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Name Discrimination In Interview Selection

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May 21, 2009 Posted By: Trevor Wilson Category: Experiences


We have made great progress in North America over the last several years to battle discrimination of all types. However, a recent study in British Columbia showed that name discrimination is alive and well when it comes to interview selection.

I find this extremely sad.

The UBC study came to the following conclusions:

The study found Canadians and landed immigrants with names such as “Jill Wilson” or “John Martin” are 40 per cent more likely to be offered an interview than someone with a name like “Sana Khan” or “Lei Li,” given an identical resume.

Applicants with mixed names like “Vivian Zhang” had a 20 per cent better chance to land an interview than job-seekers with non-English names, but still less than the English-only names.

The results are extremely clear. If you have an “English Sounding” name, you have an undeserved advantage someone with identical qualifications and a “Foreign Sounding” name. And 40% is no small advantage. It would not be hard to extrapolate and assume the same advantage for wages and benefits as well.

So what’s the solution? I wish I knew. This type of discrimination isn’t something that can be solved over night. I can only hope that we can work towards breaking down these barriers and strive for a more equal opportunity process.

2 Responses to “Name Discrimination In Interview Selection”

  1. Jayman says:

    I would be curious to see if this was the same in foreign countries with English names.

  2. Trevor Wilson says:

    That’s a good question. Does anyone else have any thoughts or experience with this?

    Thanks for the comment!

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