ACROSS CORPORATE AMERICA, EMPLOYERS ARE REALIZING that a diverse workforce is not merely a plus—it is "absolutely mandatory for a company to be successful in the new millennium," as a Howard Business student stated in a focus group interview conducted by Universum Communications. As both students and employers become increasingly aware of the importance of diversity in the working world, a clear relationship emerges between how the companies that are understood to embrace diversity are the same companies that push ahead each year in popularity as "ideal employers."

Earlier this year, nearly 4,400 minority students at the MBA and undergraduate levels studying at 118 universities across the nation participated in The Universum Survey—American Diversity Edition 2003, a quantitative survey monitoring the career expectations and employment preferences of the next generation of business leaders. The survey findings reveal similarities—and vast differences—between certain ethnic groups when it comes to their expectations of working life.

Defining diversity today

The survey asked respondents how they define diversity when the term is applied to a company. Ethnicity is the top association for all respondents regardless of race. But where Asian-Americans define diversity in terms of "personality" second most often, Latinos and African-Americans more often find gender to be a primary factor in defining diversity within a company.

In focus group interviews, many students expressed difficulty in pinpointing exactly what makes a company diverse. They also associate corporate diversity with age, socioeconomic background, religion, working style, family status, real-life experience, thinking style, career experience and level, sexual orientation, marital status, physical and learning disabilities, ancestry, origin, nationality, creed, color, and more…

African Americans expect lower salaries

The salary expectations of African Americans are significantly lower compared to those of other ethnic groups surveyed. At their first job after graduation, African-American students expect to earn an average of $51,329, while their Asian-American peers expect a starting salary of $55,715 and Latinos anticipate earning $57,851.

An even larger discrepancy is evident when com-paring respondents' salary projections for five years after they graduate. African-American students estimate their yearly salaries at an average of $89,126, whereas Asian Americans predict annual earnings of $98,721 and Latinos expect to bring in $105,689. Why do African-American students have lower salary expectations? There are several possibilities; one factor may be how each ethnic group varies when it comes to the industries in which they would prefer to work.

Preferred industries

Management consulting traditionally pays high salaries in exchange for long working hours. It also happens to be the number-one industry that both Latinos and Asian Americans would most like to work within. Among African Americans, on the other hand, the consulting industry ranks fourth.

African-American students would most often prefer to work in the entertainment/media industry, followed by education and government/public service. Although entertainment/media is also popular with Latinos and Asian Americans, the other industries these groups most often prefer typically pay higher salaries than those preferred by African Americans. The investment banking and computer software industries are next most popular among Asian Americans, while Hispanic Americans prefer the consumer goods and commercial banking/financial services industries.

Minority targeting practices

Of all the ways companies reach out to minority students during the recruitment process, students find methods involving one-on-one relationships to be most effective. The best way by far for a company to attract minority students is to offer internships, favored by 74%. Scholarships are also very attractive to 51% of the respondent population, followed by mentorships, prioritized by 30%. All of these have positive effects on attracting minority students—and also on the people students talk to about their experiences.