Forums
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
Recruiting & Staffing
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
Exchange ideas about sourcing, screening, interviewing, finding passive candidates, measuring your results, and more.
I am a professor at Middle Tennessee State University and teach a course titled Business Communication. In this course, we cover an Employment Communication section where we discuss numerous topics--r
1
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId56
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId56Discussion:DiscussionId36898
Forums » Topic Forums » Recruiting & Staffing » Do Applicants' Names Matter?
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/10/2011 6:31 AM EST
|
Posts: 1
First: 2/10/2011 Last: 2/10/2011 |
This is an interesting topic and one that I have unfortunately seen come up a few times in my HR career. I've heard HR people and hiring managers make fun of "unusual" names on resumes or say they don't want to interview someone because, as a previous poster noted, they can't pronounce the name. It blows my mind. Most don't seem to realize how ridiculous it is to judge someone's ability to do the job based on their name until it's pointed out to them. Hopefully, like previously stated, future generations will have to deal with this less and less. Otherwise none of the celebrities' kids will ever get a job. |
|
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/10/2011 6:34 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 1
First: 2/10/2011 Last: 2/10/2011 |
We teach our children to respect others for who they are - name and all - we are living in a world that is getting smaller, and need to embrace these differences. They will not be going away. Don't know how to pronounce a name? Ask them!! Find out who that person is behind that name - you may be very pleasantly surprised. I also agree with the idea: would you really want to work for an organization who was hesitant to meet with you because they could not pronounce your name? Really! |
|
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/10/2011 6:50 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 1
First: 2/10/2011 Last: 2/10/2011 |
I have 2 items to add here. First, I shorten my own last name, from the 10 letters that it is, to the first 4 letters, which makes it much more memorable. It also eliminates people saying another, common name, by mistake,(which drives me crazy.)
Secondly, I was hiring an assistant for a high-level executive, and a strong applicant had a difficult name to pronounce and spell. He decided not to hire that candidate. Though he told me that he did not feel the fit, he also referenced that he would never get her name right. I rolled my eyes, there was no arguing. Oh, and regarding the comment about a name being an ice breaker, I'm not so sure that it would be appropriate to discuss that at an interview. |
|
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/10/2011 9:58 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 1
First: 2/10/2011 Last: 2/10/2011 |
Such an interesting discussion. Years ago I used to shorten my first name to "Sam" on my resume and on my application to an IT program. Back then, IT was strictly a man's domain. As for names that are difficult to pronounce, I have friends who use English sounding nicknames. If the recruiter or hiring manager sees Xuan Xi (Betty) as a name, for example, they can use the name they are comfortable with. The applicant isn't masking anything and may get a call they otherwise wouldn't. Phonetic pronunciations can be added to the candidate's file for hiring managers and others. |
|
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/10/2011 10:38 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 1
First: 2/10/2011 Last: 2/10/2011 |
The question of names and hiring is unfortunately related to the issue of unconscious bias. Both men and women tend to have an unconscious bias towards men, and when two resumes are the same but for the apparent gender of the applicant, many people unconsciously prefer the male candidate. Similar studies have been done around race differences, where there is a tendency to prefer the white candidates. For the highlights (and for use with academic search committees)I highly recommend the publication from the Women in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute at the University of Wisconsin - Madison "Reviewing Applicants: Research on Bias and Assumptions" at http://wiseli.engr.wisc.edu/docs/BiasBrochure_2ndEd.pdf |
|
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/10/2011 11:07 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 3
First: 5/27/2004 Last: 2/10/2011 |
The Australian Government had a schemme at one stage to promote accountants into Australia so they guaranteed a visa if overseas students were prepared to study accounting. This led to a large number of overseas students who were academically brilliant but lacked the logical reasoning and cultural fit for some Australin work places. This led to avoiding applicants with Asian or Indian names. In some cases these applicants were not overseas students but second or third generation Australians who missed out on interviews because of their names |
|
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/11/2011 5:03 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 2442
First: 2/12/2000 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Look folks the elephant in the room is that, yes, people discriminate against other people all the time. The "Halo effect" will never go away.
Given that we all know this occurs dispite all of our best efforts, the best advice you can give candidates is to eliminate this factor from stopping them from go on interviews. Sure they will know your race/ethnicity when they see you but you have absolutely no chance if they eliminate you because your first name is Bomshikwa. Once you are in the interview THEN you can decide (as can the interviewer) if you and the organization are a fit. To advise folks to not interview because the person would not interview them based on their name, is not good advice. All interviews are valuable regardless of the outcome and the more interviews you do the better your skills become regardless of the outcome. Not going because of someone else's lack of knowledge/sophistication is just as wrong as the person with the initial bias not wanting to talk to you. Initial interviewer bias is overcome all the time by excellent candidates. One personal example I can provide was a candidate that had 6 inch fingernails who applied to be a payroll manager. My initial bias among many was how could she ever effectively use a key board...... She worked for me for 6 years and was an excellent payroll manager. |
|
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/11/2011 7:03 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
There's an interesting, on-going study on unconscious biases going on.
http://www.tolerance.org/activity/test-yourself-hidden-bias |
|
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/15/2011 4:34 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 1
First: 2/15/2011 Last: 2/15/2011 |
There have been many comments that mention applicants not getting interviewed because the interviewer couldn't pronounce the name or people making fun of unusual names. These kinds of responses are often the result of people who are afraid they may look silly or make a mistake in front of an applicant or co-workers. So, in order to avoid these, the person solves the problem by avoiding the interview entirely. I've worked with people with unusual names and found that if I ask them for the proper pronunciation, they're relieved. I find this much more respectful that avoiding that "elephant in the room," as one commenter noted. |
|
|
Do Applicants' Names Matter?
posted at 2/15/2011 5:22 AM EST
|
|
Posts: 2442
First: 2/12/2000 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Peggy- The interviewer and the applicant will never have this conversation since the name stopped the person from having the interview in the first place. Pronunciation is only one of the reasons and my bet is that the other bias' outway this reason. |
Forums » Topic Forums » Recruiting & Staffing » Do Applicants' Names Matter?
