Our Names and Our Society

Its so hard for people with ethnic names to be hired for a job because our society focuses more on first impression more than the deeper aspects of our humanity. Everyone has a name whether its a “common” name like Sophia or Emily or different like Adonis or Adri. A name is something that is not in our control, so why is it so hard for people with ethnic names to be hired for a job.  Is it because our society focuses more on first impression then the deeper aspect of our humanity.   

I believe that for our society to function we need to move forward, but how can we move forward when we get stuck on little things like not hiring someone because of their name. I first heard this job discrimination while I was helping my mom create her lesson plan. At first I blew off the idea, thinking my mom was joking, but its been a question I’ve been dying to figure out to know why. It turns out that this name discrimination is unfortunately true.  “About 40 per cent more likely to choose to interview a job applicant with an English-sounding name than someone with an ethnic name, even if both candidates have identical education, skills and work histories.” (the globe and mail ).

There are no excuses for not hiring someone because of their name. Company owners want their businesses to attracted people into buying their product. Some products talk about the organization on their label or often give a website to go to. If someone was really into this organization they can go off and research more. What if a customer found out that the company wouldn’t higher people with ethnic sounding names. They might want an explanation as to why.   “Foreign sounding names may be overlooked due to a perception that their English language skills may be insufficient on the job.”(The globe and mail)

“When you’re calling someone with an English-sounding name, you know what you’re getting into. You know you can call Bob Smith and can talk to him as quickly as you want to ...”(The globe and mail)

“I personally am guilty of gravitating toward Anglo names on résumés, and I believe that it’s a very human condition – [a result of]resistance to change.”(The globe and mail)

“... It’s difficult to imagine hiring someone with a long first name, as it might be impractical in terms of answering the phone and saying it. People with easy-to-use shorter names are easier to hire and work with.”(The globe and mail)

“I’m down to about seven seconds to vet a résumé ... I do realize how unfair the whole process is.”(The globe and mail) (Theses are explanations as to why hiring people with ethnic name would be bad).  This is not an explanation these are excuses.

“For Larry Whitten, owner of the Whitten Hotel in Taos, N.M., names mattered so much that he ordered a group of Hispanic employees change their names to sound more Anglo Saxon . For example, changing Martin (pronounced Mar-TEEN) to plain-old Martin or Marco to Mark.”  (NBC news) I think that my name is relatively common, but it can be americanized. When people ask me what my name is I will tell them my name is Magdalena and they will say something along the lines of: “oh what a beautiful name” or “I have a friend with that name” (sometimes I will say Maggie). I decide to say Maggie sometimes because it easier to say, and by doing this I’m like one of the bosses who changed his employee name to make them easier to say.  To me my name isn’t that different but to a future employer, or interviewer my name might be too long, or too “hard” to say.  Going to a school that encourages you to be a leader, ask questions and find the out answers I think it would be interesting to create a project where half of the applicants have ethnic names and half don’t. We could then send these out to different companies and see how many calls each person would get back.  I think that this will help further expose the wrong they are doing to theses people.

To conclude a person should not judged on their name, but on the quality of work, because someone with  a different sounding name can excel at a job. Its all about personality and not overlooking people.

Citation:

"Baby Namer Tool from The Bump." The Bump. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. <http://planning.thebump.com/baby-names/origins/indian (sanskrit)?nat=indian (sanskrit)>.

Tahmincioglu, Eve. "Like It or Not, Name Can Impact Your Career." Msnbc.com. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34063244/ns/business-careers/t/it-or-not-name-can-impact-your-career/#.VCBZeC5dUU8>.

Immen, Wallace. "How an Ethnic-sounding Name May Affect the Job Hunt." The Globe and Mail. 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/how-an-ethnic-sounding-name-may-affect-the-job-hunt/article555082/>.