The HR Decoded: Episode1
Discrimination on Steroids: Sandra Was Too Igbo to Get Hired
‘We don’t want to hire Igbo people.’
That’s what a company’s hiring team told Grace Alfred, a recruiter, when they hired her to find a sales manager in September 2025.
Not in a private conversation or as a joke (would be a distasteful joke, by the way), but as a hiring requirement.
Grace pushed back: ‘Why?’
‘Past experiences. Igbo people are dishonest. Not straightforward. Even the investors said no.’
Can you please pause and read the above line again?
For emphasis: The company’s investors cosigned the tribalism.
So Grace did what any decent human would do: she ignored them and sent the best candidates anyway.
Two happened to be Igbo women. One was named Sandra.
Sandra crushed the interview, and they loved her. Then someone on their hiring team asked where she’s from.
Sandra replied: “Abia State.”
The client called Grace, furious: “WHY would you send an Igbo person?”
They rejected Sandra and went back to searching for someone worse.
Not better.
Just… not Igbo.
Welcome to Nigerian hiring in 2026.
Where merit dies, and discrimination does the performance reviews.
(Quick context for non-Nigerian readers: Igbo is one of Nigeria’s three most populous ethnic groups. Tribal discrimination = hiring bias based on ethnic origin.)
Ruth’s wake-up call
Ruth Adelakun thought she understood discrimination.
She’d worked in Nigeria as a recruiter and hiring manager for years.
She knew the chaos, the shortcuts, the “just manage it” and “that’s how we’ve been doing it” culture.
Then she moved to the UK and joined Bloomberg (currently part of the Global HR Operations team).
“When I got there,” she told me, “I learned about diversity and equality. I realized, I’m Black and a woman.”
She paused.
“In Nigeria, the only diversity I knew was being a woman.”
Then she said something that explains everything:
“We don’t even pretend to care about the other discriminations. We just do them openly.
Tribal discrimination?
Age discrimination?
Gender discrimination?
Religious discrimination?
Disability discrimination?
That’s not hiding.
That’s just Tuesday.”
It’s accepted as normal because no one even challenges it.
And as long as candidates don’t challenge it, it will persist.
When Your Manager is a Woman
Ruth once had a junior colleague resign when she became their manager.
Not because she was incompetent. Not because she was difficult. Not because the company was bad.
Because she was a “small girl” and he was a “married man.”
That was his reason. He couldn't report to a younger woman. So he left.
At the time, she didn’t escalate or raise an eyebrow. She just moved on because that’s how everyone else did.
This is what happens when discrimination is normalized: it doesn't even register as worth reporting.
Because in Nigeria, if you’re a woman in leadership, you’re almost always on probation.
One mistake and someone reminds you that you’re “too young,” “too female,” or “too weak” to be in charge.
Call it “lacks gravitas” in London or call it “not senior enough” in Silicon Valley.
It’s the same song with a new remix.
The Economics of Discrimination
Grace explained the simple but brutal mathematics to me:
“It depends on the role. Quant developer? They respond in half a day because that talent is scarce. Accountants? They ghost. They think: there’s always someone else out there.”
Translation: Your worth as a human being is directly proportional to how replaceable the system thinks you are.
When talent is scarce = no discrimination. They’ll take anyone who can do the job, no matter the “lack of culture fit.”
When talent is abundant = discrimination thrives.
Supply and demand economics applied to human dignity.
Sandra was the best candidate. Not “good enough,” not “decent”, the best they’d seen.
But abundance permitted them to be prejudiced.
They could reject Sandra and keep looking because they knew ten more sales managers would apply tomorrow.
If your role has a lot of candidates, your skills, portfolio projects, years of experience, and interview performance stop being selection criteria.
It’s replaced with discriminatory factors like your tribe, your age, your gender, or your “vibes”.
It gets worse…
Cultural fit (a masterclass in corporate lying)
When companies know they can’t ask discriminatory questions outright, they reach for a nicer phrase.
“Cultural fit.”
On the surface, it sounds reasonable, professional, and HR-coded. After all, culture matters.
But in hiring, “cultural fit” has quietly become the most convenient cover for discrimination.
It’s how “we don’t want people from that background - skin colour, ethnic group, religion” becomes “they do not align with our culture.”
It’s how “we prefer younger or female candidates” becomes “we’re looking for someone with high energy and visually appealing.”
Nothing explicit or written. Just subjective judgment dressed up as business sense.
And that subjectivity isn’t accidental, it’s strategic.
Discrimination is easiest to challenge when it is direct. “Cultural fit” is indirect, vague, and conveniently unmeasurable.
There are no clear standards, no documented criteria, no objective benchmarks—which means decisions can’t be reviewed, audited, or appealed while producing the same exclusionary outcomes again and again.
So candidates are rejected not for lack of competence, but for failing an invisible test based on accent, age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, or social class.
The paperwork stays compliant, and the results stay discriminatory.
If culture truly mattered, hiring wouldn’t be about fit.
It would be about culture add.
Culture fit asks: How much are you like us?
Culture add asks: What do you positively bring that we don’t yet have?
One rewards familiarity. The other rewards capability, perspective, and growth.
When “culture” can’t be explained, measured, or defended beyond a feeling, it isn’t culture.
It’s discrimination with better branding.
Why has nothing changed?
Ruth said it comes down to one word: “accountability”.
“The accountability part is HUGE. In Nigeria, you can get away with almost anything. Discrimination, ghosting, wage theft, name it, and you can almost get away with it.
In the UK, at least, there are consequences - lawsuits. People will sue you into oblivion.
In Nigeria? CIPM exists, but they’re not really doing anything.
CIPM (Chartered Institute of Personnel Management) is Nigeria’s HR watchdog.
Emphasis on ‘watch’ - because that’s all they do.
No consequences = no change. It’s that simple.
Companies discriminate because they can. Because there’s no legal framework that bites.
Because even if you complain, who’s listening? Who’s enforcing?
“That’s just Tuesday” isn’t a joke. It’s a diagnosis.
The system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed.
It’s just not designed for you.
Also, they’re banking on your fear because you need a job. Most job candidates don’t want to be seen as disruptive, so they say nothing.
These companies know this and take full advantage of it.
What Can You Do?
If You’re Job Hunting:
Grace’s advice:
1. Research before you apply.
Check them out on social media and see what people think about their product, services, and internal culture.
Make sure to check the job description very well. You would know who a company is by how they write their job descriptions.
You can also ask about the company’s work culture in the communities you’re part of.
2. Watch the interviewers.
If interviewers were rude, you should know this place is toxic. Be highly sensitive and ask questions on every and any area you’re unclear on.
3. Don’t give away your best ideas.
On assessments: “Avoid them if you can (especially if they’re unpaid). If you must, don’t give full details of your ideas in whatever assessments.”
4. Don’t be desperate.
As much as you want a job, it makes no sense to take on a role that attempts to take your life.
Desperation blinds you to red flags, and companies can smell it.
Ruth’s advice:
1. Ask the right questions in interviews:
“How will my performance be measured?”
“What’s the leave structure?”
“What’s the salary range?” (Insist they tell you if they didn’t do it in the job description, don’t wait for them to ask YOUR salary expectations first.)
2. Look for green flags:
Transparent about pay from the start
Low employee turnover (check LinkedIn, if they’re hiring for the same role every 6 months, RUN)
Straightforward answers to questions (no dodging, no corporate speak)
3. Spot the red flags:
“Bonus dependent on performance” with no specific amount = you’re never getting that bonus
Asking for your previous payslips = they want to lowball you
“Competitive salary” = competitive with what, exactly? Your suffering?
Dear recruiter
Grace’s advice: “Tell the candidates the truth and send the hiring manager the best.”
When that company said, “No Igbo people,” Grace sent Sandra anyway. And the other Igbo woman.
Because they were the best candidates. Period. Ethnicity didn’t matter. Competence did.
She refused to be complicit.
But it wasn’t always easy.
At her former hiring agency, a repeat client kept hiring and firing for the same role because the hiring manager was… well, toxic. Absolute nightmare.
Grace drew a line. She told her agency:
“I can’t drag people from their comfort zone into a place where they’re going to get chewed up. If you want me to keep working this account, I’m telling candidates upfront: this client is toxic.”
The principle is clear: resist when you can. Refuse when you must. Protect candidates even when closing a role.
Ruth added her own layer: “Push back on discriminatory requirements. Document patterns. Make sure everyone in the process (recruiters and hiring managers) undergoes continuous training.”
She knows it’s hard. You might lose clients. You might lose money.
But here’s the truth: if you keep feeding candidates into toxic systems, you are complicit.
So yes… compromise is real.
Most recruiters can’t afford to turn down every discriminatory client.
Grace couldn’t either; her boss wanted revenue.
So she did the next best thing: radical transparency.
“See, this company is toxic. They don’t treat people well. If you still want to work there, that’s your decision. But you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
It’s not perfect, but it’s something.
And when she finally launched her own agency (Urhegab Consulting), she built it differently.
No biased hiring. No ghosting candidates. No throwing people into environments that will chew them up and spit them out.
It’s not easy, but it’s possible.
What about Sandra?
Sandra’s still out there, probably still job hunting.
And she’s not alone. There are hundreds of Sandras—rejected not for incompetence, but for being from the wrong state, the wrong gender, the wrong age, the wrong religion.
Still qualified, excellent, and still, the best candidates their interviewers will probably ever see.
And somewhere, mediocre hires who “fit the culture” are doing their jobs. Very likely doing them badly.
The companies will complain about “talent shortages” and “candidates not being serious” while rejecting the Sandras of the world for reasons that have nothing to do with competence.
And the cycle continues.
Before I go…
If you’re hiring: Ask yourself ONE question: Would I accept this process if I were the candidate?
If you’re job hunting: Stop internalizing rejection from broken systems. It’s not your fault that an organization chooses the path of discrimination.
If you’re a recruiter: Will you keep feeding people into toxic and discriminatory systems for your commission?
I’ll be back in 14 days….
In 2 weeks: Next up: The Great Salary Heist and why most job seekers never see it coming.
See you then.
Best regards,
Isaac, son of Adewumi
P.S. Sandra, if you’re reading this, you deserved better. That company didn’t deserve you. And I hope you’ve found somewhere that sees your value instead of your state of origin.
P.P.S. If you’ve been discriminated against (tribe, age, gender, disability, skin tone, accent, or any other factor), my DMs are open. I’m collecting stories, and I’m sharing them.
Because silence is permission.
And I’m done being silent.
Are you?
It’s sad enough that being turned down for our gender is not enough our tribes have to be frowned upon as a collective we need to do better
Oh to be a young Igbo woman whatever will we do 😂