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Asian last names lead to fewer job interviews

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I'm saying they it's understandable human behavior that explains this statistic. I'm not averse to doing something about it if it is achievable. Hiring is mostly about luck and factors completely outside of your control. If there's was to make it more fair I'm open to it but I don't despise hiring managers because this inequality exists.

The fact that you can hand wave this off as understandable is scary. I sure hope you don't work in HR.

At my previous job, I had to interview and hire people.. never once did I look at someone's last name and say... nope, language barrier. I mean there are so many other objective criteria you can use on a resume or not on a resume other than last name. I've rejected candidates for communication or language barrier issues but that's only AFTER it was demonstrated during the interview.
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
Have you ever come across an Asian person who genuinely likes their English nickname over their real name?

Plenty actually, specifically Thai. Every Thai student at the international school has a nickname and much prefer it.

Could be a combination of difficulty translating their natural language to English, younger generation, but I do know the kids preferred it.
 

Breakage

Member
Plenty actually, specifically Thai. Every Thai student at the international school has a nickname and much prefer it.

Could be a combination of difficulty translating their natural language to English, younger generation, but I do know the kids preferred it.

Yeah, Thai names and some south Asian names can be incredibly long. I think some people end up preferring their nicknames because the people around them can't be bothered to pronounce/learn their names, so to avoid embarrassment they switch to "Johnny", etc.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
I wonder if people of South Korean descent with an Anglican first name and the last name Park fair better.
 

Monocle

Member
I do interviews for my company, and if I can't be 100% sure I am pronouncing a name right I am a lot less likely to call them for an interview. So maybe that is part of it.

Theres no need to be insulting. I'm not saying this is all the time, it's just I am less likely to do it. I just called two people yesterday and got their names wrong and was a bit embarrassed about it.
WTF, be a professional and simply ask them. There's no excuse that will make this acceptable.
 
I swear, it is not offensive to ask us Asians on how to pronounce our names.

I personally, take it as a sign of respect that you're willing to take the time and spend the effort to learn my last name.

But honestly I'm not 100% sure how to pronounce my own last name.
 

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
I swear, it is not offensive to ask us Asians on how to pronounce our names.

I personally, take it as a sign of respect that you're willing to take the time and spend the effort to learn my last name.

But honestly I'm no 100% sure how to pronounce my own last name.
But that takes effort...! D:
 

Media

Member
I have a Vietnamese friend who's mother named him Ralph. He hates it, and insists everyone call him Viet (vee et)
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I've got a Hispanic name even though I'm white, so I wonder if I've ever surprised anyone and tripped up their casual racism. I hope I have.
 
As a Latino Gaffer, welcome to the club, brehs.

Welcome to the party, Asians. Have a seat with the rest of us minorities right over here.

A lot of Asians have known this for a very long, long time. We don't have any special privilege, and we're discriminated against just like any other minority. It's even worse because other minorities and whites think because we're the "model minority" - we possess some kind of privilege of our own, or that it's ok to be casually racist against us because we have it better.

Guess what, we don't, and it's not ok.
 
I have a Vietnamese friend who's mother named him Ralph. He hates it, and insists everyone call him Viet (vee et)

Well yeah, Ralph is a pretty awful name. I noticed a good number of families when naming their kids a more "western" name they end up going for what most would consider older names. Albert, Edith, and what not.

Then again I kinda like some older names -shrug-

Also every Vietnamese person should come with a pre-recorded version of them saying nguyen if its their last name to save everyone an argument lol. Seriously had this conversation so many times in high school haha.
 
I already posted this in the Asian-GAF thread, but here's my favorite part:


Like, wow. They're just so casually racist here.

I'm pretty sure thats just outright racist.

Casually racist would be a joke about a possible language barrier... but no they just straight up assume it for real.

I mean shit, I work in IT, and literally no Asian person I have worked with has had anything beyond a *slightly* noticeable accent. And then there's the fact that an accent doesn't preclude someone from doing their job, and ... you know what fuck it
 
as a Korean, I'm kind of thankful that I have a simple to pronounce first and last name. At the same time, i've thought about changing my name but my parents will always call me by my birth name so I said why bother.

But yeah, job searching (at least for me) has sucked
 

wandering

Banned
A lot of Asians have known this for a very long, long time. We don't have any special privilege, and we're discriminated against just like any other minority. It's even worse because other minorities and whites think because we're the "model minority" - we possess some kind of privilege of our own, or that it's ok to be casually racist against us because we have it better.

Guess what, we don't, and it's not ok.

I'd say that while the model minority stereotype is inaccurate and harmful, there does exist a certain level of "privilege," at least when it comes to Chinese, Korean, or Japanese people.

That's not to say we don't experience racism or that "you have it good so you should shut up" is in any way okay, but there are certain ways in which we aren't targeted the same way as black or brown people of color.

For example, I've never felt that I have to be especially cautious around police, or that I'll be scrutinized for entering a certain store.
 
The fact that you can hand wave this off as understandable is scary. I sure hope you don't work in HR.

At my previous job, I had to interview and hire people.. never once did I look at someone's last name and say... nope, language barrier. I mean there are so many other objective criteria you can use on a resume or not on a resume other than last name. I've rejected candidates for communication or language barrier issues but that's only AFTER it was demonstrated during the interview.
There's a difference between assuming a language barrier exists and assessing the possibility that a language barrier exists, especially when matched up against an equal candidate with a lower language barrier possibility.
 
I'm pretty sure thats just outright racist.

Casually racist would be a joke about a possible language barrier... but no they just straight up assume it for real.

I mean shit, I work in IT, and literally no Asian person I have worked with has had anything beyond a *slightly* noticeable accent. And then there's the fact that an accent doesn't preclude someone from doing their job, and ... you know what fuck it
Sorry. To clarify, I meant that they were so casual about being racist. Maybe I should have used openly instead.

But I'm Asian, so—you know—communication problems would be expected of someone like me.
 
There's a difference between assuming a language barrier exists and assessing the possibility that a language barrier exists, especially when matched up against an equal candidate with a lower language barrier possibility.

So only pick people with white names? Because otherwise whatchu saying?
 

sphagnum

Banned
Despite various issues that I have with my employer, I'm actually pretty proud that we've never seemed to have this problem. It's a pretty diverse office with a ton of non-Anglo names from all sorts of backgrounds (primarily black American, Nigerian, Russian, Indian, and Hispanic).

Management is still pretty much all white though.
 
I'd say that while the model minority stereotype is inaccurate and harmful, there does exist a certain level of "privilege," at least when it comes to Chinese, Korean, or Japanese people.

That's not to say we don't experience racism or that "you have it good so you should shut up" is in any way okay, but there are certain ways in which we aren't targeted the same way as black or brown people of color.

For example, I've never felt that I have to be especially cautious around police, or that I'll be scrutinized for entering a certain store.
We definitely have it a lot better than other minorities in a lot of important ways, and we should acknowledge that, but we also do have it worse in some other ways (like media representation, for example, or being on the losing end of affirmative action), where people tend to hand wave it away, as if we don't have problems at all. The latter is kind of a problem.
 

Noctix

Member
Back in 2008, I was applying for jobs in Australia and I was told by 2 recruiters that your name is hard to pronounce, so people think your english won't be good, hence NO CALL.
 

mdubs

Banned
They will never learn that even if their kids are mixed, they will still never be fully accepted as white.

The mixed kids win the lottery because not only will they never be fully accepted as white but they won't get fully accepted as Asian either
 
I'd say that while the model minority stereotype is inaccurate and harmful, there does exist a certain level of "privilege," at least when it comes to Chinese, Korean, or Japanese people.

That's not to say we don't experience racism or that "you have it good so you should shut up" is in any way okay, but there are certain ways in which we aren't targeted the same way as black or brown people of color.

For example, I've never felt that I have to be especially cautious around police, or that I'll be scrutinized for entering a certain store.

I absolutely agree that we don't suffer from racism in all the same ways that other POC do. I just wanted to voice my irritation with those comments that seemed to indicate that Asians were somehow oblivious about racism until this study pointed it out. Asian Americans have been long aware about the structural and social barriers that racism manifests against us, but it's mostly been an invisible struggle in the mainstream consciousness.
 
No, it's Asian in origin. I'm just messing around anyway. I've never been discriminated against because of my name. It's a good conversation starter cause it's kinda weird lol.

Sorry I just had a weird mental image of a hiring manager looking at a resume for an Asian guy named Joe Caucasian...
 

Usobuko

Banned
Accepted, in the current climate, is akin to being subservient to the ruling class just because of skin colour difference. You have to shrug off their casual/outright racism and be mindful not to cause any "trouble" via speaking out.
 

MutFox

Banned
I had this issue.
Didn't get many callbacks for a long time.

Then I made one change in my resume,
and the calls started coming.

Put that I was fluent in English,
and that it was my primary language.

Listed all the other languages I could speak after.
 

Kelsdesu

Member
I do interviews for my company, and if I can't be 100% sure I am pronouncing a name right I am a lot less likely to call them for an interview. So maybe that is part of it.


Did you just .....


3035111-inline-i-2-diet-racism-is-the-beverage-of-choice-for-your-quietly-intolerant-friends.jpg



I work in IT and I occasionally see emails come in like "we just got a new hire Jane Smith but her name is actually <something very asian>, can we have it changed in AD?"
I wonder if they have to use fake names to get interviews and wotnot. Would be pretty sad.

It is because of people like that poster individuals must hide their identity when looking for jobs. Even I use a more common version of my name so that type of bullshit doesn't happen to me.

EEO surveys are also a big part of this fuckery.

America is not a homogeneous society (despite what some might want you to believe). We are not like Japan or China. We are a melting pot of culture, languages and varying beliefs.


Edit: Read more and got pissed off, so I added.
 
Accepted, in the current climate, is akin to being subservient to the ruling class just because of skin colour difference. You have to shrug off their casual/outright racism and be mindful not to cause any "trouble" via speaking out.

That's pretty much how that one interview went for me. I showed up and the HR lady was like:

”Blake?"
”Yes."
”I imagined you'd be different."
”Why is that?"
”You just sound so different over the phone!"

I just kind of laughed it off and said I get that a lot. She pretty much judged me by my name and the way I spoke.
 
I wonder if this breakdown varies by region of Canada. I'm from Vancouver and would be surprised if this was a big thing happening here.

This is one of the worst things I've ever read.

I really hope it's just someone being an asshole troll. Because yeah, it's in fact bile.
 
What's the rule on resumes with using your maiden name and the anglicized version of your first name? My last name is Japanese/Spanish sounding but my middle name, which is my mom's maiden name is a bit more Anglo. I'm Filipino for reference.
 
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