Since I'm looking for a job and have been posting my resume around, I've been thinking about names and bias in America. As found in a study by economists at MIT and the University of Chicago, referenced in this Washington Post article about the Implicit Association Test (via John Scalzi), job candidates with stereotypically "white" names get 50% more calls than candidates with stereotypically "black" names. And this study was done with identical resumes, the only difference was the names. When I first heard about this study a few years ago, I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.
What does this have to do with me?
My name is stereotypically more common among black people. I say "stereotypically" because I don't know if that is actually the case. The three people that I've known personally with my same name are all white, as am I. The two local newscasters with my same name are not. On the two or three occasions when I've introduced myself to someone who's told me that their wife/aunt/cousin has the same name as I do, those folks have been black. So based on this small sample, I'd have to say that my name is probably as likely to belong to a white person as a black person. But will a recruiter have the same perspective? Or will I have to settle for getting fewer calls than a less qualified person with the benefit of a "whiter" name?
I've probably been affected by this type of discrimination for years without even realizing it. All my work as a freelancer is handled over the phone, with clients whose recruiters have pulled my resume out of a pile and called me in spite of my name, and perhaps even because of my qualifications. Maybe the response rate would have been higher if I had a different name. If you want a Japanese semiconductor patent translated, who do you call first? A white guy or a black chick? (Actually, I think they call the lowest bidder. Think about that next time you complain about the bad translation of the instructions for your home electronics. The massive conglomerate couldn't be bothered to pony up the extra US$0.05 per word to have the job done right.)
Now that I'm making a career change to a very white-male-dominated field, I might consider using my middle name, which is gender-neutral and about as lily-white as it gets. But my name is my name. Besides, I'd rather work in an organization that hires on the basis of more than the supposed "race" of the name at the top of the resume.
440 words | January 24, 2005 10:51 PM | Real true story