career fairs. Our goal was to help diversity students find job opportunities and to help employers find top talent. Our career fairs were held in large cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Washington as well as small to mid-size cities like Greensboro, SC , Birmingham, AL and Louisville, KY. Since many of the HBCUs are small and not necessarily located in or around large metro areas, we worked directly with HBCU Career Services Directors to “get the word out” and coordinate transportation for eager job seekers to attend the career fair events. The response was tremendous.
As a result of hosting career fairs we found that many candidates were not as prepared as they could be for meeting with employers in a career fair setting. Therefore, in 2001 we decided to publish the first edition of the HBCU Careers Magazine to help HBCU Career Services Offices educate their students about the job search process. Our first edition included job opportunities from about 25 employers as well as helpful career planning information.
In 2004 we developed a companion website, HBCU-careers.net. The idea behind the website was twofold: (1) to make it easier for students to connect with employers by providing them with a vehicle to upload their resume, apply to job postings and access essential career planning information as well as view an online version of the HBCU Careers Magazine, and (2) to make it easier for employers to reach diversity candidates by providing them with a vehicle to promote their organization and their job openings.
In 2006 we introduced the HBCU Forum. The HBCU Forum provided Career Services Directors from HBCUs and other colleges and universities with the opportunity to share their expert career planning tips and advice with job seekers as well as their counterparts at other universities. The success of the HBCU Forum has been overwhelming. Since 2006 we have more than quadrupled the number of career services professionals and employers that participate in the HBCU Forum.
We have come a long way since 1997and with the roll out of our new website, HBCUcareers.com we are truly committed to helping meet the needs of the job seekers, HBCU Career Services Offices and employers we serve on a national level, and we will continue to make it our purpose to not only listen to but understand your needs and offer you solutions that will bridge the gap between the job seeker and employer. As we go forward, we will persistently strive to meet the dynamic needs of all, and hope you will take advantage of everything HBCUcareers.com has to offer and continues to bring you in years to come. We look forward to the challenge and the opportunity of serving you for the next 10 years and bringing continued success to all!