Like it or not your name can determine how seriously you are taken in your career. If you have a different or tricky name to say you may have to work twice as hard to get the same results. It seems that many people have a tough time excelling in your career and your name could be the reason you are failing to advance in your company.
The University of Chicago recently did a study that established job applicants with names that sounded African-American didn’t get the same amount of thought in the hiring process. Researchers were able to discover this by sending out 5,000 bogus résumés, and the résumés with names like Tyrone and Tamika were less likely to be called back for interviews than Anglo-sounding names. They also realized that experience had little influence in the process.
One case in point of this is Shuki Khalili. He worked for a company for quite a few years but felt his name was holding him back. So he quit, started his own company and quickly realized that phone sales were a bust so he tried using an alias name ‘Andrew Warner’ and his sales went up sharply. By altering his name he was able to get in touch with and engage in discussions with more clients. He now goes by Andrew Warner and runs a flourishing entrepreneurial resource site.
Khalili are not alone. Throughout the U.S. Latinos, Asians and African Americans have found further success when they have changed their names. Many have changed their names from Marko to Mark and so on in order to find greater success in their companies. Unfortunately there is some discrimination remaining in America but the main reason clientele don’t want to work with these people is the concern of a language barrier.
Workplace prejudice can be a problem and it can keep some people from excelling. But changing your name shouldn’t be the only solution. By catering and twisting to fit these standards you are just making things worse. You shouldn’t have to adjust your name and therefore part of your individuality to either get a job or obtain a promotion.
Yet people that are Anglo but have uncommon or what are termed “weird names” face the same problem. Many miss out on promotions because they don’t have a serious name or people are uneasy saying it. So many have changed or shortened their name to a more common name in order to get the promotion and the higher pay.
A name can potentially make or halt your career. So all those parents that want a unique name just bear in mind you are branding your child for the rest of their life. By choosing a peculiar or foreign sounding name people will wonder if English was spoken in the home and question their capability to get along with Americans. So find names that show your ethnicity but are also somewhat normal. Or choose a middle name that is Anglo-sounding so that your child has the opportunity of going by that name.
Either way parents choose to go, bear in mind that a name really does influence the success an individual will have in their career. Anglo-sounding names permit individuals to move further up the corporate ladder. Albeit this isn’t right, unfortunately that’s how things are right now. And presently, there are several cases in front of the courts right now in which corporations are facing allegations of prejudice. Hopefully everything will be solved and workers won’t have to change their name in order to get a job or be promoted.
About the Author Info
Diane Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Utah and enjoys writing about current events, politics, online degrees, online education, and the office.