Race preferences at work

I know I’m not the only minority in this forum... I’m not turning down moving, but I want to maximize my own time here. Thanks in advance

Not sure what to do in this case. If you were at a BB, maybe even an EB, you could go to HR and have them get involved. But a PE firm's power structure is completely different. If you went to HR, and I'm assuming there's one HR person (maybe fully dedicated, maybe one of their many roles), it's not like they can fire a partner and if you're the only minority there he'll know you complained. I'd start looking at other firms.

Get over it man, it probably lives inside your head- take this as an opportunity to start something of your own

For context, here are some hints I received from ex/current employees, for those who think it’s in my head...

Ex/current employee 1 - This guy was an immigrant (think south of the border) with dark skin and very slight accent... came to US as a young kid so accent is very slight. His anecdote - the person would laugh and repeat what he says at meetings because “how can ppl understand him”. It’s written up as a joke.

I’m not white but I’m from here so no accent. I thought I can just doge it and do my best, but of course, it now manifests in different ways in my case.

Another hint was provided to me from a well meaning co-worker. Before I joined, there’s a white female mid/senior level investor gunning for the same top position as another white guy (the top guy will decide which one of them to promote). The co-worker’s commentary was - obviously she was not going to get it, she didn’t stand a chance. But at the same time she’s very well regarded in the fund (aside from this remark of obviously not going to get this position) - her deals have done well (from internal record) - but it seems from co-workers commentary that she’s good but she’s obviously not going to get it. Was a weird comment then but seems to make sense now.

No one on here is going to be able to better evaluate your situation better than you (by which I mean, you are in the best position to evaluate whether this guy is really prejudiced and if so, whether that limits your career at current firm), and unfortunately, there isn't really a lot you can do to change things. You can't just "make your experience better" when the problem is for all intents and purposes not solvable - this sounds like a game you can't win (the only way to win is to not play in the first place).

Personally, if I even catch a hint of a direct superior negatively stereotyping me in any substantial way, I'm immediately thinking about leaving. To be fair though, I'm the type of person who cares way more about working with people I like over the actual job role/responsibilities

I am a minority too( and a woman). I found a person who has the same story as me(coming from a foreign country and worked really hard etc), I asked to speak with one of MDs of another group after seeing her in a talk and asked her for advice (she knew my group heads so she gave me advice). I followed it and things are getting better. another thing that may not be out of racism but completely unfair is that white people share almost same interests, men or women. Say it is super easy for other analysts to ask MDs about his fav team or game, ask a vp to go for a beer etc it happens spontaneously. if I ever try to do it, it is not as smooth. even when they say good morning how was your weekend and they both played golf or whatever. It might make you feel left out. do not try to be someone you are not but prove yourself. prove yourself to be kind, hardworking, indispensable and also approachable. once you try to blend in, you will have the courage to go to your manager and be like:” I have much capacity and I want to contribute to your team”. do not leave unless you face racism explicitly, because this field is full of white people, you have to know how to stand up for yourself and earn your respect. that’s it.

I usually prefer 3 legged race, nice balance of speed, balance, agility, and teamwork

Yea there is a lot of racism and sexism in finance, especially at firms that are small enough that they don't have to deal with too much external scrutiny. It is difficult when you are in a place where you may feel like you don't have many more options to up and move, especially if you feel like you are generally doing well and making good money.

I've been in a situation where I felt like I wasn't getting good opportunities (not necessarily overt racism-related, maybe just bias, who knows), and this is what I did to help improve my optics:

1) Be that person who is saying little things to move focus away from people's weird racist commentary. I.e. if that guy says "how can people understand him", you can joke like "oh well yea accents can be hard to understand it took me forever to understand a British accent" or be upfront about it "wow you guys are joking about someone's accent what is this the 50s". You can choose your path based on how strong you feel your own position is that you can distance yourself a little bit from that type of culture.

2) Also contingent on how much credibility you have, you can be that overeager person that does things like bringing in outside speakers - could bring in someone that talks about bias and racism or importance of diversity, in fundraising, etc. to slowly get the message across.

(Note with either of these actions, if you are rocking the boat too much and people think you are not pulling your weight re: strong work product, then you can risk alienating others from supporting you and allowing other people to discredit you further. So, take care).

3) Continue to build your network outside the firm. As an associate it is not too early to start building your network, go to networking events, talking to and spending time with counterparties, and find sourcing opportunities. (I.e. if you are sourcing a deal, they can't give that opportunity to somebody else). It builds your base of support outside of your firm and if you need to leave your firm it jumpstarts the conversations that you can have.

Good luck, ultimately it may be that this firm is not for you if they are not moving hard on racism. But in the meantime hopefully these tactics can help your current situation.

OP here. Thank you for the helpful comments everyone! You’ve helped me see that leaving is the right thing and I’ll start looking once I hit my one year mark here. Thank you, I’ll pay it forward as long as I’m here.

I find this a bit surprising, our PE unit deals with so many different countries/markets and nobody would ever make such a comment or joke. Especially not in a meeting. PE in general has so many different partnerships and international investments.

regarding your situation: are you the only person who thinks like this? Has anyone else mentioned these comments or the situation before? If this is ingrained in the culture, I would make a move once another role opens up.