We talk about our purpose a lot: to enrich lives through technology. Never has this been more important than right now, as millions of people rely on their tech to learn, work and stay connected. But technology plays a bigger role than just the devices we sell in our stores and on BestBuy.com. Behind the scenes, it’s what helps us truly be there for our customers.
Technology is how we help customers find and choose the right products; it’s how we’re there for our customers when things don’t go as planned; it’s how we’re able to get them what they need, when and where they want it, every single day — and so much more.
None of this could happen without our incredibly talented technology teams at Best Buy. And because we have even more goals and ideas for how to best serve our customers, we’re committing to an ambitious new goal that will help power such important work.
Over the next two years, we’ve committed to hiring more than 1,000 new employees to our technology team. These new team members will include product managers, engineers, data scientists and user experience designers. All of them will help create incredible experiences for our customers every day.
And we’re not stopping there. It’s incredibly important to us that our workforce better represents the communities around us, which is why we’ve committed that 30% of these new hires will be diverse — specifically Black, Latinx, Indigenous and women.
Our search for talent will extend beyond our headquarters in Minneapolis, with full-time opportunities in our San Diego, Boston and Seattle technology offices.
“Our Digital & Technology teams play such a big role in driving the technology that supports our growth,” said Brian Tilzer, chief digital and technology officer. “Our team is fast-paced and constantly changing to meet the demands of our customers, and we need a talented team to support this. To us, that means hiring employees from all backgrounds and identities that reflect our diverse customer base and the communities we serve.”
Building a diverse talent pipeline in our communities
We strongly believe that we have a responsibility to not only hire and engage diversity within our company, but to also discover and develop the workforce of the future. This is why we’ve committed to doing better, and to take action to address racial inequalities and injustices in our community.
For more than a decade, we have worked with partners across the country to empower youth from disinvested communities with the technology and tools they need to thrive now and in the future. We have built a national network of 35 Best Buy Teen Tech Centers, with a goal to reach more than 100 centers in the coming years.
Our Teen Tech Centers help teens prepare for potential careers through hands-on experience with tech, training and mentorship. We also offer a Career Pathways program that provides career readiness and hard skills training to teens interested in pursuing careers in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math).
In addition to our youth programs, we offer internship and scholarships opportunities to improve access to education and cultivate a pipeline of diverse talent. To continue supporting our youth nationwide, we are also proud to announce, in partnership with UNCF, the creation of a new $3 million scholarship fund for African American students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). We’ve also launched the Best Buy Scholarship for students attending the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
And as we shared back in June, we assembled a group called the Task Force for Racial Equality to drive constructive organization-wide change. This task force, led by employees, will work with our executives and board of directors to identify ways to tackle inequality and injustices found within our company and community. And through our work with Parity.org and Reboot Representation Tech Coalition, we have committed to increasing the representation of women in leadership and tech.
Although we have a way to go, we’re grateful that some of our work hasn’t gone unnoticed. We have been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Employers for Women, Parity.org as one of the ‘Best Companies for Women to Advance 2020,’ along with being named to the 2020 Diversity Best Practices (DBP) Inclusion Index.
Click here to explore and find additional information on available careers. To learn more about how Best Buy is supporting the local communities we serve, click here.