PwC is a global assurance, consulting, and tax services company. Interns who complete the firm's Advance Internship program have already been extended full-time associate offers for 2021. Many interns are extended full time offers and decide to join PwC.
Training includes networking events, leadership development, community service, shadowing a partner or principal, as well as real-time and virtual coaching.
As US and Mexico Talent Acquisition and Onboarding Leader at PwC, Rod Adams helps people launch and build their careers. He is responsible for campus and recruitment teams across PwC's Advisory, Assurance, Tax and Internal Firm Services as well as recruitment related operations, systems, and strategies.
According to his LinkedIn page, he drives "innovation to build sustainable competitive advantage in attracting top talent via programs, social and digital media and brand-setting activities that are designed to build long lasting relationships with key talent."
Adams told US Black Engineer (USBE) magazine online this summer that recruiting is a large part of the company's ability to deliver services to their clients, and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are an important part of their recruiting strategy.
Out of the 107 HBCUs across America (with more than 228,000 students enrolled), PwC actively recruits students in accounting, computer science, and engineering fields from at least thirty-five colleges and universities.
"We don't make anything. How we grow is by continuously providing the skill sets and human resources to solve problems for our clients," Adams said. "We're continuously looking under the hood. But we typically hire people from abut 40 different (academic/professional) backgrounds."
In 2019, PwC brought together about 60 professors and academic officers from HBCUs. Up until April of 2020, the company was still planning to host a follow-up HBCU Faculty Forum, but Covid got in the way.
"So, we decided to reallocate those funds and offer them to the schools," Adams explained.
So far, twenty-eight HBCUs have taken up the offer. Each school got $10,000 for efforts to "tech enable their program" for hardware upgrades, delivering learning, updating curriculum, or training faculty.
"On behalf of Fayetteville State University's Broadwell College of Business and Economics, we are happy to be a recipient of PwC's "Digital Enablement Award" and look forward to their continued partnership," said Rodney L. McCrowre, assistant to the dean for student success at the Broadwell College of Business & Economics of Fayetteville State University. "This award will enhance collaboration and engagement among our students, faculty, and staff, with the ending result of being a better trained and prepared workforce, particularly in this age of digital transformation. We often tell our students, "from FSU, you can go anywhere!"