During a session at this year’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, gaming company panelists said Google, Microsoft and other tech giants were making it increasingly difficult to attract new talent.
“We’re seeing candidates get three offers by the time we get to them,” said Penn Interactive Manager, Talent Acquisition Ashley Pastino during the G2E panel discussion “Talent Challenges: How to Find and Develop Good Staff in a Brave New World.”
There’s clearly a need for workers in the industry; job site Indeed recently listed more than 3,700 jobs in the gambling industry, and almost 1,900 positions in sports betting. While not all of those jobs require tech skills, the need for trained workers who are able to fill positions that require STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) training will only increase in coming years.
One organization that can provide skilled workers for gaming companies is Girls Who Code, a nonprofit organization that aims to close the gender gap in STEM and tech opportunities. In September 2021, Aristocrat Gaming participated in a virtual hiring event sponsored by Girls Who Code.
Aristocrat hosted a virtual booth at a Girls Who Code hiring event
Hector Fernandez, President Americas, for Aristocrat says that the company’s participation is a way to increase the pipeline of talented young women for the gaming industry.
“In a world where you have labor shortages and it’s really a competition for talent that’s going to win the race, making sure we as an organization are building the right partnerships to get the right people in the door is critical,” Fernandez says.
According to the non-profit American Association of University Women, men make up 72% of the workforce STEM jobs. Gender gaps, according to the AAUW, are greatest in the highest paying fields, computer science and engineering.
Girls Who Code, founded in 2012, attempts to close gender gaps in STEM by sponsoring club programs for grades 3-12, summer programs for high school students, and programs for young women attending college. According to its website, Girls Who Code helps 10,000 girls in 42 states — the same number of girls who annually earn degrees in computer science.
“Organizations like Girls Who Code are crucial to ensuring that we can support and encourage young minds that have an interest in substantive areas that are typically even more male dominated than our industry gaps overall,” says Cassie Stratford, Boyd Gaming Vice President of Legal Affairs and president and chair of the advocacy group Global Gaming Women.
While diversity has become more prevalent throughout the gaming industry, Sophie Hawley, Entain’s Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Equality, admits there’s much more to be done. The key to providing more opportunities, Hawley believes, is through education.
“Young women give up on science and technology subjects in huge numbers while still at school, or between school and university,” Hawley says. “The result is that half the global workforce are women, but only 15 percent of scientists, technologists and engineers are female. That is a massive waste of talent, and a reduction in diversity when we know that diversity works. We need to level the playing field, giving everyone equal access to technology and technology education.”
According to Hawley, Entain began partnering with Girls Who Code in March 2021, providing financial support for coding programs and pastoral support to their alumni network. Entain also in November launched EnTrain, an initiative to increase access to technology and improve diversity, with a goal of impacting 1,000,000 people globally by 2030.
“Our vision and values align closely with Girls Who Code,” Hawley says, “to diversify the global face of technology.”
Since its inception in 2016, Global Gaming Women has focused on career opportunities for women in the gaming industry, hosting networking events, webinars and training programs. Girls Who Code, Stratford says, is crucial to ensure that girls have a path to careers in STEM, and the gaming industry.
“This type of foundational education allows Global Gaming Women to eventually build upon their work to ultimately achieve our overall goals with respect to diversity in gaming, particularly in areas with such stark underrepresentation of women,” Stratford says “There is no question in my mind that our industry will reap endless benefits from the impactful work of Girls Who Code.”
