Black college seniors graduating into soft labor market and reduced DEI practices

Howard University senior Dezmond Rosier had his sights set on the federal government to begin his career.

The 22-year-old, who graduated this month with a bachelor’s degree in political science and an economics minor, planned to apply to the Department of Education, but cuts to the department’s workforce and the Trump administration’s efforts to ditch anything related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives prompted him to change course.

Rosier, a first-generation college student, said President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to dismantle the Department of Education and his moves to put the plan in motion once he entered the White House left him feeling “discouraged.”

Rosier is one of four Black students who spoke with NBC News about graduating into a job market that has seen DEI rollbacks, less outward enthusiasm for recruiting Black workers and signs of a cooldown in hiring for everyone. New college graduates’ unemployment rate was 5.8% as of March, up from 4.6% a year earlier, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported last week.

Walter Pearson, the CEO of College Bound Parenting, an organization that helps Black college students prepare for jobs, said most years he is able to help 90% of the small group of students he works with land their first job. This year, it’s just 50%. Meanwhile, most of the students who spoke to NBC News said they are graduating without job offers and feel uncertain about a future in which they may be overlooked for jobs without specific guardrails in place.

“I can’t really be a part of something that I don’t feel that I’m wanted in,” Rosier said. “So I definitely want to be in a position in which I’m wanted, not where I’m tolerated.”

He plans to leverage his experiences in local and state government by working in grassroots politics in his home state of Maryland. This includes his role as a member of the Maryland Democratic Central Committee, where he will focus on next year’s gubernatorial election.

New grads are entering a tougher job market than those who graduated last year, but even those who did secure internships or jobs told NBC News that DEI rollbacks still weigh on them.

“DEI has been politicized in a way to mean if you’re Black, you don’t deserve a job,” said a Syracuse University student who asked not to be named for fear of professional repercussions.

The student said he secured a summer internship, but is assessing job opportunities for afterward. While his internship’s company has stated commitments to diversity and inclusion in the job listing, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if these sorts of explicit statements disappeared, followed by actual support for Black workers.

Beyond post-college jobs, funding cuts have made potential research projects for new grads slim.

Grey Snyder, 26, a senior at the University of Missouri at Columbia studying psychology, witnessed these impacts firsthand. Snyder, who uses they/them pronouns, said they tried to secure a lab position for their gap year, but was told that grant funding was so “up in the air” due to Trump’s executive order on DEI that the position was not guaranteed.

Across social media and among the students who spoke to NBC News, several said they had peers and friends who lost out on internships or research opportunities because of cuts like these.

“It’s really affecting psychological sciences specifically, though, and any research about minorities or underprivileged populations,” Snyder said. “It’s really hard to study the people who need the most studying right now.”

If Snyder does not land a research coordinator role at a cognitive neuroscience lab they applied to, they plan to return to a paraprofessional job at an elementary school similar to one they previously had.

For academics and professionals alike, Daniel Catalan, a professional résumé writer, said he’d advise students to consider avoiding certain words that may be red flags under Trump’s DEI directives, including “Black,” “BIPOC” and “DEI.”

Victoria Pearson, a senior at Howard University studying media, journalism and film communications, laughed at the idea of omitting her school from her résumé just because it’s a historically Black university.

Pearson, 22, said she had a conversation with a friend who said they would decline to answer certain questions on an application to avoid being characterized. She disagreed with the move.

“I’m not going to change anything,” Pearson said. “I want to be where I’m wanted.”

The senior at Syracuse said he will also keep all of his accomplishments on his résumé, including his membership with the National Association of Black Journalists.

“I think it should be valued,” he said. “Don’t think it’s not valued just because it has the word Black in front of it.”

Louise Ross is a director of internships, scholarships and mentorships with college prep community and coaching platform College Bound Parenting. Having worked as a chief of human resources for 30 years, she advises students to be innovative in their job search.

Ross urges students to tap into entrepreneurial skill sets, partner with community organizations, contact alumni and leverage connections to the Divine Nine network of Black fraternities and sororities.

“We’ve survived worse things,” Ross said. “These kids survived Covid. They certainly can survive D, E and I.”