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

[reallyreallycrazy]

Slight hyperbole but not far off.

Yes, of course I suppose my DS should be appreciative of his 'white privilege' (I do detest the term though), but he's been applying to over 100 x spring & summer internships and apprenticeships.

Invariably, he finds that lots of programmes are only open to black/female/social mobility/ND candidates. In one recent case - a global consultancy - there were NO openings for anyone outside of these categories.

And today, on LinkedIn, he forwarded me several links from leading banks reaching out about apprenticeships etc. In most photos, you might be lucky to spot 1-2 white males and in the video of one, there were not a single white male (or female for that matter).

I get that these firms need to do outreach to disadvantaged groups but if you look at the population level percentage of the various group categories, this really has swung too far the other way.

I get that many of these organisations have years to catch up with diversity hires but to try to rebalance in such an aggressive way and in a short space of time, makes it very difficult for young, white males (unless they have qualified for 'free school meals') to get a foot in the door which is especially tough in an incredibly tough grad market as it is.

I’m not sure why so many struggle with the concept that while making reasonable adjustments to enable people with a disability to work - good wheelchair access to the office or reading software etc, is right and necessary,

excluding people from internships or recruitment programmes on grounds of their ethnicity or the occupations of their parents (I though we left that idea behind in the 1950s!) is not right or remotely ethical.

On the plus side, at least your daughter isn't a disabled, refugee in need of free school meals.

I think you’ll find the evidence if you actually read the thread.
The Bank of England, MI5, MI6, GCHQ, Aviva, the RAF, a major internship placement scheme. And those are just the ones that have been caught doing this.

From an article:
Bank of England under fire for internship that excludes white students
The institution says scheme is only open to candidates of ‘black or mixed black heritage’
One of the Bank of England’s internship programmes offer undergraduate students in their final year of study £5,000 towards living costs
Credit: Mike Kemp/Getty Images
Pui-Guan ManProperty Correspondent
22 October 2025 11:56am BST
The Bank of England has come under fire from leading Tory MPs and Elon Musk after advertising a £5,000-plus internship scheme that excludes white candidates.
The institution, which employs 4,000 people in Threadneedle Street, said one of its student internship schemes was only open to “black or mixed black heritage” candidates, meaning white or non-black candidates are unable to apply.
Under the programme, undergraduate students in their penultimate year of study receive £5,000 towards living costs, as well as an eight-week internship at the Bank paying £96.15 per day.

So many professional sectors are overrun by middle class white men. Positive discrimination may be imperfect but I can't get worked up by certain schemes which offer minorities the chance to succeed where historically they haven't. I know there's outliers in each sector but broad brushstrokes, I think it's good. Reasonable adjustments are a separate issue, and one that probably needs a new thread as it's such a vague term. Would like to see stronger legal framework to support disabled would-be employees as I'm distrustful of Disability Confident employees automatically offering interviews if suitable... what defines suitable?

Exactly. What if enough people in that particular demographic just are not interested in particular careers or industries? Maybe there are cultural reasons why there are not sufficient numbers to meet the quota?

Maybe many poc prefer to work in advertising (I’m joking btw) - there is certainly a vast representation in that industry. Out of curiosity I counted the models in the Argos catalogue and it was 80% PoC. TV advertising seems to be similar.

One of the Bank of England’s internship programmes

Key words there being ONE OF.

The BoE don’t exclude any applicants as a whole.

You act like 80% of the BoE’s staff aren’t white.

So you are happy for young people trying to enter the workplace to be discriminated against and excluded from schemes to address some perceived imbalance which actually reflects the demographics of the country when these ‘middle class white men’ started their careers?

Does that really sound fair to you?

Other PPs have explained why there are more men than women in more senior positions.

Did you seriously make that comparison? I’m embarassed for you.

Yes, I'm happy for specific schemes that target minorities who historically haven't been given the same opportunities to exist. Like I said, it's imperfect, but lots of things are. Thinking pragmatically, I can't think of a better system, although I'm sure there is one. Similarly, I'm happy for Russell Group Universities - Oxbridge specifically, I suppose - to consider an application from a state school pupil differently to that of a fee-paying pupil.

So you haven’t looked at the Bank of England schemes (and have conveniently ignored all the other discriminatory organisations).

The Black Heritage Sponsored Internship pays internees an additional £5000 towards living costs on top of the salary. White internees don’t get any additional help. They are excluded from that scheme because of their skin colour and that could mean they can’t access any internship on financial grounds.

Why shouldn’t 80% of the Bank of England staff be white and why is that relevant to you?

White staff are over-represented at the BoE.

Why would they have initiatives to increase their white intake?

Why shouldn’t 80% of the Bank of England staff be white and why is that relevant to you?

Who said BoE shouldn’t have white staff?

Maybe non-white people didn’t apply. Why is it an issue at all? Why so you spend so long worrying about the race of a candidate rather than how good they are at doing the job? The Bank of England doesn’t need to be representative of the country to do its job well. It needs the best people.

Why would they? Why is the colour of someone’s skin at all relevant?

Why would they what?

who historically haven't been given the same opportunities to exist.

What are you talking about? They exist - no one said they don’t exist. Historically they didn’t exist here though as we are a majority white country.

I find it fascinating that you are so ‘anti racist’ that you are happy for much racist discrimination against young people who have done literally nothing but exist. This thread isn’t discussing giving a bit of extra targeted help or guidance to certain groups, we are talking about excluding young people from jobs and training in the basis of them being white. And you and PPs are comfortable with that.

Why would they look at the skin colour of a job applicant? In what way is that even remotely relevant to their ability to do their job? Why does it matter at all?

It’s like you know nothing about inequality at all.

🤦🏻‍♀️

I cant do this, this is painful.

Surely having schemes that CONTINUE to select people based on their skin colour not their actual talents only continues to perpetuate inequality.

Basing every job interview on the interviewees talents is surely the definition of equality. Ignoring skin colour entirely.

Oh Jesus, my PMS can’t take this today.

you don’t like the idea of people being judged by their talents only?

re blind applications - I'm still waiting for @Leadonmacduffs to come back and share the outcomes of their blind recruitment policy

So many are either completely oblivious to the challenges of being a refugee/care leaver/disabled/in poverty and they literally can't think beyond "what about meeeee". I remember the Oxbridge threads used to have posters lamenting that their privately schooled DC were being discriminated against because state schooled children were being given access to coaching programmes. It's a sheer outrage that your privilege is being ever so slightly evened out.

White staff are over-represented at the BoE.

You said 80% of the staff are white, that is not over-represented.

Why would they have initiatives to increase their white intake?

Where did I say it’s about ‘increasing’ their white intake?

Who said BoE shouldn’t have white staff?

You said this, like it was a problem:

“You act like 80% of the BoE’s staff aren’t white.”

I’m sick of this patronising assumption that we’re all racist or anti trans people or disabled etc etc if we don’t spread the jobs out evenly. Let’s look at the people studying economics. Mostly white and male. It’s no shock-horror that the majority of BofE staff are white males. They are the ones that are interested in economics!!!