Finding diverse talent starts with college students. There are companies that are fully invested in hiring diverse college graduates, but the process to do so isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Vivek Pandit, one of the co-founders of PeduL realized the importance of diversifying the hiring process starting with college students and took on the challenge to simplify the methods used for both the employer and the potential employee.
Meet Vivek Pandit
Vivek Pandit graduated Brown University in 2020 with a degree in Economics. He found his calling while in college to dive into social entrepreneurship. One of his favorite mentors told him, “There is no such thing as for profit or not for profit, there is for more than profit. Make money and help people.” This became his calling as he developed a strong desire to create and give back.
After completing two entrepreneur fellowships, he felt he had the tools to do so. He came across the perfect opportunity when he linked up with Kayla Michèle, Chisa Egbelu, and their fledgling company, PeduL. The values and beliefs of the founders resonated with him; to have a heart in diversity and authenticity, and to provide democratic access to opportunities for diverse candidates. These ideals became the driving force behind PeduL and its success.
What is PeduL?
PeduL started out as an organization providing scholarship opportunities to college students and then it quickly evolved into much more. An honest conversation between two friends identified the need for a bridge between corporations looking for diverse talent and diverse college students looking for employment at corporations. This realization launched the promising and successful company, PeduL. PeduL’s mission is to assure all students have equal access to academic and professional opportunities – regardless of where they go to school or who they know.
By reconfiguring their scholarships, which now allowed for internships and mentorships (even job opportunities), corporations could target, source, and engage with the exact talent they were desiring in a wide-range of different industries. PeduL cracked the code and opened the doors for equal access to opportunities for anyone.
DiversityZoom was able to sit down with Vivek and talk about the company’s success and how his story intertwined with PeduL and what the future holds for both him and the organization.
What factors motivated you to work in the diversity recruiting spaces?
Vivek: There were two things that really clicked with me to enter this space. I grew up in Texas and out of the 550 people in my graduating class, I was the only Indian male. I had a lot of different anomalies going for me (Hindu, vegetarian, and brown skin). Race was something that was brought up a lot and I was very cognizant of my skin due to how much it was called out throughout my life. Because of this, my confidence was definitely affected, it affected how I viewed myself whenever I walked into a room. I don’t want other people to feel this way, I want them to know their worth.
My second motivating factor was there is this sentiment that the American dream doesn’t exist for everyone and many people believe that opportunity isn’t everywhere like they are told. But as a person who had to overcome intimidating obstacles and undergo a powerful transformation within myself, I wanted to see if we could bring that about for other students; show them it is safe to be optimistic, and we will be there to help them seize every opportunity that is out there, because they are out there.
Are there enough scholarships for the applicants or do you have an abundance of scholarships and not enough applicants?
Vivek: Right now, we have several thought questions about this. With all of the PR we’ve been getting due to winning the Black Founders Fund award from Google and landing large clients like Viacom CBS, we have tons of calls for sales. In order to meet that demand, we have created unique sourcing strategies such as PeduL ambassadors.
These are on-campus students who are like brand ambassadors, but they get the chance to be leaders on campus as well. They are known as the person who is helping their peers find some incredible work opportunities. This program allows PeduL to fulfill all of the demands we have from a variety of campuses along with other sourcing strategies. Meeting demand has never been an issue.
What are your words of encouragement to a student who may lack hope?
Vivek: To encourage someone, you must have empathy, that is the foundation of everything. You have to understand where they are coming from, their story. I would make sure to highlight that I know that is hard to see opportunities everywhere, but we are going to empower you by equipping you with the toolset you need to leverage those opportunities. This toolset is going to probably be the most powerful thing you can be given. I’ve been blessed to receive this toolset from my professors and the PeduL team.
I would want to make sure students truly understand their value and their worth. Too many times, particularly underrepresented students, abide by labels and what they think they should do and they are not getting to go through the self-awareness and reflection exercises to find out who they really are. This is not their fault and this is what the PeduL team sets out to correct. I believe knowing your value and worth will help you become the creator of your life.
Why did PeduL partner with DiversityZoom?
Vivek: It is interesting as a Gen Z’er entering the business world and growing up being told it’s a dog-eat-dog world, it’s cutthroat, and super competitive. To a certain degree its true, but at the same time, we realize the radical importance and value add by working and partnering with people. This generation of founders and entrepreneurs are really just trying to all have success together and it’s really inspiring.
Together we will have more innovation; we recognize the importance of partnerships and collaborative efforts. The partnership angle is really important and something we are taking advantage of. We are excited to be partners with DiversityZoom. Having DiversityZoom lead the mid-level and executive level positions while PeduL leads the entry-level positions and internships, “We will be a powerhouse!”
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For more information on PeduL and how they are changing the face of diversity recruiting at the entry-level, please visit PeduL.
If you’re a student and you want to apply for one of PeduL’s scholarships, please visit PeduL for Students.
If you’re an employer and you want to offer a scholarship with PeduL, please visit PeduL for Employers.
For more information on how DiversityZoom can help your recruiting process, please visit us here.