Can a Black-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects?

[Virtual Violet]

FROM THE CHICAGO SUN TIMES. What do you think? Although I love Afrocentric names, some of the more "interesting" invented names may hinder our kids more than help.

Job search harder with 'black' name

January 14, 2003

BY DAVE NEWBART STAFF REPORTER Advertisement



When sending out resumes, it helps if your name is Kristen or Brad.

If your name is Rasheed or Aisha, don't expect too many callbacks for interviews.

In fact, white-sounding names routinely elicit 50 percent more callbacks than black-sounding names, a new study done by a professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business found.

While resumes with better credentials resulted in 30 percent more callbacks for whites, they did not significantly help blacks, the study found.

"If you have an African-American name, it's a lot harder,'' said Marianne Bertrand, an associate professor of economics at U. of C.

Bertrand, along with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, sent about 5,000 resumes in response to 1,300 want ads in the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune between July 2001 and last May. The jobs were in sales, administrative support, clerical and customer service at various companies.

To determine which names to use, the professors analyzed birth certificates for names distinctively used by African Americans and ones used by whites.

They sent four resumes for each posting, two high-caliber applicants and two low-caliber applicants. One high-caliber applicant and one low-caliber applicant had a black sounding name, while one high-caliber applicant and one low-caliber applicant had a white sounding name. The professors compared the callback rate for each applicant. Callbacks, for the purposes of the study, included responses by telephone, letter or e-mail.

Resumes with "white'' names had a 10.1 percent chance of getting a callback, while "black'' names had a 6.7 percent chance. In other words, whites received a callback for every 10 resumes mailed, but blacks had to send 15 to spark interest.

"This represents a difference ... that solely can be attributed to name manipulation,'' the authors wrote. "Our results so far suggest that there is a substantial amount of discrimination in the job recruiting process.''

Companies that purported to be "equal opportunity employers'' were no more likely to respond to black resumes than other businesses. The two industries where blacks received more callbacks were transportation and communications, the authors found, but Bertrand said the difference was not significant enough to show a trend.

Dorris Roberts, president of the South Side branch of the NAACP, said the study's results were "disturbing, absolutely.''

He said companies often send job postings to his office soliciting minorities, when they have selected a white candidate for the job.

Carolyn Nordstrom, president of Chicago United, which seeks to increase corporate diversity, said the study shows the need to educate those who make hiring decisions--regardless of how many minorities are on staff. "We like to believe that this has changed, but this is evidence that it hasn't,'' Nordstrom said.

The Chicago Sun-Times provided a copy of the study to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, which represents 2,600 businesses in the area, but officials declined to comment.