2009 5 Dec

Not Advancing At Work? It Could Be Your Name

Like it or not your name can determine how seriously you are taken at work. If you have an unusual or tricky name to say you may have to work two times as hard to get the same results. It appears that many people have a tough time excelling in your career and your name could be the reason you are not moving up in your company.

The University of Chicago recently published a study where they established applicants with names that sounded African-American didn’t get equal deliberation 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 found that training had little impact in the process.

Another case in point of this is Shuki Khalili. He worked for a company for a number of years but felt his name was holding him back. So he resigned, started his own company and shortly realized that phone sales were a bust so he tried using an American name ‘Andrew Warner’ and his sales went up significantly. By changing his name he was able to make contact with and engage in conversation with more clients. He now goes by Andrew Warner and runs a flourishing entrepreneurial resource site.

Khalili are not alone. Throughout the U.S. Hispanics, 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 jobs. Alas there is some prejudice remaining in America but the main reason clients don’t want to work with these people is the concern of a language barrier.

Workplace inequality can be a problem and it can keep some people from excelling. But changing your name shouldn’t be the only answer. By catering and twisting to fit these standards you are just making things worse. You shouldn’t have to transform your name and consequently part of your identity to get hired or get a promotion.

Even people that are Anglo but have uncommon or what are termed “weird names” face the same problem as those mentioned before. Many miss out on promotions for the reason that they don’t have a serious name or people are embarrassed saying it. So many have changed or shortened their name to a more common name in order to get the promotion and the higher wages.

A name can easily excel or break your career. So all those parents that want a unique name just remember you are branding your child for life. By picking 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 indicate your culture but are also somewhat conventional. Or choose a middle name that is Anglo-sounding so that your child has the opportunity of going by that name.

Either way parents decide to go, remember that a name really does influence the success an individual will have in their career. Anglo-sounding names permit men and women to move further up the corporate ladder. Although this isn’t right, unfortunately that’s the way things are. There are several cases in front of the courts right now in which corporations are facing allegations of prejudice. With any luck everything will be solved and workers won’t have to conform 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 schooling, online education, and the office.