Dear,
I saw a post about nepotism and I just don't understand why people are accepting this kind of culture. I'm from Korea, and I just don't understand how nepotism is still relevant and accepted (as it seems). What are your views on this? Isn't it unfair to get a job by one's family network?
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It’s just life man, in this day you must play the cards you are dealt. In the sense of family helping family get job’s the Asian continent sees this much more often than North America or Europe. Some banks might as well be family offices in Singapore and China.
I used to think your way but I've changed slightly. A couple of points:
If the individual had connections or not, they still need to be qualified. Nepotism or references get you an interview but the individual gets the offer letter. If you're not qualified it's embarrassing for the person giving the reference.
It's hard to get a feel for people during an interview. If someone the managers respect likes highlights a person, odds are they be a decent fit.
Hiring in a large company is a game of odds and references or nepotism improves the odds.
What does being from Korea have to do with nepotism? LOL
I read an article somewhere that said Korea actually has comparatively really high levels of nepotism so I don’t get the point
It was, but definitely not now. For example, Korea is currently undergoing a huge series of protests against a suspicion regarding an unfair university entrance of a politician's daughter. Koreans are sensitive to fairness. Nepotism is quite contrary to fairness, I believe.
Either way, nepotism still exists and personally think it occurs everywhere no matter what country your from, though intensity might differ based on policies or cultural acceptance of nepotism as "fair". US and South Korea both have high levels of nepotism. Is it fair? No, but there's nothing as an individual you can do about it. If provided the leadership opportunity, I doubt you would forfeit helping close relatives to secure an interview. At the end of the day, if you don't achieve well in the position, you'll get booted.
Nepotism has been used since the 3rd century and will be continued to be used and abused in the future regardless of location. It is unfair but it's impossible to defeat and as others have mentioned it's up to you whether you lament that and play the victim card or you ignore it and do what you can to become successful.
nah fam its been around way longer than the 3rd century its literally as ancient as humanity and Janet Yellen
LONG SEX DUNGEONS ?
Think about it from the other perspective: if you were at the top of the tower, don't you want to maintain your power? When you're the one in control of everything, it's easier to make those below you abide. It's like natural selection - a long time ago, the capable ones figured out how to game society and climbed up to the top, obtaining the ability to forever perpetuate their influence.
Right, exactly. Ain't nobody is at the top of the tower? In fact, most of us are way below the top and only looking upward. Are you saying since it is convenient for those at the top of the tower to keep their groups, we should bare nepotism and just deal with it?
Of course we keep fighting with what we have, but I don't think our inherent disadvantage is unfair - at some point these families "won" and its natural that winners reap their rewards. We better ourselves to outcompete candidates with connections, but we shouldn't be crying for connections to be outright stripped away.
Also, I don't want to be a hypocrite - I want to make it to the top, and when/if I do I'm gonna perpetuate the hell out of nepotism.
Hm... I saw a post about merit and I just don't understand why people are accepting this method of evaluation. I'm from Timbuktu, and I just don't understand how merit is still relevant and accepted (as it seems). What are your views on this? Isn't it unfair to get a job by one's high GPA / better school?
What is this lol. I'm not tryna troll around because I have no network in the States and all that. I do get the idea of nepotism and its advantages. I'm still curious about what others see this matter tho. Plus, high GPA and target school on the resume show their good work intelligence to some extent. Having a dad as a VP at Goldman shows what?
Change VP to MD
It shows nothing but a large amount of connections in finance as well as a standard of professionalism. The son or daughter of the MD is going to be known as XYZ's child and use his or her's dads connections to grow the network and gain more social and economic mobility. It's expected that the daughter/son will grow up and attend the best schools, become a productive member of society, live in an environment that is associated with wealth , power, success and maintain the family image by being polished and coming across as intelligent etc.
Thanks for the input. I do agree the kids will likely be surrounded by the finance-related environment and benefit from their dad's wealth. Still, it does not mean they will likely go to the best schools. Surely, capital investment in education will help the kids get educated and all that, but that does not mean there's some sort of guaranteed tickets for the best schools. Plus, the kids are hired because their father is MD, not because of their "potential" awareness in wealth and productive network.
To be clear, what I'm trying to do is to learn what people here think about nepotism that is rampant in finance or any other domains. I presume not many people will genuinely think it's fair or reasonable as it does not maximize the equality of opportunity (not the outcome). I'm not digging into nepotism to destroy its rationales and whining about it.
Of course it isn't fair. Neither is anything else in life. No one gets jobs, in finance or otherwise, without being qualified. Unless your father owns the company or whatever, and in that case, he can piss away his wealth however he wants.
Having connections gets you an interview, nothing more. It seems like nepotism is rampant in finance because junior level positions in finance don't take much in the way of intelligence or creative ability, so if you're hiring, it may as well be someone who will bring some valuable goodwill with them in addition to a bland set of skills.
Actually yes, sure some kids are going to end up as cokeheads that go to a low ranked school but majority of them are going to attend high ranked boarding or day private schools that have connections to specific t25 universities. These connections are hidden gems that significantly increase the chances of getting accepted and are almost a lock for a student who fits their profile ( GPA, ECS , SAT/ACT scores etc ).
I think most people agree that nepotism is unfair and can be seen as corrupt but the question remains what would you do if that was your son or daughter? I'm assuming everyone on this site is competitive for wanting to get into banking , trading , real estate etc which leads to networking and getting yourself out there to cold call and cold email alumni. Would you want your child to be successful with your guidance and help or would you prefer him to go through the same amount of pain and suffering you went through? It's easier said than done when evaluating the risk reward situation and the potential harm it does to a kids confidence and mental health. A common saying here in the US "I am just working hard so my son doesn't have to."
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