This week’s #WorkforceWednesday features Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., CEO of Visa Inc.
As Kelly explains, Visa is taking action to close the STEM skills gap in America and prepare more talented, diverse workers for high-demand STEM-related jobs:
“Whether you’re talking about our company or America’s economy as a whole, staying competitive in the future demands action right now to close the STEM skills gap in our nation. Visa is dedicated to making a difference through programs and partnerships that will grow STEM skills and increase career opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds.”
Here’s a look at a few ongoing workforce development initiatives led by Visa Inc. and CEO Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. Additional information can be found here.
The Problem
- A significant shortage of U.S. workers who have adequate STEM-related skills has resulted in a scarcity of available talent to fill open positions in STEM-related occupations.
- According to analysis performed by the New American Economy Research Fund, there were 13 STEM jobs posted online in 2016 for each unemployed worker that year — amounting to roughly 3 million more job openings than the number of trained professionals who could potentially fill them.
The Programs
Visa has a number of programs and partnerships to address the STEM skills gap and prepare current and future employees for success.
To build a diverse workforce pipeline:
- Visa has recently partnered with Year Up, a non-profit organization dedicated to closing the opportunity divide by rigorously preparing underserved young adults for successful corporate careers and higher education. Visa is committed to hiring from this talent pool for placement in its Technology organization across three of its locations (i.e. Bay Area; Ashburn, Virginia; and Miami, Florida).
- Visa partnered with the National Academy Foundation, a national network of education, business and community leaders who work together to ensure high school students are college, career and future ready.
To continue building skills for current and future employees:
- Visa in 2016 launched its “Visa University,” which includes a Technology College. This platform helps employees become proficient in the use of new technologies and convenes onboarding boot camps on Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Advancing Security, Cloud, DevOps, Agile, ITIL, Mobile Development, Developer Platform, Open/Distributed Systems and modern software development paradigm.
The Progress
- In 2017 and 2018, more than 600 new college graduates have enrolled in specially designed onboarding boot camps and online learning paths, which provide them with foundational payment industry domain knowledge and strong technology skills to jumpstart their careers at Visa. To date, more than 4,700 technologists have leveraged more than 65,000 learning resources offered by Visa’s Technology College, engaging in more than 116,400 learning hours. These resources accelerate productivity and performance, enable individual growth and mobility, and drive tech transformations through learning within the organization.
- Through the Year Up partnership, Visa will welcome 15 interns on July 30 across our locations in the Bay Area, Ashburn, Virginia; and Miami, Florida. The company will repeat this internship cycle with a new class of interns every six months, with the goal of creating a new pipeline of talent.
To learn more about workforce development initiatives led by Visa Inc. and other Business Roundtable CEO member companies, please visit: https://www.businessroundtable.org/skills.
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