The Privileged Elite

[Seathestars]

You nearly put your foot in it thenlol

That's ok for you to say, just wait 'till the shoes on the other foot

 

[monty]

That's ok for you to say, just wait 'till the shoes on the other foot

Haven't got three feet unless I'm in the yard........................obtuse I know but what the hell

 

[The Cowboy]

May be so Bruce but if a guy with the tie that counted was up for the job he'd stand no chance. The article we are debating is however about banking, basically where the money is, at that point he wouldn't even get an interview as the the selector came from Eton sperm

Talking out your backside I'm afraid. I went to a comprehensive in Wigan, got my first job at a major German bank having been interviewed by a Kiwi and an Essex bird.

And FWIW, I've never met anyone from Eton.

 

[catcherintherye]

Again though, there are some 250,000 working in the City and Canary Wharf alone, plus many thousands more in places like Edinburgh.

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/corporate-investment-banker

Doesn't say anything about brown shoes

"Gaining work experience in the industry is crucial. Completing an internship with an investment bank is a valuable way to improve your chances of securing a job. Most investment banks offer some of their interns full-time positions. The application process is similar to that of graduate schemes. Internships are normally open to penultimate-year students.

Experience gained in back-office functions within an investment bank also demonstrates a long term commitment to working within the investment banking environment.

Part-time work or holiday work within your chosen organisation can also be very valuable, especially at selection stage when employers are looking for ways to differentiate between the candidates."

As I said before, mate of mine used to work for Morgan Stanley and now Nomura and he went to Westminster Uni, so it is possible. What I will say is that once you've worked for one, it seems much easier to get into the others. Signalling, y'see.

I think connections and networks are critical really mate. There may be that many lawyers but there are thousands of kids each year coming out of university with a law degree. Getting a traineeship is critical and invariably you need to know someone to make an initial contact, or at least it is very helpful in getting on a traineeship.

I don't think it's as much as a conspiracy as people may out, more people acting on unconscious wishes, but there is little doubt that it makes a big difference. My current partner is convinced her son will go to Oxford because he goes to a top school and his dad is wealthy and lives in the area. She also knows parents at the school he goes to who are lawyers who have already said they will give him a traineeship if he does a law degree.

There can be two readings of it. One is it is corrupt which it is. The other is that it's just people trying to help out there friends/schoolmates etc. The problem I see that arises is that that has been fetishized by the ruling elites and ideas of class, power and elitism have grown to justify what is essentially giving people a leg up.

If we really wanted to challenge it I suspect some sort of affirmative action may be needed. Very unpopular but would be quite effective.

 

[Caolam]

We live in Britain, we have a class system. We always have. Most people want the top jobs in the country to go to people who get them because of their birthright and not because they have any ability.

 

[The Cowboy]

Again though, there are some 250,000 working in the City and Canary Wharf alone, plus many thousands more in places like Edinburgh.

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/corporate-investment-banker

Doesn't say anything about brown shoes

"Gaining work experience in the industry is crucial. Completing an internship with an investment bank is a valuable way to improve your chances of securing a job. Most investment banks offer some of their interns full-time positions. The application process is similar to that of graduate schemes. Internships are normally open to penultimate-year students.

Experience gained in back-office functions within an investment bank also demonstrates a long term commitment to working within the investment banking environment.

Part-time work or holiday work within your chosen organisation can also be very valuable, especially at selection stage when employers are looking for ways to differentiate between the candidates."

As I said before, mate of mine used to work for Morgan Stanley and now Nomura and he went to Westminster Uni, so it is possible. What I will say is that once you've worked for one, it seems much easier to get into the others. Signalling, y'see.

What the hell is signalling?

 

[Zatara]

I shop at TK Maxx.

I remember that store!

 

[Zatara]

Talking out your backside I'm afraid. I went to a comprehensive in Wigan, got my first job at a major German bank having been interviewed by a Kiwi and an Essex bird.

And FWIW, I've never met anyone from Eton.

A lot of the old guard traders were East Londoners...no degrees just came up through the ranks.

Alot different now.

 

[evilwebby]

Socialist dictionary's definition of the privileged:

anyone who earns more than you

 

[Bruce Wayne]

What the hell is signalling?

It's a way for you to communicate information about yourself that the other person can't reasonable know. So if you went for a job interview at another bank, they could reasonable infer you know what you're doing because you've worked for Deutsche Bank. People infer that someone is smart because they went to Oxford.

In many ways, an education from Eton or Oxford is just that, it's akin to a peacock's tail in that it communicates your smart, without what you actually know being any practical use to your employer (in all likelihood).

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I think connections and networks are critical really mate. There may be that many lawyers but there are thousands of kids each year coming out of university with a law degree. Getting a traineeship is critical and invariably you need to know someone to make an initial contact, or at least it is very helpful in getting on a traineeship.

I don't think it's as much as a conspiracy as people may out, more people acting on unconscious wishes, but there is little doubt that it makes a big difference. My current partner is convinced her son will go to Oxford because he goes to a top school and his dad is wealthy and lives in the area. She also knows parents at the school he goes to who are lawyers who have already said they will give him a traineeship if he does a law degree.

There can be two readings of it. One is it is corrupt which it is. The other is that it's just people trying to help out there friends/schoolmates etc. The problem I see that arises is that that has been fetishized by the ruling elites and ideas of class, power and elitism have grown to justify what is essentially giving people a leg up.

If we really wanted to challenge it I suspect some sort of affirmative action may be needed. Very unpopular but would be quite effective.

Aye, for sure, and kids in wealthy families have it easier in that sense, in that their environment is likely to be full of 'successful people', so role models are not hard to come by, and there is, as you say, a sense of destiny about it. And that peer group then comes in handy for giving the child a legup, whether that's getting an internship or helping onto the property ladder.

That isn't reserved to Eton alumni though. A friend of ours is a community nurse, and by virtue of the property market in London going as it has, she'll be selling up her 3-bed house (bought for 75k) and buying a flat for her each of her two kids, so they'll be largely mortgage free. You could argue that it's unfair and all that, but parents helping their kids is kind of what happens isn't it?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Sorry Bruce you are still ignoring the decision makers mate, the real power brokers, those sat in the mythical penthouse suite. What you describe in your final para is simply headhunting, grabbing the best of the rest. How many Etonians have you worked with? As I said earlier what chance does the kid from Roughwood stand, none whatsoever, he stand no chance now of making it to Uni as the bridges built to help have been drawn in, but we're all in this together.

I haven't worked with any mate, but my nieces are going to school on the Isle of Wight, which has well known problems with schooling. Crap schools aside though, there's nothing that's really stopping them from doing well in life. If you believe you're destined to fail then that's what'll happen.

 

[Black Belt Jones]

It's a way for you to communicate information about yourself that the other person can't reasonable know. So if you went for a job interview at another bank, they could reasonable infer you know what you're doing because you've worked for Deutsche Bank. People infer that someone is smart because they went to Oxford.

In many ways, an education from Eton or Oxford is just that, it's akin to a peacock's tail in that it communicates your smart, without what you actually know being any practical use to your employer (in all likelihood).

That's sort of true for placeholder subjects like PPE or politics. Wildly inaccurate for the serious degrees. Have you ever had any interaction with the sciences Bruce? It seems not, from the bobbins you're continuing to spout here about school teaching you nothing useful. An industrial lab could take the top 10 graduates from Oxford in chemistry, for example, with total certainty that their knowledge, way of thinking, and problem-solving skills would be mission critical to the company.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

That's sort of true for placeholder subjects like PPE or politics. Wildly inaccurate for the serious degrees. Have you ever had any interaction with the sciences Bruce? It seems not, from the bobbins you're continuing to spout here about school teaching you nothing useful. An industrial lab could take the top 10 graduates from Oxford in chemistry, for example, with total certainty that their knowledge, way of thinking, and problem-solving skills would be mission critical to the company.

No need for that is there? My formal education is in computer science, and I'm well aware that there is a widespread plundering of AI departments at the moment to meet the skills gap in the industry. That's why I said "in many ways", as for a great many jobs, your degree is a signal that you have the ability to learn, and you're then expected to learn the ropes on the job.

I should say though that those people being plundered are typically PhD students. I would be amazed if any serious company would regard a graduate, no matter where they're from, as in any way mission critical.

 

[anjelikaferrett]

Having read the article and scanned through the more interesting posts one major point seems to have been missed. The argument about education appears to be a red herring, have you ever heard of anyone from Roughwood Comp shout about the fact at an interview in the forlorn hope that the chairperson of the interviewing panel was wearing his old school tie.

Its this social nepotism that degrades our society, we are told that these jobs have to go to the best people yet those people may still be swimming around as sperm in the fathers balls, but dad went to Eton, sperm will go to Eton and sperm will then be bred for the upper echelons, Roughwood kid know your place.

Etonians have the notorious Bullingdon club, aimed to let the growing sperm obtain arrogance, conceit and over all cruelty, all designed to assist the long line of sperm to rule. It was an Etonian who coined that remarkably glib phrase 'we are all in this together' failing to add who the victims were, certainly not those getting the enormous bonuses, those who are bred to rule................the entire system sucks and should be brought down but sadly its too late as the monster control everything and the kid from Roughwood stands no chance by design of the elite. Every kid in this country should start life equal..........................at least I can dream

Well said.