A labor shortage is in effect in America, brought on by the now-dwindling pandemic as businesses scramble to find talent to fill empty seats. But as companies search for viable workers, historically passed-over applicants are starting to gain attention thanks to efforts by activists everywhere, encouraging more and more people to pursue jobs in STEM. One untapped source of talent, in particular, is the focus of a recent conversation for the AWS Summit Washington DC.

“Girls in Tech has partnered with AWS to create an initiative called the Next Generation Public Sector Leaders,” said Adriana Gascoigne (pictured), founder and chief executive officer of Girls in Tech Inc. “Focusing on creating awareness on career development opportunities for up and coming talent, diverse talent that is curious and interested in job opportunities and educational opportunities within the public sector.”

Gascoigne spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the AWS Summit Washington, DC event. They discussed AWS’ partnership with Girls in Tech, women in the public sector, its efforts mentoring women interested in joining tech and more. (*Disclosure below.)

A melting pot of talent

The public sector is quickly changing and growing, with the pandemic especially highlighting the need for a functional and organized public sector ready to serve its community. Finding the right talent for the public sector can be tricky, however.

“There is a melting pot of talent. I think we need to do a better job of creating awareness and knowing where that talent lives,” said Gascoigne. “We need to do the hard work in investigating and understanding, and taking a more empathetic approach to finding out how we can access them.”

Girls in Tech was started in 2007, making strides of progress in the fourteen years since its founding. “Girls and Tech’s mission is not just providing that education, that community, that mentorship, we want to get the corporates involved,” stressed Gascoigne. “We want to teach the corporates about diversity and inclusion training, the importance of diversity, different tactics to recruit, so on and so forth.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS Summit Washington, DC event. (*Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for AWS Summit Washington, DC. Neither Amazon Web Services Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE