Having The Wrong Name Can
Hamper Your Job Search
If you find yourself
looking for a job today you are in good company. Many
people out there with you - a lot of really good
and talented people! If you are amongst those who have
been out of work for some time and keep asking yourself
(and anyone else that will listen), "What's up with
that? I send out hundreds of resumes but no companies call
back." Well, the answer may be a simple as your name.
I came across a site a
few days ago that had a story titled, "Racism
Through Resumes". It seems a study has been done
by a couple of professors from the University of Chicago
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that
indicates that if you have a name that sounds
"typical" of a black individual, you were less
likely to have your resume reviewed and ultimately be
called in for a job interview. It didn't matter if you
were black or not.
This made me laugh out
loud, first over the idiocy of it under the scope of,
"Is there no end to the issue of race?" But
then, a chain reaction of lunacy started and I was off on
an all day laugh fest.
The link to this story
came from a Human Resource web site where HR professionals
were singing the blues about how many resumes they have to
go through to find qualified candidates for the jobs they
need to fill. The few gems are lost in a cluster of
candidates who haven't a clue or aren't even remotely
qualified for the positions. Now, these two professors
with nothing better to do and too much grant money to
spend add to the misery of our HR friends by sending in
spurious resumes.
I laughed when I thought
about the poor person sitting there reading a resume
trying to figure out if it is real or a part of a bogus
study some pre-PHD candidate get some yuks and thinking
this is funny.
You may remember an ABC
News story from a few months ago about some black
individuals who were looking for an apartment. Every time
they called to inquire about the apartment they were told
it has just been rented. It happened too many time to be
coincidence and they started to think, "maybe the
other person on the phone knows I'm black." So, they
had a white friend call right after they did. The
apartment amazingly was available again. Not just with one
apartment, but with all of them.
ABC put a test on their
web site to see if you could tell the race, sex, or
national origin of a speaker by listening to them say,
"Mary had a little lamb..." I'm proud to say I
flunked the test.
Well now, not only do
you have to worry about speaking, you have to worry about
your name. I could just see the general practitioner
lawyers around the country look in their waiting rooms and
wonder, "Where'd all these black dudes come from
and what's up with them all wanting to change their names?"
Of course, after the ABC News story ran, I am sure there
was a rush at bookstores with people looking for the book,
How To Speak Nebraskan.
So, if this study by the
two professors is valid, is there any wonder why Michael
Jackson looks and sounds the way he does? His records
sales are slow and he's looking for work.
Do you think resumes
with "typical" female sounding names get
preferential treatment because women "typically"
get paid less than men? Do people with Asian and Indian
sounding names get called for interviews for software and
computer jobs more often than their European and American
sounding cousins? (Also, because they get paid less
as well.) Can you think of at least 168 other questions
you can ask with this study fresh in your mind?
As I tried to digest and
make some sense of it all I thought about another story I
read some months ago about the strange names American
parents give their kids today. A few examples are, Espn
(yes, just like the TV sports network), Canon (like the
camera), Cashmere, and Timberland for boys, and Chianti,
Dung, Sparkle, and Whisper for girls.
What do you think HR
types think when a resume with those or similar
names, cross their desks? I doubt those names were
considered by our professor friends who seem more
concerned with racial bias that with other types such as
those who may be free spirits or whose parents were too
drunk with excitement at their child's birth to fully
comprehend what message naming their new baby Almond sends
to society. The name Almond will be no joy to the bearer
of it and his life may be more than just a chocolate mess.
Now, picture yourself as
hiring manager down at the local explosive, pesticide or
nuclear power plant when the Human Resources Manager
explodes into your office.
"You know that
Pilot Job you've been trying to fill? Well, I've found the
perfect candidate!"
He hands you the resume
and you start to get giddy with excitement as you view his
qualifications. Then, you glance at the name.
"His qualifications
are great, but I don't know."
"What do you
mean?" the HR manager asks.
"Well, did you look
at his name?"
"What do you
mean?"
"His name is Osama
Muhammad . . . ?"
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