I know of many hiring manager who hire with recruiters that specialise in "diverse" candidates, where diverse means women and people of color only, so they can

I know of many hiring manager who hire with recruiters that specialise in "diverse" candidates, where diverse means women and people of color only, so they can have better looking "diversity" stats. They certainly have a preference but this has been going since (at least) 2018 - it was true before the massive layoffs of 2023-24 and the end of ZIRP. What changed recently is that the market is really crap. Incidentally all the people I know looking for a job are white males, but it may just be because they're the majority of people in tech I know anyway. On legality of the above (given I was pretty sure it was illegal): It's legal, because "positive discrimination" is legal in the relevant EU countries (and in the UK).