Not getting jobs because of my name?

Personally, I've found that International students have a different experience when it comes to this. I think businesses respect that they have a global education and work experience, which gives them a totally different perspective on work and life, and demonstrates their willingness to learn - all those things that companies love y'know - and if they've been able to prove their worth by securing a work visa in this country it shows that people have actually invested in them.


However, I think that when they look at someone who has experience with work and education within the UK only, they just sort of look at it like 'Okay...' because it's not exactly hard to do as a permanent UK resident. We don't need visas, and besides job references we've got nothing to show that people have invested in us and our abilities. Other than that, all we've got is grades, and what's a grade when 20,000 other people also have that same grade in the same subject? Or have worked for that same company in the same role? Nothing really sets us apart, if you see what I'm trying to say?


I'm looking at Small/Medium sized companies for Marketing and PR roles because (aside from my internships) it'll be my first 'proper' job out of graduation. Every now and then I'll go for the large multi-nationals if I feel like I'm qualified enough, but obviously the competition is much tougher for those kinds of opportunities and I totally respect that.

"So lets check this girl out, wow she has amazing experience, has competencies and skills ideal for the role, Her academic record is exceptional, she has multiple interests and is a her professionalism is impeccable. And she is able to save us $1000 a year!?

oh wait her surname is of Arabic origin."

thinkingemoji

infarct some companies have diversity quotas to meet, some cases, being nonwhite is an advantage. Oh but when discrimination works in your favor its okay?

I have the most Muslim/Arab surname ever, have experienced countless job rejections, yet have never once blamed it on racism or stereotyping. To even insinuate it is an insult to the hard-work and dedication i put in to improve myself and my credentials, an insult to the tremendous strides that society has made to make a more equal and fairer society. An insult to our ancestors that would sell their limbs just to get a taste of the equality that we have today. If you cant get a job, look at yourself, improve it. When you blame the shadow of a system that is out to get you because of your name/ethnicity than you will never progress.

This is free market capitalism. You are valued by what you bring to the table, what skills you have regardless of race gender or religion. Now work harder, you will get luckier.

Calm down just a second there, you don't know me so please don't assume that I'm resting on my laurels, waiting for a job to fall into my lap and not taking any steps towards self improvement, because I'm not.

I worked for absolutely no money for two years straight to get my experience, I did so much extra curricular and volunteer work at uni, I've gained plenty more certifications and diplomas since graduating, I'm still doing evening classes the odd projects for friends/former employers to keep my experience relevant, so please don't tell me to "work harder" when you have no idea what I've been through or what I'm doing.

Lisa Andrews over there who didn't need to work a day in her life and spent all her free time getting plastered at the SU, can hop straight into a £18,000+ job six months after graduating even though there were plenty more experienced candidates in the room.

Why is my experience only worth minimum wage while hers is worth a company pension and more? I think THAT is an insult to MY hard work and dedication tbh.

I'm just sharing my experience and asking if anyone else out there has had similar experiences, and if they've gone down the route of using another name then I wanna know how it has worked out for them.

Yes our ancestors would risk their limbs to have what we do today, but just because the chains that bind us aren't visible, it doesn't mean they're not there.

Get woke my friend.

And for the record, no where did I say that I'm okay with discrimination when it's in my favour. I'm not down for that either so please have some respect and don't make assumptions.

I wouldn't feel comfortable getting a job just because someone needs to fill a quota. I want is my worth to be recognised properly, but unfortunately that's not the way of the world and PoC are still under-valued and under-represented.

This is the best things that's been said on this entire thread tbh.

I hope you find what you're looking for, what you deserve and what you've worked for. Good luck on your search!! Make sure to update us if you do find something


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Ahh thanks a lot Putting my thoughts and feelings out there has really helped my confidence regarding the situation actually.

I'm currently sorting my CV out and starting the hunt again today so I'll totally update everyone when something happens.

"So lets check this girl out, wow she has amazing experience, has competencies and skills ideal for the role, Her academic record is exceptional, she has multiple interests and is a her professionalism is impeccable. And she is able to save us $1000 a year!?

oh wait her surname is of Arabic origin."

thinkingemoji

infarct some companies have diversity quotas to meet, some cases, being nonwhite is an advantage. Oh but when discrimination works in your favor its okay?

I have the most Muslim/Arab surname ever, have experienced countless job rejections, yet have never once blamed it on racism or stereotyping. To even insinuate it is an insult to the hard-work and dedication i put in to improve myself and my credentials, an insult to the tremendous strides that society has made to make a more equal and fairer society. An insult to our ancestors that would sell their limbs just to get a taste of the equality that we have today. If you cant get a job, look at yourself, improve it. When you blame the shadow of a system that is out to get you because of your name/ethnicity than you will never progress.

This is free market capitalism. You are valued by what you bring to the table, what skills you have regardless of race gender or religion. Now work harder, you will get luckier.

I think this is naive.

There is some truth in that you have to be twice as good to get an equal opportunity if you're black or asian in my opinion.

I work in corporate offices and every company I work at is overwhelmingly white - not reflective of the population, or the number of outstanding, high achieving 'coloured' people out there, many like me who went to a great university. If you're average and white, you get a lot more opportunities than if you're average and coloured. The ethnic minorities who get far are usually very talented and well above average. The bar is different for each community.

Why are senior managers, leadership and board members overwhelmingly white? Are coloured people less capable? Or maybe it's institutional, societal bias.

If you're black or asian, you need to achieve in spite of your race.

United Kingdom, Europe and US are predominantly white, thus more white people apply to university in those nations due to pure numbers as they dominate the population by ethnicity. More white people have degrees. So more white people are present in the corporate working environment. Go to Korea. China or India, that 'white people dominating professional environment' isnt apparent. Why? due to population.


More than 80% of total applicants are white. This can explain the larger number of whites in professional occupations. Yet the success rate isn't even 3rd

As a nonwhite person, in 21st century western world, i can tell you its not an institutional problem.

FYI Not trying to be rude or argue with you, just having a discussion

Those are undergraduate intake stats - totally different and not relevant to the working world.

Ethnic minorities of similar education and background find it harder to get jobs, earn less, and the gap in pay compared to white peers widens indicating difficulty in progressing up the ladder

Minority ethnic workers in UK twice as likely to be unemployed as whites
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jan/08/minority-ethnic-workers-more-often-unemployed?CMP

I've read numerous similar articles and studies over the years. This isn't a revelation. I've seen it through personal experience.

Similarly, non-whites are treated worse and receive harsher sentences through the judicial system. This is chronic and institutional. Again, numerous academic studies back this claim.

Again, I'm not saying that non whites can't succeed. I'm saying it's more difficult for them to succeed and they succeed in spite of their disadvantaged position - they have to be better. So yes, in summary your name and appearance can detrimentally impact you securing a job.

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TL;DR: Main points in bold though.

I've been looking for a graduate job for about two years now. I've had plenty of internships, I'm currently in a little P/T thing, but I still never get any callbacks for interviews, despite being told that my skills and CV are basically perfect for every job I apply for (eg. "Your skills are very well suited to the role, but the volume of applications meant that we couldn't include you on our short list, but please try again soon."

A couple of years ago I got an interview at a communications company via a recruitment agency, didn't get the job because they weren't sure if they wanted to create the role anymore, but when the recruiter called back and told me all of this, he was giving me the whole spiel about not letting it knock my confidence and was talking about my skills, then said;

"You do speak very good English though."

It really took me by surprise because I am English. I was born and raised here, it is my native tongue, and I gave him no reason to think that I couldn't speak English.

The only thing that could have suggested it is my name.

My name is an Arabic/Islamic/Muslim name even though I don't fall into any of those categories, and people often give me all these questions like "Where does it come from?", "how do you pronounce it?", "Do you make everyone call you that or do you shorten it?"

And since then it's kind of been stuck in my head that maybe I'm not getting these interviews because they're basing my name on stereotypes of Asian women who have strong accents and may not have a complete grasp of the English Language - I don't mean that to offend anyone with that of course - and they probably think I got someone to write my resumé for me.

Has anyone else been in that kind of a situation before? I've been thinking about using my more Western sounding middle name, but I just think it'll confuse people when they're asking employers for references because I've also recently changed my last name, and also I will feel like I'm betraying my mother who gave me such a gorgeous name.

Education is the biggest driver in social mobility. Getting a degree makes you 7x more employable. If a large majority of the ethnic minority aren't getting degrees there becomes an ethnic disparity within the professional work place.

How can you say that undergraduate stats have no relevance in the work place, need i provide a statistic to what percentage of professional career require a degree? Or the average wage of a degree holder vs non degree holders?

What i advocate is that, one should always work on a meritocratic basis, your value is based on what you bring to the table. Believing that you are institutionally and systemically disadvantaged purely because of your skin does not help you progress nor does it help society progress.