Then you wait to be called for interviews.
And you wait. And you wait.
That deafening silence coming from your telephone may be the result of name discrimination. That’s right — the obstacle to getting the job you want, and are qualified for, may be as up close and personal as your name, according to a recent study by university professors Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan, who specialize in labor market issues.
Over a one-year period, the study sent a random selection of 5,000 qualified resumes to 1300 openings for sales, clerical, and management jobs. One set of resumes was given names common in black culture, and the other set was given typically white names.
What were the results? Ten percent of white-named “applicants” were called in for interviews, but only 6.7% of black-named applicants were contacted.
DISTURBING RESULTS
The percentages may seem small on both sides, but the important point is the difference between the two percentages. white-named “applicants” were selected 50% more often than black-named “applicants” with the same qualifications.
Bertrand points out the most disturbing result of the study. “Even though all the resumes were qualified, one of each set, African-American and white, was slightly stronger than the others in the same racial group,” she says. “But even then the stronger African-American-named applicant was less likely to be interviewed than the stronger white-named applicant.”
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The serious consequence to this situation is that blacks will become discouraged from improving their education and skills if they sense that employers won’t give them a chance anyway. The study also showed that there was discrimination among various black women’s names. Aisha, Keisha and Tamika rated lowest, while Kenya, Latonya and Ebony got higher response numbers. But even the better-rated black names did not do as well as the white names.
But it wasn’t all bad news. First, there was no discrimination among the men’s names; and second, there was no discrimination between women’s and men’s chances of getting the interview. And Bertrand sees a long-term positive effect coming out of the study. “I’m getting lots of calls from Human Resource managers,” she said. “They want to use it to train hiring managers to become aware that they may be discriminating based on names without realizing it.”
That’s all fine in the long run, but what’s a well-qualified African American job seeker supposed to do right now? Change her or his name? Make one up? Use a first initial and the middle name? Use only first- and middle-name initials? Bertrand thinks a name change is “silly”. Insulting and unfair are probably more accurate.
Since the study’s purpose was only to determine if name discrimination exists and to measure that discrimination, it doesn’t offer any solutions. Each job applicant has to make her or his own decision, although no one decision will be right for every person.