I work for a top French bank in Paris and I am upset with the culture here. There is a huge amount of nepotism.
The head of the advisory function and a lot of the managing directors have had their kids here on insight days and internships and they behave as if this is normal. At the same time, they don't even seem to favour or consider a lot of good BAME applicants.
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It's depressing. They talk a lot about meritocracy and ESG and send internal emails about pushing for diversity, but there's nothing behind it. Instead of hiring diversity candidates, they're more focused on helping the children of MDs and senior executives.
It's made worse by the fact that a lot of diverse students have reached out to me. I always push their applications, but not a single one of them was accepted for the internships and insight days which were filled with kids whose parents already work in banking.
What are we supposed to do? I feel like the CEO should be aware of this — it will erode the bank over time. I don't think successful banks like Morgan Stanley or Bank of America have these arrangements. My friends at other French banks say it doesn't happen there either.
Vivien Corriveau is a pseudonym
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