What’s In A Black Name?

stated he applied several times to no avail at the Shinola Hotel under his name between January 2024 and April 2024, but only after he put “John Jebrowski” on his resume and changed nothing else, he was invited to interview within the same week. His story caught national attention, with many onlookers sharing their shocked reaction to his claims. , an HR expert with more than a decade of experience in the sector, says she’s not surprised.

“It happens all the time,” she tells ESSENCE. “From not even being interested in a person’s background just from looking at that first header, which is usually our name at the top, from even asking completely disrespectful racial questions. Because ethnic names don’t just start and stop with the Black diaspora.

I have often seen hiring managers choose to not even consider a candidate, their talents, their skills, their background, literally just off of the name alone.” A 2023 Greenhouse survey report of 1200 participants stated that 34% have experienced discriminatory interview questions, Because of this, mearly one-fifth of job seekers wound up changing their names on applications to shield themselves from the harmful biases. What’s more, of those that change their names, 45% did so to sound ‘less ethnic.

’ Wilson, unfortunately, can personally attest to this. “I’ve, of course, even encountered that with my own career as well, navigating the HR space,” she says. “Typically, the reverse with the expectation tha.