Racism/Classism in Hiring

I saw an interesting report on 20/20 – they submitted ridentical esumes using traditionally African-American (such as Diamond, Precious, Princess, or Crystal) and traditionally white names (such as Katie, Molly, or Claire). What they found was, more often than not, the resume with the “black” name was passed over for an interview in favor of the resume with the white-sounding name. It is also important to note that the first group of names is often associated with general lower socioeconomic status.
A recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded that a person with a distincly African-American sounding name was almost 50% less likely to recieve a job interview than a person with a more “traditional” name.White-sounding names recieved 10 callbacks for every 15 that a black-sounding name recieved.
I’m listing the sources at the end of this blog entry. The studies are quite interesting, and a great illustration against prejudices and internalized bias towards poor and black Americans. It’s also put me in a tough sport – I have a “poor” first name, and an “interesting” spelling. When you pick up my resume KRYSTAL is the first thing that you see. What if that has been off-putting to potential employers?
What can you do if you have a non-traditional, or black-sounding name? My suggestion is that, depending on what kind of job you’re applying to, you abbreviate or initialize your first name. It’s a way to get your foot in the door. My next batch of resumes to be mailed will be sent off as K. LastName instead of Krystal LastName. I’m not ashamed of my name, but I’m not going to let a person’s prejudices hurt my chances of being hired. I recommend that you do the same.
SOURCE – http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2470131&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/29/national/main575685.shtml