The main points of the document, which serves as a commentary on Jacob Savage's article "The Lost Generation" about the impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), are as follows:
Critique of the "Diversity Industry":The author reflects on two decades of writing about what they call the "Diversity Industry," arguing that the efforts, which went into "hyperdrive" in the mid-2010s, became a form of "officially sanctioned discrimination."
Focus on Young White Men: The document asserts that white male Millennials and Gen Z men have been disproportionately affected by DEI initiatives in professional life, which the author posits is a factor driving young men toward populism and the political right.
Impact on Media and TV: The text cites data and anecdotes, including Jacob Savage's personal story, showing a dramatic decrease in the percentage of white men in lower-level TV writing, on editorial staffs (e.g., The Atlantic), and in newsroom new hires following 2014. It highlights a sense of a "zero-sum game" where opportunities were diverted based on sectarian criteria rather than objective qualifications.
Impact on Academia: In higher education, the document details how white men are being excluded from the tenure-track pipeline, citing:
A significant drop in white men in tenure-track positions at institutions like Harvard.
Hiring processes at universities like Brown, where the male share of applicants was progressively "whittled down" at each stage, and a very small percentage of new tenure-track hires were white American men.
The use of DEI statements as a "first cut" to winnow down applicant pools and the deployment of "cluster hiring" and other "quasi-legal strategies" to achieve demographic diversity.
Need for Accountability: The author's primary critique of Savage's article is that it "pulls his punches" by treating the discrimination as a "force of nature." The author insists that "People and institutions with names were responsible" and deserve accountability for promoting "sectarian strife" for personal gain and power.
What key demographic shift is noted in media and television writing between 2011 and 2024, according to the document?
What generation does the document claim was most affected when DEI initiatives went into "hyperdrive" in the mid-2010s, and what was the result?
What hiring data is cited for white American men in tenure-track assistant professor positions at Yale since 2018?
I was a manager on Wall Street from 1987 until 2007 and was constantly recruiting for fixed-income analysts. HR would demand that I seek diversity candidates which I did and hired a few who were disasters because their sterling credentials belied their actual abilities. I spent huge hours trying to fire these protected employees. On the side, I was able to hire qualified white male analysts who were often much better analysts than their mediocre credentials suggested. In my experience, a bright white male from a state university tended to be a better analyst than anyone from any Ivy League university, Harvard being the worst: medium IQ, high self-assessment, leftist leaning.
The "Maoist" communist tinge to the discussion is stark. Struggle sessions, the young females being the most ardent supporters, it's a road leading to what Orwell warned of in "1984". Taking the long view by those responsible for this is evidenced by the takeover of academia (K12-university). Two plus generations of indoctrination in our schools is now coming home to roost. Treating straight white Christian males as a monolithic block of citizenry (monolithic they are not) can have an unintended consequence: they might start acting like a monolithic block of citzenry...or at least enough like one to have major impact (see military recruiting). While the tide is currently going the other way in many areas (Glen Reynolds would call it a "preference cascade"), we are one election cycle away from reverting back to "DEI heaven"...again. The obvious question: if you are trying to destroy the nation from within, what would you do differently? Answer: Nothing...
I maintain there are millions of flashing yellow lights on equipment (and its software and human analogs) all over the USA. Minor malfunctions in products, services, and intangibles are rife and degrade everyone's quality of life. And those yellow lights are dutifully warning that something needs looked at, understood, and corrected. The problem is that no one is there to respond or, even if present, capable of doing so.
Richard: These days, I spend most of my working life responding to flashing lights and error messages. As a matter of fact, someone just broke a key in a closet door lock at my wife' office, and guess who got the call to fix the problem? Yours truly.
Thank you SO much for your work to keep things humming. After you're done fixing the lock problem, I've got a couple hundred more items for you to look into. You might get started on why about 15% of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts are too tough for ordinary humans to chew, no matter how they're cooked. Also, you may wish to look into how, when so many of today's automobiles report Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs, the automotive version of flashing yellow lights) to detail exactly what is wrong, auto mechanics reflexively throw a raft of expensive new parts at the problem without fixing it in any way, costing owners (or the manufacturer if still under warranty) many hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Thanks again for your service in hitting the reset button and giving those flashing lights a well-deserved rest.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel. Med school admissions are becoming merit based again. That said, as a doctor, I’d be careful of physicians who graduated from 2010 to present.
"Johns Hopkins’ first year enrollment for 2023-> 2025 by race:
The main question is how to avoid the pendulum effect - the urge to hire ONLY "white, straight, conservative males" just because the previous guys in power wanted the opposite. True meritocracy is by definition based on avoiding both extremums. And when such complex questions become political... well, you obviously knew, that in such matters bureaucrats usually concerned only about "what their superior would like to see".
Clearly, you never learned military history, because the general rule of warfare in every age was "digging your trench deeper would never harm you") Oh well. Americans - what could I expect?
Merit based professions such as surgeons and pilots are resistant to DEI, but not immune. Can't speak to surgeons, but I subscribe to a lot of aviation incident reports (had the misfortune of serving on three military accident boards) and have seen far too much DEI influence directly and indirectly referenced in those reports. And of course, we've all heard the question: If your child needs heart surgery, you want the best doctor available, not the Diversity hire. Similar to having the best engineer design your aircraft or bridge...
While you are right, do not forget, that before the DEI best doctor may not be hired because "he is gay, and we are Chrrrrrrriiiiiistiaaaaaan!!! organisation", and best engineer opinion might be ignored because she is female.
Not so fast, you started to claim about DEI hires - so it's you who should put some statistic behind "we all heard the question")
Also, it's hilarious to note, that while you are against subpar DEI hire, you aren't against subpar religious hire, immediately going into defense and starting to scream "FREEEDOM OF RELIGION!!!") Which put into serious question - are you actually against DEI because it against the concepts of merit, or merely because it's not aimed on the ones you like?)
"And of course, we've all heard the question: If your child needs heart surgery, you want the best doctor available, not the Diversity hire. Similar to having the best engineer design your aircraft or bridge..."
You made an unfounded and unsupported assertion. Either back it up with evidence or zip your flapping lip. (c)
And now with DEI even the most qualified of female/minority hires are looked at by their cohort as flawed people who were only hired as the DEI candidate. DEI is corrosive for alcon.
Yep. And I mentioned exactly this problem too, in other post. While DEI might be a good idea initially (because, well, there WAS a significant resistance to the idea of hiring minorities in the past), by now its clearly became more a burden for minorities it was supposed to help.
DEI and CRT were used as an excuse to lower the educational standards for everyone in multiple public districts as well. These programs are a fig leaf to hide a poorly performing public education system.
I knew an IMCS(SW) {an E-8} who had an E-3 in his school about to graduate but was referred to an Academic Review Board (ARB) both for indifferent academic performance and for his poor attitude. The kid told the Senior Chief, "Give it your bet shot. I'm only a week away from graduation and promotion to E-4". The Senior Chief disenrolled him. The kid appealed. The XO of the base, an O-5 Aviator (helos), told the Senior Chief that he was seemingly being petty about disenrolling the sailor and that he should rethink his recommendation to drop the student. The Senior Chief told the XO, "Commander, I'm the Leading Chief of IM Class "A" School. We train Instrument Men. You fly helo's, right, Sir? Well, then Sir, please visualize this slack-tard calibrating your barometric altimeter a few hours before you go out on a night flight in foggy weather in mountainous terrain." The XO's response? "Disenroll him, Senior Chief."
Similarly, while I was DIVO for EW Class "A" School, I told all my student that anyone who fell asleep in class would be disenrolled. Why? Because in the Fleet an Electronics Warfare Technician often stood his watch alone, out of sight, unsupervised. As the EW watch on a ship is most often the first line of defense against an attack, I wanted no slackers graduating from EW"A" School. Early on, in my Friday indoc/welcome aboard speech, I had a sailor fall asleep at the desk right in front of me. I bellowed to the instructor to have him "ARB-ed". He was the only one I ever disenrolled for "sleeping on watch" in my 2 year tenure there. I like to think we sent no slack-tards to the fleet back then.
DEI is not quite dead yet. Wait until the personal injury lawyers and class action lawsuits get going. That's when you know the corpse is beginning to get ripe.
Interesting to note, that many sociologists who supported DEI have an opinion that it become outdated. Its main positive effect - "breaking the barriers" that prevented minorities from entering the competition - got depleted years ago. And now it started to have negative effect instead - any minority hired would be automatically assumed to be "DEI creature" (even if he actually was hired for his skills and experience). So the growing consensus is that DEI have positive effect in past, but now become obsolete and hampering, and thus should need to be reduced.
Of course, problem is, that politicians who build careers on DEI (or opposing DEI, by the way) aren't gonna let it just go away only because specialists decided that it would be better...
"So the growing consensus is that DEI have positive effect in past."
Bovine excrement on stilts.
You're clearly not an American, judging by your stilted use of English. Hush and listen. We Americans will fix the mess. Stick to your own nation's issues.
You, American, took the position of absolute military, economical and moral superiority in 1990s, and managed to completely ruin it in less than three decades since. Seriosuly, maybe it's time for you to start to listen to other nations, and not claim that "we are the best, we could handle this"? Because facts, you know, did not support your position.
The Overton Window is moving at warp speed on this subject. Sal needs to take a massive bow.
I’ll add that even those of us in our 60s have been affected. If you were a white man born after the mid-50s, you’ve dragged a DEI millstone your entire working life. Scholarships you earned on merit went to favored privilege groups. Jobs, too. Positions offering better potential for advancement. I’ve seen people with mediocre ability and dedication fast-tracked because they fit the desired profile, while battle-scarred innovators were shoved aside. Lose your job or retire, and you could forget about future employment.
The cohort born around 2000 had it worse. They entered the workforce as DEI became a complex pyramid of privilege. Race, gender, religion, sexual deviance, place of birth…and of course, Straight White Male Rural was at the very bottom.
There’s a lot of anger. Without major reform - VISIBLE reform - things are going to get very ugly.
I was in Navy recruiting in the early’80s. 12% of the enlisted recruits had to be Black. It was tough to meet this quota because applicants needed a HS diploma and have no drug or criminal history. No HS diploma required a higher ASVAB score and criminal history required serious waivers. This has been going on for a long time.
My S-i-L was a Navy SeaBee. He did two tours as a recruiter in Oregon before retiring 7 years ago. Similar story, Jeff. His district had two quotas for Hispanic females for the Navy Nuclear Power Program. He had 7 qualified men in the waiting queue, who finally gave up because he had to find two people of the correct gender and ethnicity.
He never elaborated, but I am supposing that this being an Oregon district that there might have been a mandate to get two lady nukes first to motivate them to get a surfeit of men later to meet some nationwide nuke quota. I know that my S-i-L and other good recruiters often shared their surplus recruits with other recruiters facing the hellish heat of missing quota. They looked out for each other. As it turned out, they got no nukes.
Excellent post, Phib. I can say when it came to job searches from 2010 to the present, being a white female was not helpful either. I won't bore y'all with the details of what I have seen with the chaos of hiring that occurred where I work from 2021 to last year and how with 3 times as many people, the hired candidates managed to make things 3 times slower. The joke became "is it worse when the show up for work (rarely) or when they don't show up?" But that should all be in the past now. I have a close and continuing relative who spent much time in airports and still does. In 2016 during the Trump campaign he'd watch planes full of young white boys land for field trips to the Nation's capitol and run to the kiosks at the airport selling Trump stuff and buy it happily. Hats, keychains, etc. Ten year olds, young teens. He said "the kids are going to be all right." Now those kids are early 20s. I've been to college graduations and Masters graduations and seen the startling lack of young men proportionally go up to receive diplomas. Tragic.
To this I say: BRING BACK TOM! Remember Tom...? That white guy who was everyone's friend on MySpace? Bring him back. Or someone like him. Call it OURSPACE. I don't care the industry... academia, research, tech, automotives, machine works, whatever.... if white men could make their own spaces and companies and hire each other and create that better, cheaper product, they'd leave the competition in the dust. Go produce bare bones internal combustion engine trucks and cars. Build stuff that doesn't break down in a week. Rebuild our infrastructure. With each other as your employees. No one will save you but you. I notice all those white men at the top never stepped down to let a minority or woman take THEIR places. Brown, Yale, all those stupid magazines and periodicals... let them fall into the moribund swamps of their own declining quality. When you do not hire the most qualified, you do not produce the best quality. If you dear white men understood better the power you do have to not be permanent victims of this decade and a half of insanity and take charge, you could retake entire sectors of the economy. The money and buyers would come to YOU! And when some egregious lawsuit happens as nervy rainbow BiPoc people have the gall to demand you hire them, laugh and point at the last 15 years. Build it better, faster and cheaper than they do. Because they aren't hiring quality. They are hiring checked boxes.
As for kids coming out of college. The schooling is a mess. Over generalizing... The degrees are crap. Kids go to school to party and incur debt. Get in the trades, learn skills, work on AI proof skill sets.
FYI https://www.compactmag.com/contributor/jacob-savage/
An AI summary for your readers in a hurry:
The main points of the document, which serves as a commentary on Jacob Savage's article "The Lost Generation" about the impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), are as follows:
Critique of the "Diversity Industry":The author reflects on two decades of writing about what they call the "Diversity Industry," arguing that the efforts, which went into "hyperdrive" in the mid-2010s, became a form of "officially sanctioned discrimination."
Focus on Young White Men: The document asserts that white male Millennials and Gen Z men have been disproportionately affected by DEI initiatives in professional life, which the author posits is a factor driving young men toward populism and the political right.
Impact on Media and TV: The text cites data and anecdotes, including Jacob Savage's personal story, showing a dramatic decrease in the percentage of white men in lower-level TV writing, on editorial staffs (e.g., The Atlantic), and in newsroom new hires following 2014. It highlights a sense of a "zero-sum game" where opportunities were diverted based on sectarian criteria rather than objective qualifications.
Impact on Academia: In higher education, the document details how white men are being excluded from the tenure-track pipeline, citing:
A significant drop in white men in tenure-track positions at institutions like Harvard.
Hiring processes at universities like Brown, where the male share of applicants was progressively "whittled down" at each stage, and a very small percentage of new tenure-track hires were white American men.
The use of DEI statements as a "first cut" to winnow down applicant pools and the deployment of "cluster hiring" and other "quasi-legal strategies" to achieve demographic diversity.
Need for Accountability: The author's primary critique of Savage's article is that it "pulls his punches" by treating the discrimination as a "force of nature." The author insists that "People and institutions with names were responsible" and deserve accountability for promoting "sectarian strife" for personal gain and power.
What key demographic shift is noted in media and television writing between 2011 and 2024, according to the document?
What generation does the document claim was most affected when DEI initiatives went into "hyperdrive" in the mid-2010s, and what was the result?
What hiring data is cited for white American men in tenure-track assistant professor positions at Yale since 2018?
I was a manager on Wall Street from 1987 until 2007 and was constantly recruiting for fixed-income analysts. HR would demand that I seek diversity candidates which I did and hired a few who were disasters because their sterling credentials belied their actual abilities. I spent huge hours trying to fire these protected employees. On the side, I was able to hire qualified white male analysts who were often much better analysts than their mediocre credentials suggested. In my experience, a bright white male from a state university tended to be a better analyst than anyone from any Ivy League university, Harvard being the worst: medium IQ, high self-assessment, leftist leaning.
Hiring an Ivy League graduate today is like bringing a bomb into your firm.
Bill B:
I am a double Ivy grad from what is now a long time ago and I will only work for myself, because I wouldn't hire me :)
A low-IQ bomb.
The "Maoist" communist tinge to the discussion is stark. Struggle sessions, the young females being the most ardent supporters, it's a road leading to what Orwell warned of in "1984". Taking the long view by those responsible for this is evidenced by the takeover of academia (K12-university). Two plus generations of indoctrination in our schools is now coming home to roost. Treating straight white Christian males as a monolithic block of citizenry (monolithic they are not) can have an unintended consequence: they might start acting like a monolithic block of citzenry...or at least enough like one to have major impact (see military recruiting). While the tide is currently going the other way in many areas (Glen Reynolds would call it a "preference cascade"), we are one election cycle away from reverting back to "DEI heaven"...again. The obvious question: if you are trying to destroy the nation from within, what would you do differently? Answer: Nothing...
I maintain there are millions of flashing yellow lights on equipment (and its software and human analogs) all over the USA. Minor malfunctions in products, services, and intangibles are rife and degrade everyone's quality of life. And those yellow lights are dutifully warning that something needs looked at, understood, and corrected. The problem is that no one is there to respond or, even if present, capable of doing so.
Richard: These days, I spend most of my working life responding to flashing lights and error messages. As a matter of fact, someone just broke a key in a closet door lock at my wife' office, and guess who got the call to fix the problem? Yours truly.
Thank you SO much for your work to keep things humming. After you're done fixing the lock problem, I've got a couple hundred more items for you to look into. You might get started on why about 15% of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts are too tough for ordinary humans to chew, no matter how they're cooked. Also, you may wish to look into how, when so many of today's automobiles report Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs, the automotive version of flashing yellow lights) to detail exactly what is wrong, auto mechanics reflexively throw a raft of expensive new parts at the problem without fixing it in any way, costing owners (or the manufacturer if still under warranty) many hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Thanks again for your service in hitting the reset button and giving those flashing lights a well-deserved rest.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel. Med school admissions are becoming merit based again. That said, as a doctor, I’d be careful of physicians who graduated from 2010 to present.
"Johns Hopkins’ first year enrollment for 2023-> 2025 by race:
Asians 25.6 -> 45.1%
Blacks 9.8 -> 4%
Hispanics 20.8 -> 10.1%
Whites 18.3 -> 21%”
https://x.com/ycinnewyork/status/2001431647778984283?s=20
while their curriculums have tilted to gendered and racial biased treatment.
I won't see a doctor who graduated after 2005, not drive across a bridge or ride in an airplane designed by someone who graduated after 2010
The main question is how to avoid the pendulum effect - the urge to hire ONLY "white, straight, conservative males" just because the previous guys in power wanted the opposite. True meritocracy is by definition based on avoiding both extremums. And when such complex questions become political... well, you obviously knew, that in such matters bureaucrats usually concerned only about "what their superior would like to see".
Stop posting. You're spamming the comments section with pointless drivel.
Make your head hurt? It's called "thinking", you know)
First Rule of Holes: When you're in one, stop digging.
Clearly, you never learned military history, because the general rule of warfare in every age was "digging your trench deeper would never harm you") Oh well. Americans - what could I expect?
I’m a retired commissioned officer, genius.
Do they dig many trenches in the Coast Guard?
Merit based professions such as surgeons and pilots are resistant to DEI, but not immune. Can't speak to surgeons, but I subscribe to a lot of aviation incident reports (had the misfortune of serving on three military accident boards) and have seen far too much DEI influence directly and indirectly referenced in those reports. And of course, we've all heard the question: If your child needs heart surgery, you want the best doctor available, not the Diversity hire. Similar to having the best engineer design your aircraft or bridge...
While you are right, do not forget, that before the DEI best doctor may not be hired because "he is gay, and we are Chrrrrrrriiiiiistiaaaaaan!!! organisation", and best engineer opinion might be ignored because she is female.
"May?" Cite statistics or retract your slander.
And tell me something: why are Christian institutions not allowed to enjoy the freedom of association that everyone else does?
Not so fast, you started to claim about DEI hires - so it's you who should put some statistic behind "we all heard the question")
Also, it's hilarious to note, that while you are against subpar DEI hire, you aren't against subpar religious hire, immediately going into defense and starting to scream "FREEEDOM OF RELIGION!!!") Which put into serious question - are you actually against DEI because it against the concepts of merit, or merely because it's not aimed on the ones you like?)
I claimed nothing, foreigner. You made an unfounded and unsupported assertion. Either back it up with evidence or zip your flapping lip.
Logic isn't your strong side, that's obvious:
"And of course, we've all heard the question: If your child needs heart surgery, you want the best doctor available, not the Diversity hire. Similar to having the best engineer design your aircraft or bridge..."
You made an unfounded and unsupported assertion. Either back it up with evidence or zip your flapping lip. (c)
Uh, that was me, not OhioCoastie...if you'd like to attack me instead so you can feel better, please be my guest.
And now with DEI even the most qualified of female/minority hires are looked at by their cohort as flawed people who were only hired as the DEI candidate. DEI is corrosive for alcon.
Yep. And I mentioned exactly this problem too, in other post. While DEI might be a good idea initially (because, well, there WAS a significant resistance to the idea of hiring minorities in the past), by now its clearly became more a burden for minorities it was supposed to help.
DEI and CRT were used as an excuse to lower the educational standards for everyone in multiple public districts as well. These programs are a fig leaf to hide a poorly performing public education system.
Gay men have always been able to have successful careers they just didn’t talk about sucking dick at work.
A female engineer being passed over despite qualifications is theoretically possible but not likely.
I knew an IMCS(SW) {an E-8} who had an E-3 in his school about to graduate but was referred to an Academic Review Board (ARB) both for indifferent academic performance and for his poor attitude. The kid told the Senior Chief, "Give it your bet shot. I'm only a week away from graduation and promotion to E-4". The Senior Chief disenrolled him. The kid appealed. The XO of the base, an O-5 Aviator (helos), told the Senior Chief that he was seemingly being petty about disenrolling the sailor and that he should rethink his recommendation to drop the student. The Senior Chief told the XO, "Commander, I'm the Leading Chief of IM Class "A" School. We train Instrument Men. You fly helo's, right, Sir? Well, then Sir, please visualize this slack-tard calibrating your barometric altimeter a few hours before you go out on a night flight in foggy weather in mountainous terrain." The XO's response? "Disenroll him, Senior Chief."
Similarly, while I was DIVO for EW Class "A" School, I told all my student that anyone who fell asleep in class would be disenrolled. Why? Because in the Fleet an Electronics Warfare Technician often stood his watch alone, out of sight, unsupervised. As the EW watch on a ship is most often the first line of defense against an attack, I wanted no slackers graduating from EW"A" School. Early on, in my Friday indoc/welcome aboard speech, I had a sailor fall asleep at the desk right in front of me. I bellowed to the instructor to have him "ARB-ed". He was the only one I ever disenrolled for "sleeping on watch" in my 2 year tenure there. I like to think we sent no slack-tards to the fleet back then.
DEI is not quite dead yet. Wait until the personal injury lawyers and class action lawsuits get going. That's when you know the corpse is beginning to get ripe.
The Chinese are mainly hiring Chinese.
And Indian/Subcontinent people hire their own. No DEI involved.
Burn it all down, salt the earth, and start again with new staff on fallow soil...
And possibly with a lot more part-time instructors. More of a spread.
Cogent and compelling. Thank you.
Interesting to note, that many sociologists who supported DEI have an opinion that it become outdated. Its main positive effect - "breaking the barriers" that prevented minorities from entering the competition - got depleted years ago. And now it started to have negative effect instead - any minority hired would be automatically assumed to be "DEI creature" (even if he actually was hired for his skills and experience). So the growing consensus is that DEI have positive effect in past, but now become obsolete and hampering, and thus should need to be reduced.
Of course, problem is, that politicians who build careers on DEI (or opposing DEI, by the way) aren't gonna let it just go away only because specialists decided that it would be better...
"So the growing consensus is that DEI have positive effect in past."
Bovine excrement on stilts.
You're clearly not an American, judging by your stilted use of English. Hush and listen. We Americans will fix the mess. Stick to your own nation's issues.
You, American, took the position of absolute military, economical and moral superiority in 1990s, and managed to completely ruin it in less than three decades since. Seriosuly, maybe it's time for you to start to listen to other nations, and not claim that "we are the best, we could handle this"? Because facts, you know, did not support your position.
Echo Sierra Alfa Delta
Stealing that lol
You won’t be taken seriously if you can’t spell it right.
The Overton Window is moving at warp speed on this subject. Sal needs to take a massive bow.
I’ll add that even those of us in our 60s have been affected. If you were a white man born after the mid-50s, you’ve dragged a DEI millstone your entire working life. Scholarships you earned on merit went to favored privilege groups. Jobs, too. Positions offering better potential for advancement. I’ve seen people with mediocre ability and dedication fast-tracked because they fit the desired profile, while battle-scarred innovators were shoved aside. Lose your job or retire, and you could forget about future employment.
The cohort born around 2000 had it worse. They entered the workforce as DEI became a complex pyramid of privilege. Race, gender, religion, sexual deviance, place of birth…and of course, Straight White Male Rural was at the very bottom.
There’s a lot of anger. Without major reform - VISIBLE reform - things are going to get very ugly.
I was in Navy recruiting in the early’80s. 12% of the enlisted recruits had to be Black. It was tough to meet this quota because applicants needed a HS diploma and have no drug or criminal history. No HS diploma required a higher ASVAB score and criminal history required serious waivers. This has been going on for a long time.
My S-i-L was a Navy SeaBee. He did two tours as a recruiter in Oregon before retiring 7 years ago. Similar story, Jeff. His district had two quotas for Hispanic females for the Navy Nuclear Power Program. He had 7 qualified men in the waiting queue, who finally gave up because he had to find two people of the correct gender and ethnicity.
And he couldn't take anyone that wasn't on quota?
Seems like that's a recruiter's dream to have so many people that you can exceed quota.
He never elaborated, but I am supposing that this being an Oregon district that there might have been a mandate to get two lady nukes first to motivate them to get a surfeit of men later to meet some nationwide nuke quota. I know that my S-i-L and other good recruiters often shared their surplus recruits with other recruiters facing the hellish heat of missing quota. They looked out for each other. As it turned out, they got no nukes.
Stupidity sabotaging recruiting for an entire rate.
That's what baffles me in all of this:
Sometime there isn't anyone interested that isn't a white male. But yet they go a dredge up someone to shanghai into the job to suit their fantasies.
I dunno, like America was building up some huge Equity or something. Above our pay grades.
Makes no sense.
Jake from State Farm transistioned and is now Jacqueline, from Progressive Insurance.
Excellent post, Phib. I can say when it came to job searches from 2010 to the present, being a white female was not helpful either. I won't bore y'all with the details of what I have seen with the chaos of hiring that occurred where I work from 2021 to last year and how with 3 times as many people, the hired candidates managed to make things 3 times slower. The joke became "is it worse when the show up for work (rarely) or when they don't show up?" But that should all be in the past now. I have a close and continuing relative who spent much time in airports and still does. In 2016 during the Trump campaign he'd watch planes full of young white boys land for field trips to the Nation's capitol and run to the kiosks at the airport selling Trump stuff and buy it happily. Hats, keychains, etc. Ten year olds, young teens. He said "the kids are going to be all right." Now those kids are early 20s. I've been to college graduations and Masters graduations and seen the startling lack of young men proportionally go up to receive diplomas. Tragic.
To this I say: BRING BACK TOM! Remember Tom...? That white guy who was everyone's friend on MySpace? Bring him back. Or someone like him. Call it OURSPACE. I don't care the industry... academia, research, tech, automotives, machine works, whatever.... if white men could make their own spaces and companies and hire each other and create that better, cheaper product, they'd leave the competition in the dust. Go produce bare bones internal combustion engine trucks and cars. Build stuff that doesn't break down in a week. Rebuild our infrastructure. With each other as your employees. No one will save you but you. I notice all those white men at the top never stepped down to let a minority or woman take THEIR places. Brown, Yale, all those stupid magazines and periodicals... let them fall into the moribund swamps of their own declining quality. When you do not hire the most qualified, you do not produce the best quality. If you dear white men understood better the power you do have to not be permanent victims of this decade and a half of insanity and take charge, you could retake entire sectors of the economy. The money and buyers would come to YOU! And when some egregious lawsuit happens as nervy rainbow BiPoc people have the gall to demand you hire them, laugh and point at the last 15 years. Build it better, faster and cheaper than they do. Because they aren't hiring quality. They are hiring checked boxes.
Out compete, aye!
As for kids coming out of college. The schooling is a mess. Over generalizing... The degrees are crap. Kids go to school to party and incur debt. Get in the trades, learn skills, work on AI proof skill sets.