Question for those who don't like/discriminate against people you think are diversity hires?

Asking for a relative of a friend. I know a Nigerian guy who got a 1580 on SAT, goes to a target school and has a high GPA(>3.8) in a STEM subject. I know many on WSO are upset about AA  and DEI initiatives.

Would you discriminate against this guy even if he didn't go through a diversity program, is actually good at the job and does not have a victimhood mindset or would you treat him fairly?

Do you think  they can earn generational wealth through the IB+PE route or should they move to a more meritocratic/results based field like SWE to have a better chance ?

This forum is anonymous so please give your real opinion.

Disclaimer: He is not culturally American and has a thick Nigerian accent but is very smart.

5 Comments
 

I don't think so. I wouldn't.

Most people are sane, logical, know something I/you don't. Most people, given context like you've provided, wouldn't discriminate.

They vent here because of AA and diversity hire. The whole point of AA and diversity hire is forcefully make things equal even if they aren't. Makes no sense and unfairly punished more qualified candidates based on race. That's the definition of racism.

Also the whole equity policies just doesn't end at unfair recruitment. It spills over to work since you have to work with generally less qualified candidates who are more likely than not to underperformed based on the lacking qualifications.

So two fold, AA and diversity hiring such in theory and is a burden in realty for non-beneficiaries of these dumb policies.

So if this person is good enough at the job and did not benefit from AA or diversity hire, then great. No one would care... like no one cares about anyone else who got hired normally without the benefit of stupid equity policies.

Oh wealth creation side, I think if successful finance game still has better upside than SWE in general. Unless you can hit it big in SWE with your own business, your upside is going to cap out much lower than "high-finance".

 

necer74883

Asking for a relative of a friend. I know a Nigerian guy who got a 1580 on SAT, goes to a target school and has a high GPA(>3.8) in a STEM subject.

I know many on WSO are upset about AA  and DEI initiatives.

Sounds like a baller. 

Yes, people hate the quotas imposed by those initiatives because they are by definition systematic racism being imposed on an already hyper-competitive profession.

Would you discriminate against this guy even if he didn't go through a diversity program, is actually good at the job and does not have a victimhood mindset or would you treat him fairly?

No one is discriminating against diversity hires unless they suck at their job or are up their own ass about it. 

If he didn't go through a diversity program (then by definition not a diversity hire...), is good on the job, and doesn't whine about being a victim/oppressed then of course no one is going to have an issue with him. They'll want to get a beer with him. 

Do you think  they can earn generational wealth through the IB+PE route or should they move to a more meritocratic/results based field like SWE to have a better chance?

No idea how you'd define generational wealth coming from Nigeria. From a Western perspective more often than not, no, not unless you make it all the way to the partner end of things. And SWE even less of a chance of earning generational wealth (and laughable that it's more results-based, if you aren't sourcing & closing deals in IB/PE you don't make good money at the senior levels. The idea people are getting paid millions to sit around with their dick in-hand just because they're buddies with the managing partner are rare if ever true.). 

This forum is anonymous so please give your real opinion.

Disclaimer: He is not culturally American and has a thick Nigerian accent but is very smart.

I don't really the premise of this question or why there's a need to emphasize he's not American. If the dude crushes it, is chill to be around, and doesn't whine about dumb shit 99.9% of people are going to enjoy working with him. The only dislike people have about "diversity hires" is when they sometimes fit a specific, politically vocal profile that's a pain in the ass to be around and/or do not do the job as competently as someone else but gets a pass due to there being a quota justifying their presence. Your buddy doesn't sound like that, so there's no problem. 

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

From my experience, few people irl actually hate diversity hires. We know it's a hot topic and we discuss it, but I've found that it's only the weird people projecting their own issues who hate diversities. And of course, in forums like WSO, you get a bunch of frat bros projecting, but then that's expected. There's many sane people on WSO as well so the haters are just the bad apples

 
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I wouldn't. It sounds like he got there by merit, and not because of the need for the company to check a box to fulfill some diversity metric (but I'm sure it didn't hurt his hiring). Side note, I'm always impressed and inspired by people who are willing to move thousands of miles away from their old country in order to pursue the American Dream. 

One of the problems with so called "diversity hiring" is that imo it negatively affects people like this guy. On first impression some (not all) may think that this guy got to where he is just based on the color of his skin. So this guy has to walk around and prove that he belongs and may get judged quite a bit due to no fault of his own. Which is a shame, because he totally earned where he is.

My buddy at Home Depot corporate was recently passed for a promotion just because he was a white male. He was the better candidate (even told so by his boss) but his boss told him that they needed to hire a black female for the job. Now, it all worked out because he ended up getting what was a better fit promotion wise about 6 months later, but at the time he was extremely frustrated. I'm sure the lady that got the job was never told "Hey, we actually hired you because you're xyz and none of the other candidates are." These are the things that aren't discussed to these candidates, but are discussed behind their backs to their coworkers. I think this kind of thing further divides us by race, and causes some resentment. 

 

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