Professions such as investment banking, accountancy and law were historically associated with a fairly singular type of employee - usually Oxbridge-educated, male and white. However this is all changing, and many firms in these professions have for some time been actively increasing the diversity of their workforce’s ethnic origins, genders and sexual orientations.

These firms underline the compelling business case, beyond simple but important considerations of fairness and proportional representation, for attracting a diverse range of talent – for example, at global investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston, a leader in this area, Angie Casciato, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion says quite simply, “Diversity is a priority at CSFB because it is good for business”.

Sandra Kerr, national director for Race for Opportunity (RfO), says, “78 per cent of organisations now have a clear business case for race - more than double the figure for 2001. Moreover, 43 per cent are already reporting a measurable impact on their bottom line”.

Diversity initiatives aim to remove soft barriers to entry which have meant that, despite making up 15% of students (according to a recent Department for Education and Skills survey), ethnic minorities are under-represented in the graduate workforce, and especially at director level, where they come to just 3.3% of the corpus.

The Institute of Employment Studies, who carried out the survey for the DfES, identified three factors which create unfavourable conditions for minority applicants:

• Employers targeting a select list of universities (generally pre-92 universities which have smaller numbers of minority ethnic graduates)



• A lack of senior minority role models



• Companies using high ‘A’ level scores as ‘first sifts’

Initiatives such as insight days, targeted presentations and summer academies at top firms remove a soft barrier to minority recruitment - which occurs not because of academic limitations but because of a lack of familiarity with the financial and professional world, which is often acquired by some candidates through their family contacts and network. For example a candidate who has never been inside a meeting room at a large corporation may feel less at ease than one who was shown around his/her parent or family member’s offices at a young age.

The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) underlines that “in many cases white graduates have contacts through their parents, whereas ethnic minorities are less likely” to have such resources.

Yolande Beckles, managing director of Global Graduates, a programme which helps talented A-level students from non-traditional backgrounds to realise their ambitions in law, further explains, “part of the problem has been the lack of expert support and advice at an early age”, which is key to enabling candidates “to acquire knowledge and hone skills”.

Another hurdle is familiarity with the cycle of the application process (for example, to apply in the penultimate year for internships, and in the final year for permanent positions), and with the range of career paths on offer, which, in the investment banking world in particular, can be bewildering and difficult to gain understanding of without an inside contact.

As the CRE says, “many ethnic minorities are the first generation of their families to go to university and may not be aware of how best to apply for jobs, or of the importance of work placements and internships.”

Firms marketing effectively to minorities can successfully resolve these problems, to the benefit of both parties.

There are a variety of methods firms are using to get their diversity message out and in front of talented candidates:

Beginning at home, many use their graduate recruitment web sites and pages to highlight their diversity policies and initiatives.

Worth highlighting here as it may be useful for candidates, is the Diversity Milkround website. Diversity Milkround displays details of vacancies and initiatives run by leading firms who are actively seeking to broaden their recruitment. It also holds resources such as news pages and a discussion forum.

Sponsors for Educational Opportunity organises internships in investment banks, for ethnic minority candidates. The organisation, which is sponsored by thirteen top banks, will set up around a hundred placements this year.

Some employers target specific universities and courses with high proportions of ethnic minorities. “This involves organisations going to do presentations to students about their commitment to diversity, and has been shown to have a clear impact on applications”, says Sandra Kerr.
She adds that many firms now provide training in cultural awareness for staff involved in graduate recruitment.

Once employed at a top company, expect to be able to connect with internal networks catering to gender and sexuality-specific groups and minorities. These are now widespread, although they still usually operate on a voluntary basis, rather than as part of the infrastructure of the organisation.

The benefits of such initiatives in terms of brand are key. Sandra Kerr says, “65 per cent say that their work on diversity is good for brand reputation. Business leaders who fail to recognise the business case for racial diversity are likely to suffer commercially and in terms of bad reputation”.

This isn’t the end of the business case for diversity, however.

An important benefit is quite simply that of tapping as large a talent pool as possible – a prime consideration for companies who compete for the best recruits. In the first instance, actively opening doors to female candidates, allows exposure to 50% of the population, not to mention often those with stronger academic performance and higher emotional quotients.

Likewise, successfully attracting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) and ethnic minority recruits means accessing proportions of the population of around 15% and around 8% respectively - with both figures rising in the urban centres in which global businesses are usually concentrated.

In big business the advantages of a diverse workforce are easily apparent. In the modern global environment an array of different cultures, countries and types of businesses must be transacted with, as colleagues, clients, suppliers, competitors, collaborators, acquisitions, and so on. Coming to the global table with a predominantly homogeneous workforce won't be optimally effective, and therefore doesn't make business sense.
Companies confirm the advantages of a breadth of outlooks and experiences to draw on, to provide a platform for understanding and answering the business challenges of the international environment.

Sandra Kerr underlines: “many companies in other countries will no longer even come to the table unless they know they'll be dealing with a diverse team.”

Large corporations headquartered in London, particularly investment banks, already typically count among them a stunning array of nationalities and languages spoken, but are still not far enough along in terms of representing racial and religious minorities, women and different social classes. However it is clear that many of them are addressing this with some success. 86 per cent of companies surveyed by Race for Opportunity have a person at board level to champion diversity measures.

As diversity recruitment initiatives reach maturity and working populations become more varied, it is hoped that the vicious cycle of exclusion becomes a virtuous one of inclusion – as minority and female role models within firms become more prominent and numerous, as industries’ and companies’ images and internal cultures are altered, and as access opens to different sections of the population into high-flying careers – the vision is that the balance will alter and special measures will no longer be required.

The following firms and initiatives may be of interest:

Sponsors for Educational Opportunity

Diversity Milkround

Aurora Network – a careers network for women. Organises recruitment events.

The Windsor Fellowship - The Windsor Fellowship arranges internships aimed at minority candidates.

Commission for Racial Equality

African Caribbean Diversity

Asian Jobs

Black Britain

Have your say - please provide comments here