O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) exposed Best Buy after revealing its partnership with McKinsey & Company for the development of their management training program designed to filter candidates by race, discriminating against white applicants.
OMG shared a screenshot obtained by a citizen journalist suggesting the bias: “DISCRIMINATION: A Citizen Journalist has revealed Best Buy is partnering with McKinsey & Company on a Management Training Program. The program is not open to white applicants,” OMG tweeted.
DISCRIMINATION: A Citizen Journalist has revealed Best Buy is partnering with McKinsey & Company on a Management Training Program.
The program is not open to white applicants. “Candidates must meet the [racial] requirements below”
Any comment @BestBuy? pic.twitter.com/lxfivezCa6
— O’Keefe Media Group (@OKeefeMedia) August 8, 2023
On the first page of the application, Best Buy lists requirements including the need for applicants to “identify as Black, Latino, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander.” Candidates must check one of three racial/ethnic boxes pictured in the second screenshot tweeted by OMG – being white was not one of them.
Best Buy pitched the program as a means of focusing “on professional career development by customizing its curriculum and discussions to the unique situations, experiences and opportunities of BIPOC professionals.”
“As part of Best Buy’s commitment to develop and support our employees who identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Color (BIPOC), we’ve partnered with McKinsey & Company to offer the McKinsey Management Accelerator program,” the company’s website said in a July 2022 statement.
The apparent exclusion of white applicants began in December 2020 when the electronic retail company announced its plans to fill a third of its corporate jobs with people of color over the next five years.
Best Buy has yet to comment.
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