By: Inclusive Excellence Fellow for Career Services Tobias Cen ‘28
While sometimes overlooked, an important aspect to exploring careers and being part of an organization is workplace culture. A career can encompass beyond a role, title and responsibilities: it draws on a variety of life experiences that can be intensely personal, and can work to contribute towards someone’s overall wellbeing and growth. To help students better assess the ways their careers can reflect their identities, we interviewed a handful of organizations at the 9/19 career fair to see how different organizations foster diversity and inclusion in their workplace culture.
While each organization has their own unique way of fostering inclusive work culture, most organizations generally center on two methods to accomplish their goals.
- Employee Groups and Events: The William Penn Foundation has a culture committee that organizes meetups to connect employees at the foundation with the grantees the foundation supports. Graham Partners has a company funded diversity task force that meets once a month to discuss collective employee interests, which supports employee-formed enthusiast groups and events. And Athena Advisors funds company-wide outings, such as attending Phillies games, and collaborates with nonprofits across Philadelphia to give back to the community, encouraging its employees to volunteer at park cleanups and schools outside their personal time.
- Mentorship and Training: Arch provides a rotational mentorship program that pairs new associates with mentors for their first year at the company, as well as informal luncheons where employees can learn not only about different aspects of the company but also different careers and pathways. FAST Enterprises connects underrepresented students who join their undergraduate program with mentors, and provides professional development training through mock interviews and virtual training sessions. And McMaster Carr incorporates conversations about workplace identity into employee onboarding, encouraging employees to join its identity-based affinity groups.
This is just a brief glimpse into what these organizations do, nor is it a comprehensive list of all the organizations that attended the fair. If you’re interested in learning more, feel free to consult the list of attended organizations here, and reach out to representatives through Handshake.
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