Having the right name for the job
Role call….Akeem! Mohammad! Juanita! Sanjeev! Charles!
What’s in a name? Does a rose by any other name smell as sweet, or do some names carry a more positive image than others when placed on a resume, application or mentioned in the news?
Raven-Simone, African-American co-host on “The View,” a morning talk show, created controversy when she said she would not hire someone with the name “Watermelondrea.” She received backlash for what many considered to be negative racial comments. She later apologized claiming she never actually discriminated against a name and that her comment was in poor taste.
Research shows, however, that applicants with white sounding names do have a 50 percent higher callback rate than applicants with an African-American sounding name. A report from the National Bureau of Economical Research states, “Job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback: those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback.”
Rose Kilgore, a senior secretary in the Office of the Provost, is an African-American who has three daughters named LaRonda, LaDona and LaChelle. Kilgore said none of her daughters have experienced any job discrimination because of their names.
“A matter of fact, they all have great jobs; one is a nurse, a postal service worker and a customer service representative,” Kilgore said. “However, names are a necessity for everything, names are used as a form of identification. The importance on naming one’s child is becoming more of a reality rather than a choice for many foreigners or non-Anglos living in America today.”
Vijay Ingam, an Indian-American, experienced name and ethnic prejudice while applying to medical school. Vijay was turned down when using his own name and ethnicity. He then shaved his head and re-applied as an African-American student using the name Jojo at the same university that rejected his previous application. He was then accepted because of Affirmative Action policies.
“If possible, I recommend you Anglicize you name,” said Ingam, who now owns a resume writing company, Interview SOS, and also works for Los Angeles Resume Services. “If you want to get a great job, I recommend you do so. Anglicing the name will get them to view the resume without making judgement. You have to face the world for what it is and not what you want it to be. I’m not saying this because I support the discrimination, but because I acknowledge it exists. In 10 years, I hope we live in a world that we don’t have to say that, but I do not want my clients to miss out on opportunities.”
Steve Haraway is the strategic-partner/owner of Pridestaff, a staffing agency located in Southeast Houston. Haraway said his company does not discriminate, but can’t guarantee that discrimination doesn’t take place.
“When looking for candidates for our talent pool, we look at stability, as well as skills, to match our client’s needs,” Haraway said. “A name means nothing to us, but some clients reject or accept resumes for unknown reasons such as class, culture or language challenges.”
Haraway said he thinks it’s very likely that some candidates are not considered because of ethnicity and some are considered because they are a certain ethnicity.
“In my business African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians are hired more than Anglos, but that’s due to demographics,” Haraway said. “Since we do a lot of light industrial work and most of the people that live within 10 miles of the office are African-American or Hispanic, demographic plays a big role.”
Linda Bullock, assistant dean for student diversity at UHCL, said the practice of not hiring or interviewing a person because of his/her name is blatant discrimination and against EEO federal law.
“It is demeaning when someone is diminished, made to feel inferior because of who you are or the group you belong to instead of your credentials, talent, education, or experience,” Bullock said. “Everyone loses. It is a loss of rich cultures and languages for everyone involved. This results in missing the experience of a global perspective.”
William Hoston, associate professor of political science at UHCL, says that job discrimination because of an individual’s name is egregious.
“Obtaining a well paying job in a globally competitive environment is difficult enough without the hinderance of having to worry if your resume is discarded based on your name,” Hoston said.
Haraway and Hoston agree that even though name discrimination is wrong, it could be helpful if parents are cognizant of the effects of naming their children certain names will have on them.
“I don’t think I would consider it important to give kids non-ethnic names, but I do think that it would help in certain cases,” Haraway suggested.
This is a fine article, Bella (the name means “beautiful,” of course. There was an old song by a country western singer Johnny Cash or that era about “A boy named Sue.” Growing up as a girl named “Rae” was an obstacle because everyone assumed my name was spelled “Ray” and kids teased and asked if my Daddy wanted a boy. My name was my Grandmother’s name, Rae, not Rachel, and very special to me. Even now when my husband and I are introduced, people will shake his hand and say, “Nice to meet you, Ray”, turn to me and ask, “What was your name again?”
Congratulations on a fine article from an adjunct writing teacher.