In a story published this morning on Fortune.com, I reported on a new insight on name bias from someone who’s had decades of experience recruiting employees.
Recently, women have reported getting limited responses to their CVs if they have ethnic sounding names. Some women have gone to lengths to make their names sound less ethnic, others have changed them to be more gender-neutral.
Changing your name on your CV would seem to raise ethical questions. But recruitment veteran Peter Tafler says it is fair game. “If somebody is being disadvantaged by having a particular name and they choose to change the name to something that takes away the disadvantage, I would be supportive of that,” says Tafler, managing director at London’s Handle Recruitment.
The issue of name bias can be an unconscious bias, so it’s not an easy workplace issue to tackle. But hiring managers should make sure they think carefully about their slate of candidates–and include both men and women.
Enjoy your Wednesday!