Charlie Ryan says: “I think the world in general is a very prejudice place. We base our decisions on the experiences we have had or what we read in the media and it doesn’t surprise me that Adam gets more interviews than Mohamed. I am fortunate to know with the tens of thousands of applications in my 20 year history as a recruiter, that the name means nothing when it comes to getting the right person. Here is another prejudice for you, based on my experience, Mohamed is likely to be more polite and well-mannered than Adam and that is what companies are looking for these days, the right attitude which isn’t in the name!
There is no way of removing these prejudices without slow education, where eventually more people have experienced working with a positive Mohamed which will encourage them to rule in on the screening process on that name rather than rule out and that just takes time. I am very much against removing names on application forms as I believe all that does is elongate the process, where the prejudice won’t change and Mohamed will just be rejected at interview as opposed to application stage.
One of the real issues will be in terms of being rejected on a name will be the assumption that the English Language won’t be to a high standard and this is an incorrect assumption as you need to look at education to understand this. However the world is making a judgement on the likelihood of the name Mohamed delivering English to the same standard do Adam will be lower. However we are finding that English Language is so far below Company expectation, that there is no guarantee Adam will deliver it to the standard we want either.
The names don’t matter to us, it is the education, the work history and even the personal interests so as we are getting a feel for the individual and how they would fit into an environment. That is never to do with race or colour or a name, it is to do with Attitude and Desire. Employers want this in abundance and they are struggling to find it. I can tell you now whatever your name is, if you have the right attitude and desire you will get past any instilled prejudice and get the job, because you have the right attitude.
Original article: http://earlymorningmedia.co.uk/emmtracking.php?hop=LOTHV7HWH0/r/bG91aXNlQG1vZGVybmRheW1hcmtldGluZy5jby51aw/l/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5iYmMuY28udWsvbmV3cy91ay1lbmdsYW5kLWxvbmRvbi0zODc1MTMwNw
