Xerox works on increasing diversity

• More than 20 women are training in information technology careers at Xerox as part of a national program.

After graduating from St. John Fisher College last winter, Samantha Boyd’s full-time job — eight hours a day, five days a week — was finding a job.

Armed with a marketing degree, she posted her résumé to online job boards, filled out applications, made phone calls to companies and stopped at job fairs and networking events to get her foot in the door.

Her online surfings brought her to Step IT Up America, a national program that has partnered with Xerox Corp. to help women enter technology-related fields with a goal of placing 5,000 workers in the industry across the country by 2020.

“I spent quite a bit of time, like most recent graduates do, looking for work,” said Boyd, 24. “I wasn’t having a whole lot of luck until I stumbled upon the Step IT Up America program. I contacted them.”

More than 20 women, mostly 30 and younger, from the Rochester area are taking part in the program, which started in May and provides paid training and work at Xerox in project management and business analyst positions in information technology fields.

All of the women are college graduates and most have degrees unrelated to information technology.

“This is just an opportunity for those that are interested in sort of a new path,” said Steve Little, chief information officer at Xerox. “If it works out, then we will bring them on full-time.”

He said that could mean $35,000- to $40,000-a-year jobs for the trainees, who are currently contracted to work with Xerox for as many as 14 months.

Xerox isn’t the only company trying to get more women and minorities in science, math, engineering and technology-related careers. The struggle has been felt by some of the country’s largest and most profitable technology companies, which are still dominated by men.

“You need people in business to fix the problem,” Little said. “At least from our standpoint, this is one way to start it. I am trying to advance Xerox, and I think having a diverse workforce is a significant way for us to do that.”

Xerox also sees a need to get younger staff members as baby boomers begin to retire or leave the company, Little added.

“We need younger people,” he said. “We need to have them here so the people that have been here for a long time can help train and transition them.”

Boyd has been training for the business analyst position, learning about the job in smaller, easier to understand bits.

“What the program is doing is breaking it up in key knowledge areas,” she said. “There is a lot (but) I can’t believe how much I have taken in in such a short period of time. It hasn’t been that big of a jump.”

Contact Todd

Todd Clausen is the Democrat and Chronicle's work life reporter covering workplace issues and trends. Find him on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram as @ToddJClausen and on Facebook at ToddJClausen1 and TJCRoc. He also can be reached at (585) 258-9883.