To Think that Grad & Apprenticeships are now only for Diversity Candidates

🙄 rude.

My two white children both have a clean sweep of A*s. They also competed in elite level sport. White people aren’t dullards.

Our local council always state BAME candidates will be prioritised. I've seen that in CS jobs too. The jobs ads used to explicitly state that, they are a little more measured nowadays but the intent is still there.Some remain explicit like the Bank of England 'Black Future Leaders Sponsorship Programme'.
As well as two tier justice the government and local government operate two tier recruitment.

We recently had an email from a white male candidate who was unsuccessful in our recruitment process. He complained that he had been a victim of our "woke diversity hiring" practices. I'm not sure what gave him that impression, unless it was the fact that we do blind shortlisting. But he got through to the interview stage regardless, so I can't really see why he would have had an issue with that.

The successful candidate was in fact an Asian female, but that had fuck all to do with any non-existent diversity targets and everything to do with the fact that she was by far the stronger candidate.

This guy was just another entitled white male who assumed that he should be given a job despite the fact that he didn't demonstrate any aptitude for it. He would do better to focus on addressing his own weaknesses instead of railing against the unfairness of it all. Ironically, his email merely confirmed to us that he was totally unemployable.

I did, how do you think they would prove I wasn’t bisexual? Even “mixed race” is pretty ambiguous and could mean half British half polish. The definition is in the eye of the beholder.

Anyway MAYBE it was just a coincidence I finally got a job after I started lying despite having a non existent cv. Maybe

This is a good insight.

If getting good grades, participation in community stuff, volunteering, etc. are not relevant for securing future opportunities, what should white boys being doing to show they are worthy of a chance?

I went to Oxbridge. Lots of candidates with straight As (before A*s) from my cohort weren't getting onto these internships when I was at university. It was nothing to do with them being white males (in fact many weren't). It's always been ridiculously competitive and there have always been candidates with top grades and even masters who haven't gotten places.

It's nothing to do with diversity hires.

It’s depends. What is a medical leadership panel? It’s presumably not a job, but an advisory or guidance board?

In which case, who would suffer from two less white males? Only the white males who want the role. Who would benefit from more representation, in terms of the panels impact? Arguably everyone who isn’t a white male.

I was going to say the same thing.

there is a significant issue that white boys/young men are constantly being told they are the problem with society, it’s why the likes of Andrew Tate have grown in such prominence. It’s also feeding through to the rise of the far right and the growing levels of racism.

I don’t know what the solution is, but equally denying that there is a growing issue isnt going to help anyone.

The vast majority of NHS CEOs are white males. Ambulance services in particular have a long way to go.

For another example, the new president of the royal college of physicians is female. She is vocal about the representation of women in leadership in medicine. Quite right too, you might say… but she was taking over from a woman.

In another medical leadership panel, there were four posts. Two were reserved for ethnic minorities and one for female candidates. So if you are a white man, you can only apply to one. It’s absolutely bonkers.

You know what, that's fair enough. I do think social class should be looked at.

That said, it's very frustrating being viewed as a diversity hire when you have spent 6 years hardly going out, not dating, not drinking, not being distracted from your academic goals.

Really? The diversity monitoring form for most jobs is separate to the application form.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-statistic-that-explains-why-white-working-class-children-do-so-badly/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/30/why-white-children-fail-the-race-divide-in-english-schools/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57558746

Most of our apprentices (ambulance service) are white, fairly even split male/female.

Did you bollocks 😂

It isn't illegal. It's permissible in a tie break situation where current work population doesn't reflect the make up of society.

It's still ridiculous. Even though it worked to my advantage.

It’s not about whose fault it is. It’s about who needs extra help and how that help should be given. For many organisations it’s much easier to focus on ethnicity because it’s easier to measure than social class. Social class is a far bigger cause of disadvantage though.

This is a really good point, and there is also a lot of evidence that diversity in itself improves organisational performance because you access a wider range of approaches and perspectives, leading to greater flexibility and creativity. I have seen this for myself working in teams that are made up entirely of certain demographics - there's nothing wrong with anyone's individual performance but a monoculture quickly develops and makes it harder for anyone "different" to join, and particular ways of doing things become entrenched regardless of whether there is a better way. So what does "best" mean in that context anyway?

Personally I think if people want equality then it should be a genuinely totally level playing field - at the moment in some quarters it’s becoming like apartheid in reverse- don’t bother applying if you are white and/or straight etc - and I say this as a centre left voter - see also today on news in our industry that someone had opened a ‘black artists only’ record shop or the’MOBO awards ( music of black origin) - can you imagine the absolute hoo ha if someone had set up ‘the music of white origin awards’ , or a white artists only record shop ?? No wonder we end up with a ton of people with Reform type views - it’s not as if black artists and music are totally under represented in the industry -they dominate in some sectors.

I learned to lie on applications not only am I straight and white but also a teen mum drop out who at 20 when my child started school had zero qualifications or work experience (some cv!)

After many rejections I began to say I was a mixed race bisexual (how do they prove otherwise?) and got a job straight away

I would imagine that all the photos your son forwarded you will just be stock photos pulled off the internet 'to show a diverse work force'. The reality is probably very different.

I think the difficulty for many white males is that they assume coming out of a decent uni with a decent degree will be enough to get them a very good job - when actually they are going to need examples of teamwork and leadership skills that they probably won't have got from their academics. They need to have had a job, volunteer, relevant work experience, lead a society, organise events, be part of a sports team, have amazing examples of relevant projects done out of their own interest, have completed other short courses on the side - in other words they have to stand out beyond their academics as they can't answer every question at interview based on the degree they did.

DS is doing a degree apprenticeship and is ND but is working with lots of white m/f apprentices. A lot of the apprenticeships he applied for he didn't even say he has ASD because he had such a bad experience with some where he had said it - even ones that were supposedly disability confident (obviously just a tick box exercise). He never came across a single apprenticeship though that was aimed purely at minorities. DS had a lot of extracurriculars and projects of his own which were of much more interest at interview than his academics and these were what got him his apprenticeship.

What is he looking for and where is he looking? I work in the finance sector and our grad schemes are live now. The majority of applications are from white male candidates but we hire based on the person being the best person for the role.

Where did I say white?

But they don't.

Also those articles linked by PP say white boys do not achieve because of the breakdown of marriages and absent dads

That is hardly the fault of minorities, is it?