Caveat: *10000% pro-BLM, diversity in workplace & anti-hate/mean people/inequality/racism* & so this isn’t “HOW DARE THEY!?”—just observation: 2x last two days I’ve been overtly told straight middle aged white males need not apply (to a CD/ECD job). Am I glad agencies are truly focused on diversity hires? Yes. Does the “taking care of my family & not losing our home” thing terrify me after a COVID layoff? Yes. I know many will say “🖕🏻welcome to our world” & I get that 100%, but still hard to hear

Unemployed white male here. As I try to be an ally I also have secretly had the same fear-—the push for diversity will hurt my own chances in my job hunt

So I’ve tasked myself with counting all the times and ways (that I know of) that privilege has helped me succeed in this career in the first place. In my case, I wouldn’t have even made it into advertising without significant economic privilege (which relates strongly to generations of white privilege).

Really thinking about how much privilege has helped me, which is way more than the push for diversity is “hurting” me, renders any notion that I’m a victim incorrect.

One more thought: make sure your book, your interview skills, and anything else in your control are as strong as possible. Focusing on what’s in your control is a much better use of your time than worrying about what isn’t, especially when the thing that’s not in our control (the push for diversity) is a long overdue and positive change

As an oldish (for advert) white guy it’s clear that there is less and less appetite for oldish white guys in exec creative positions. This trend has been growing for a while. It’s hitting maximum velocity lately. Anyone that says this isn’t true is a liar or blind. Anyone that sees it as a problem doesn’t get why it’s not a problem, it’s a solution. It may make things harder for me and other oldish white guys, but it’s long overdue that we even the scales and if that means oldish white guys like me have a tougher time of things then so be it. Thats a good thing. Progress isn’t easy and change is a verb. This is what evening the scales looks and feels like. I have a family to support just like a lot of you and it sucks for me, but if we want equality for all races, genders and sexual orientations, then oldish white guys are gonna have to get used to sitting in the back seat for a while. I care about these things and I’m good with that. If I have to leave advertising to make a living so be it. I’ll evolve and do what I have to do personally for me and my fam. Maybe I freelance. Maybe I take a job below my weight class. Maybe I leave advertising completely. It’s more important to me that I leave the world and culture in better shape than I found it for my kid. And a big part of that is smashing the patriarchy and making sure white straight males don’t hold all the cards anymore. Again, yes. Sucks for me. But it’s sucked for women, LGBTQ and POC a lot more than it’s sucked for me and for a lot longer. That’s why when I’ve been told (and I have) that oldish white guys like me are not being considered for certain exec creative roles, I get it and accept it and am more than OK with it.

Yeah, that’s employment discrimination and is illegal.

BIPOC here. What makes me angry is that this isn’t necessarily going to help. A lot of us get dinged on stuff that makes it harder to break in and move around when we do. When I talk to creatives who have been in the game a lot longer, apparently things have changed for the worst when it came to mentoring, training and hiring new talent.

We need more mentoring.
We need more training on the job.
We need more creatives looking at books.

Otherwise, we’re still going to have a bunch of us walk in clueless and unsure about navigating this industry. That includes career missteps that to us shouldn’t be, like starting off in pharma or shopper only to later be looked down on when trying to get gigs closer to the stuff we want to be doing. Oh and we need to have had an internship even if we cannot really afford to do one because no past work experience matters.

And finally, there is something absolutely fucked up about the typical white female from the midwest who recently graduated school being the first person to look at books as a recruiter. This is where lack of opportunities for many BIPOC shine. No money for portfolio school or Adobe CC? Ding. No feasible time to have a side project? Ding. Have a side project but it’s something that said recruiter wouldn’t understand or think is “cool?” Ding.

Long story short, while diversity hires are great, the entire structure is fucked up and chances are as low as the BIPOC numbers are at agencies, the retention rates for people like us are probably even lower. You seem like a real one OP, so it’s a shame you’re being treated this way by people desperate to fix a problem of their own doing. Best of luck and I hope you find something soon.

For the privileged, equality can feel like oppression

1) I’m sorry you were laid off and certainly hope you find work and are able to support your family

2) the root of a lot of racism is economic. Slavery/free labor is what grew the US and fueled the US economy.

3) so much racism and other -isms are about fear it’s a zero sum game.
“Their” win becomes “our” loss.
If that black person, woman, immigrant gets a job/spot in that college/accepted to that team then it’s one less spot “for one of us”.

First of all, that is illegal.
But to your point...60% of America is non-Latino white. 50% of people are women. Ergo, white men are ~30% of the population.
What percentage of CDs/GCDs/ECDs are white men? I’m pretty sure it is still way, WAY above 30%, so I think you can rest easy.

IMO, what needs to be done in the situation is not to post jobs with an exclusion, but actively go recruit specifically from organizations that support POC. There are a bunch.

As it's been mentioned before, this may be an illegal practice. However, the system has also not been designed for diversity.

When I'm hiring, I don't outright close the door on white males but I make sure that any job opening is being seen by women and BIPOC applicants. That means reaching out to women and BIPOC design groups, reaching out to female and BIPOC people in your network and asking for recommendations and to share the opp, etc.

I'm a POC, and this has been my approach since I started hiring. I've hired white guys when the white guys have been the best fit, but just making sure I had a diverse field of candidates helped me take my team from 20% female and 20% BIPOC to 60% female and 40% BIPOC. It also probably helps that when a resume hits my inbox with an "ethnic" or "urban" name I don't ignore it the way I know mine was in the past.

(And FWIW—maybe nothing—I’m someone who over 25 years has always insisted on gender & racial interviewees & hires, NOT hiring people “like me” etc. Doesn’t make me some kind of hero or one of the “good ones” or “special”—it’s just how humans should treat each other, LIKE HUMANS!—but that’s just context, take it or leave it, for my post. But if my losing out on jobs/income/ability to provide for my family helps (in its small way) someone else get an opp that might have eluded them, then I guess I’m okay with that. But I also don’t like living in abject terror, depression, worry, and failure.

Old scenario - We (insert agency name) are looking through a list of senior level creatives with similar skills that led them to this level of a position. Let’s choose the white guy.

New scenario - We (insert agency name) are looking through a list of senior level creatives with similar skills that led them to this level of a position. Let’s choose the candidate that has a life experience more in tune with the world we live in and the demographic our clients are marketing to.

I have a lot of the same anxieties. I thankfully have not been hit with the Covid lay-off yet, but if it happened, I really don’t have a lot of hope for finding anything in this economic and political climate. All you can do is be a good person, mentor and advocate. And if you do it right, the people you helped on your way up will remember you when you’re on the backside. There will always be a big money pitch where your experience will be needed.

That’s illegal. I would report them.

I imagine that the black candidates are just as worried about layoffs (given that they are disproportionately impacted by reductions and the virus) and just as qualified. There are few black people in the industry at senior levels to begin with, so there’s not going to be some mass reckoning where white males are shut out of employment.

Well. This has not changed. They are just saying it outright now 🤷🏻‍♂️

And I guess they CAN basically say it to our faces now because, of course, anyone who is AGAINST the motivation behind wanting to make only diverse hires—trying to “fix” decades of inequality; reaction to the recent, utterly abhorrent racial crimes and injustice—would be a close-minded moron. So if you say “Hey, Wait, that’s not ‘fair’, why don’t I get a shot too??” you’re instantly branded as said moron vs. being aware enough to 1) feel it’s unfair to YOU while also 2) willfully acknowledging that it’s been unfair for others unlike you for a VERY long time. I mean, it IS possible to feel both ways: sadness and anger that others have had to endure a much more systemic and overt version of this, AND sadness and fear for yourself and those you take care of.

For every white dude complaining that they get told “sorry, no straight old white guys”, I wish to know then why I always lose to some white side in the hiring process.

This is already happening. I was cleverly cut out of my agency at 52. I’ve always been a white guy, never member of the “club”. Encouraged women and diversity. I’ve been told numerous times in the last 3 years by HR folks - Sorry, this job has to be filled by a woman or person of color. Honest, I would be fine with that. If I wasn’t trying to get my daughter through college. Somehow there’s no equal pay for women, but equality in tuition costs. I’ve lived to work in this agency world for 32 years. I’ve put work ahead of family to keep my jobs, to provide for family. Now I’m ready to get out as soon as possible. Meanwhile all the really shitty old guys in the club are making their money for nothing. Hiring diversity, for no money, and bragging how righteous they are between the coke snorts.

Freelance CD OP: I hear you and your feelings are valid. COVID was already causing an economic crisis and BLM is a separate and unrelated problem, that existed already, but escalated later in the piece.

It’s a perfect storm. Two unrelated issues have peaked at the exact same time to create what feels like an insurmountable challenge.

You’ve been laid off for the first reason and are getting locked out of opportunities for the second reason.

It fucking sucks. I get it because I was laid off too. I’m female but am finding it hard in this market. And my friends are all saying, “it’s time for us all to hurt” but they all have jobs and are saying it from a place of privilege where they aren’t feeling it one bit. It’s all relative.

If there are two equally talented, qualified people. Pick the one who helps broaden your diversity in some way.