"Diversity schemes are essential in banking"
Investment banks are reportedly opening diversity schemes to non-diverse applicants. This is a great shame! Diversity programs are still absolutely necessary in the banking industry.
Young white males are still being recruited in numbers at every level and are at the forefront of most of the roles we're hiring for. They are in the correct universities, they have social mobility, they have the family make-up and dynamic. They benefit from all the resources that society offers.
Our own data shows that in the past quarter, at manager level to senior executive level, we received eight applications from white men for every application from an ethnic minority. At graduate to senior consultant level, we received five applications from white men to every ethnic minority application. We are not abnormal in this.
While we are trying hard to diversify our talent pool, we still find that 84% of our recruits are white men or women across all levels. This is a real issue.
Changing the situation is not easy. Not enough ethnic minority applicants are being encouraged to financial services roles outside the usual red brick universities. The next generation needs more education on career options, whether through careers fairs or workshops at universities.
We need representation at senior levels and mentors to help create viable pathways for the next generation. Investment banking and the whole financial space has some notable minority faces hidden in areas like analytics. However, the few black investment bankers are in the main from the African diaspora where families put a strong importance on academia, and have been handpicked from the better unis. When you look at Caribbeans in banking, the numbers are tiny. They are still the smallest pools of applicants we see.
When I speak to young individuals with the acumen to do well, they seem to have been put off with loopholes and constant need to always outperform their white counterparts. Many opt for contract roles where they can earn a higher amount without any politics.
Diversity programs are a necessity, but they don’t even come close to addressing the unbalance.
Shaun Thwaites is Senior Talent Acquisition Manager at Plenitude Consulting
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