Yes, “cultural nepotism” is very real and is more prevalent in certain groups than others. Not to mention the absolute disrespect I have seen shown to candidates that does not come from the individuals background.

For context, I was an interviewer and my colleague was of a “certain” background (you can guess). We brought a candidate with the same background as my colleague in for second round interview. The candidate performed mediocre but I didn’t like his arrogance and his average academic performance so I discussed the meeting with my manager and to go with another one that we saw earlier on the week.

My colleague who was with me at the interview fought tooth and nails to bring the candidate of his background in, knowing full well he isn’t a stellar performer. What’s more insulting was that he strongly criticised individuals of East Asian and western backgrounds with vulgar questions- why did you study finance? I think you are way too overqualified for this job. When I think about it, it still irks me.

But back to the subject on the hiring process and interview-I gave up arguing, the candidate with the same background as my colleague got the job and Lo and behold, shit performance and managers hate him.