Simple test tells you if you’re racist
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11702669
Even when the applicant is not there in person, discrimination can happen. A 2011 study into discrimination quotes a woman from Sydney who was called Ragda Ali.
“After completing TAFE in 2005 I applied for many junior positions where no experience in sales was needed – even though I had worked for two years as a junior sales clerk. I didn’t receive any calls so I decided to legally change my name to Gabriella Hannah. I applied for the same jobs and got a call 30 minutes later. I was asked to come in for an interview with a successful global company, and I began getting excited. On the day of my interview, they used a dbs checking service to check my history, asked me a few questions and I was offered a job! It was so simple and quick and I couldn’t believe that people were turning me down purely because of my name. It’s really disappointing to see in today’s society and I hope employers learn from my experience. Racism and prejudice should not be happening anymore and I hope things change soon!”
That study found Australian employers were likely to discriminate against people with Chinese or middle eastern names, compared to Anglo names, but not against people with Italian names.
It’s not just Australia. A Canadian study found people with English-sounding names were a lot more likely to be called back for a job interview and now that country is talking about making a rule that names should be omitted from CVs, to prevent subconscious bias tricking people into hiring only one sort of person. People who are looking at writing their CVs with a resume writing service in NC, or ones similar, may want to see if this happens when they apply for employment in different areas, omitting or submitting their name for different companies may show if they are having this done to them also, this can help weed out companies with terrible policies and blatant discrimination.