Auntie
I thought it was a myth at the time, but when I went for a contracting job at the BBC about five years ago, I mentioned the fact I was going to a friend of mine.

She burst out laughing. I asked her why. She turned to me and said 'have you looked at yourself recently?". I asked her what she meant. Her response: "Tall, normal build, White, Straight, British, Not obviously Disabled, Degree in a useful subject rather than archaeology or classics*, and a non-regional accent!! You've sod all chance of meeting their profiling requirements."

And, truth be told, I didn't get the job. But as fate would have it, the guy who interviewed me became a colleague at my present place a couple of years later, and one evening over beers on the roof (the office of my employer has a lovely roof terrace overlooking the Thames just by the formerly 'tumescently-challenged' bridge) I asked him about it. He said that I was the second best candidate, but he said if I had been the top one and the guy who came first was second, he'd have still got the job as there was a quota to meet to keep the balance of the team - not his choice, but one made very clear to him, although never in writing, from his superiors.

* Nothing against archaeology or classics, btw - I'm quoting.
(Calamity wetter than a fish's wet bits - bloody rain on, Thu 22 Nov 2007, 19:56, 1 reply)

There's a lot of men of your description
working at the bbc.
A lot.
( Zuowan, Thu 22 Nov 2007, 20:17, closed)