Judging applicants by their name?

patman99

My surname is only 4 letters long, but it is amazing how often I am asked how it is spelt. This is down to the fact that there are various ways of spelling it.

System

I knew/know 4 people that shared two names.

For example I knew two people called Michael Harris and two Rachel Nobles. These names are not the real ones. Neither of the paired names were the same. Even skin colour with the Michaels. The two Rachels were in my year at school and split them up. None of them were in the same class. One of the Rachels was referred by her nickname.

MessyBetty

Many years ago I was discriminated against due to a foreign surname. You were required to call the company for an application form I gave my correct name and all of a sudden the job was filled. I called back sometime later and said my surname was Smith and guess what she was going to send out the form, I told her exactly what I thought, and that I would never work for a company like that for all the money in the world.

I have advised my children to include a scanned photo on their cv's as this is not denying who they are, maybe you could do this especially if checks are made as it may be a black mark against you for possible deception.

Dr._Shoe

It's an interesting point.

There has been some research done on the subject. In one test they sent out job applications with identical qualifications but half had posh sounding surnames and the others had monosyllabic surnames ending with harsh letters such as T, D or CH ie. Grant, Pond and Roach. The applications with the posh sounding multisyllabic names got offers of interviews and in many cases the other names didn't.

In another study they sent aplications with traditional british names: Jones, Smith, Robinson, Brown etc. and others with foreign names like Mbengi, Liesweisca and Patel and they found that the African names tended to get fewer offers than the polish or Asian names but the British names still got more offers, even the "gutterals" such as Roach.

If you have a name like Robinson-Browne then you're about twice as likely to get an offer of an interview than someone called Mdethi.

In the same study they also found that certain genders were more likely to get interviews that went against the accepted norm. So, you were more likely to get a air traffic controller interview if you're a woman and more likely to get an interview for a nursing role if you're a man. This is called subconscious overcompensation.

Whether you get the job or not is another question!

Dr._Shoe

patman99 wrote: »

I think the main problem with pidgeon-holing a person's origins based on their name is that this can often affect females more than males.
This is down to the fact that once they marry, they normally take-on their husband's surname, so if they then use that new name on their cv, then they will be judged by potential employers as being of foreign origon because the person looking at the cv has no prior knowledge of the marital status of the applicant.

I knew a woman who married a man called Bharat Patel. She had a proper English Rose complexion and naturally blonde hair. She was a mortgage advisor and a number of her clients were very confused when they came to her bank expecting an appointment with Mrs. Patel!

lexon123

Subconscious discrimination, overcompensation, unintentional pigeon holing? No a simpler explanation -it's called: racism (if not discriminating against people deemed to be of a particular religion)

f1621688

I was told that most agencies remove contact details (perhaps names?) when presenting your CV because they wouldn't want the company to locate you without their help.

That said I am not surprised that there is a name bias, one reason is if you read UK Home Office rules on employing foreign nationals you will probably try and avoid any contact with foreign named nationals.

Essentially, when employing foreign nationals, the entire burden of proof falls on the employer with massive penalties (upto £20,000) if the employee defaults. Often at the time of employing the employee will meet the criteria, but may fail to do so later (because their status changes or the criteria changes). Employers don't want the hassle.

purcel

f1621688 wrote: »

I was told that most agencies remove contact details (perhaps names?) when presenting your CV because they wouldn't want the company to locate you without their help.

That said I am not surprised that there is a name bias, one reason is if you read UK Home Office rules on employing foreign nationals you will probably try and avoid any contact with foreign named nationals.

Essentially, when employing foreign nationals, the entire burden of proof falls on the employer with massive penalties (upto £20,000) if the employee defaults. Often at the time of employing the employee will meet the criteria, but may fail to do so later (because their status changes or the criteria changes). Employers don't want the hassle.

But not everyone with a foreign sounding name is not a UK national. It would be wrong to assume this.
I have a foreign sounding name and surname and I am a British national.

makeyourdaddyproud

There's an Actuary at the other end of the office and he's called Paddy.

I didn't believe the hype until I saw him scratching his head.