Action #1 — Hiring

In order for us to grow responsibly as a company—and as an industry—we recognize that we must invest in the career success of everyone—especially future generations. In 2021, we created more tailored programming to meet people wherever they are on their career journey, with an emphasis on students of all ages. We want to make it possible for anyone to access a pathway to work at Google or build a successful career with the help of Google products and services.

We’re continuing to develop new ways to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in our hiring process.

In 2021, our recruiting team continued creating strategies and initiatives to ensure our hiring efforts prioritize equity. For instance, we grew our Inclusive Hiring Steps and Culture Add training to help hiring managers and recruiters identify and eliminate personal biases in hiring and adopt a more fair and inclusive mindset. In 2021, these trainings reached 10,000 Googlers, doubling their reach over the last three years. In addition, we worked closely with Color in Tech to connect with Black talent, promote recruiting events, and stay in touch with potential candidates. Through this partnership, Google helped sponsor the Black Tech Fest conference, bringing around 4,000 tech professionals together to share knowledge, build new relationships, and more.

In 2021, we launched Google Cloud's Autism Career Program, the first program at Google designed to further grow and strengthen our existing community of people on the autism spectrum by hiring and supporting additional talented individuals. The program has trained more than 350 Google Cloud managers and other people involved in hiring processes to ensure Google’s onboarding processes are accessible and equitable for candidates with autism. Our external partner, the Stanford Neurodiversity Project, also provides coaching and ongoing support to applicants, their teammates, and their managers.

We recently completed the first cohort of our 2-year training and development internship in Brazil, where we removed the English fluency requirement—and hired the majority of the cohort into full-time roles at Google. Building on this success, we launched a tech-specific track and expanded the program to Mexico and Argentina.

Social Builder is an app that empowers women to thrive in the digital economy. In 2021, Social Builder received support from our Impact Challenge for Women and girls.

Over the past several years, Google.org has given over $80 million to organizations creating opportunities for women across the world, including $25 million just last year for our Impact Challenge for Women and Girls. And for the third year running, in Southeast Asia, we ran our Women Developer Academy, helping equip women in tech with professional skills to grow their careers.

In 2021, we also grew Mind the Gap, an initiative we started in Israel in 2008 that encourages women and girls to pursue STEM careers. Mind the Gap transitioned to a virtual platform at the beginning of the pandemic. In 2021, the program reached over 60,000 students in Israel and expanded to Romania and Ghana.

Additionally, we expanded support for Native American and Indigenous job-seekers in the U.S. and Canada. Building on the Career Readiness work we’ve done with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), we gave $1 million to Partnership with Native Americans to help train 10,000 students at over 50 Native-serving organizations (NSOs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) by 2025. Over the next four years, we’ll provide digital skills curriculum and training resources to career services groups at these institutions. The program also targets high school students preparing for college and careers. We also committed $600,000 to provide free digital skills training to Indigenous job seekers across Canada. The support includes funding for an IT training program and additional education, as well as for Google Career Certificate scholarships.

Our world is technology-driven—and fast-growing fields like medicine, manufacturing, and entertainment continue to need people with technical skills. We believe everyone should have access to building these skills, and that we have a role to play in helping close the opportunity gap in the tech industry. So in 2021, we focused on finding ways to increase access to early and higher STEM education.

Our partnership with 4-H has brought coding skills to over 1 million students.

Closing gaps starts early.

The fundamentals of technical skills can be learned as early as kindergarten. So our focus is to support not only students, but the teachers and technology making a difference.

In 2021, we introduced 1.4 million students in the U.S. to coding through our ongoing 4-H partnership. This surpassed our “1 million students goal” set in 2019. Of the 1.4 million students served, 47% came from historically underrepresented communities in computer science and 65% lived in rural areas. Plus, 56% of the program’s teen leaders were girls. We also created an “unplugged” version of our computer science education program, CS First, so that students without internet access can still develop coding skills.

We also gave the Kapor Center a $3 million Google.org grant to establish the Equitable Computer Science Curriculum. This is a multi-year initiative in which we work with a diverse advisory board to develop guidelines for creating learning resources.

Thousands of teachers will have access to curricula that counteracts stereotypes, builds CS interest, and draws on the diverse cultures of millions of students across the country.

In Latin America, we launched Grow with Google for the Youth, a program that aims to provide digital skills to 5,000 young adults from underrepresented communities in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina between 2021 and 2022.

Additionally, we provided computer science training to over 4,000 teachers in Canada, in support of Ontario’s new computer science curriculum requirement for elementary school students. We connected with 200,000 participants across Canada, with a focus on reaching historically underrepresented communities in STEM and low income communities.

Grant Bennett recently graduated from an HBCU and currently works as a Human Resources Associate at Google. He’s passionate about driving equity and inclusivity both in and outside of Google.

We also expanded our apprenticeship programs, which operate in France, India, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. Apprenticeships provide alternative pathways to jobs in the tech industry and offer hands-on, real-world skills training. At least 90% of our apprentices who completed the program report they transitioned into a meaningful opportunity within six months of completing their program.

Continued long-term commitment to higher education.

Colleges and universities that historically support underrepresented communities have long helped shape the diversity of the tech industry. With 25% of African American graduates with STEM degrees coming from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), it’s critical we invest in these institutions and communities of students. In order to build more accessible pathways to the tech industry, we strengthened our support of HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in 2021 through grants and continued on-campus work.

For example, we provided $50 million in unrestricted grants to 10 HBCUs to support scholarships, classroom technology, and career-readiness curriculum. Each institution received a one-time unrestricted financial grant, providing the flexibility to invest in their communities and the future workforce as they see fit.

We also expanded the Grow with Google Career Readiness Program in partnership with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities to reach HSIs. In 2021, we provided a $2 million investment for college career services centers across the U.S. to help train 200,000 Latinx college students in digital skills by 2025.

Globally, we continued to expand efforts to increase the diversity of Ph.D graduates in computing. The CS Research Mentorship Program, a Google Research initiative that supports students from historically underrepresented communities in computing research, graduated 590 mentees. Of the graduates, 83% self-identified as part of an underrepresented community. They were supported by 194 Google mentors—our largest group to date.

People transitioning out of prison face structural obstacles that make it difficult to re-enter their communities and thrive, particularly when it comes to building a career. So in 2021, Grow with Google launched an initiative to provide digital skills for people who are justice-impacted, in partnership with the Center for Employment Opportunities, Defy Ventures, Fortune Society, The Ladies of Hope Ministries, and The Last Mile. This program trained more than 10,000 people impacted by incarceration on digital skills that can help them get a job or start a business.

Amie Hanbury, a U.S. Marine Corp veteran, is a Google Career Certificate graduate and says that she couldn’t be happier with her new career in IT.

To help support former service members and spouses, Google.org gave a $10 million grant to Hiring Our Heroes to support the launch of Career Forward, a new initiative to train 8,000 transitioning service members, veterans, and military spouses for in-demand jobs through free access to Google Career Certificates. 75% of program graduates report an improvement in their career trajectory—like a new job, career, promotion, or raise— within 6 months of certificate completion.

Through a $10 million grant from Google.org, the American Association of Retired People (AARP) will help 25,000 lower-income older adults—particularly women and people of color—improve their technology skills. The initiative will provide training to build workplace skills, including online job searching and networking tools. The funding will also support digital training in skills for starting a business, such as social media marketing and crowdfunding.