If you don’t believe that racism in the job market is real, then please read this article by Yolanda Spivey. Spivey, who was seeking work in the insurance industry, found that she wasn’t getting any job offers. But as an experiment, she changed her name to Bianca White, to see if employers would respond differently. You’ll be shocked and amazed by her phenomenal story.
Before I begin, let me quote the late, great, Booker T. Washington who said, “Of all forms of slavery there is none that is so harmful and degrading as that form of slavery which tempts one human being to hate another by reason of his race or color.”
For two years, I have been unemployed. In the beginning, I applied to more than three hundred open positions in the insurance industry—an industry that I’ve worked in for the previous ten years. Not one employer responded to my resume. So, I enrolled back into college to finish my degree. After completing school this past May, I resumed my search for employment and was quite shocked that I wasn’t getting a single response. I usually applied for positions advertised on the popular website Monster.com. I’d used it in the past and have been successful in obtaining jobs through it.
Two years ago, I noticed that Monster.com had added a “diversity questionnaire” to the site. This gives an applicant the opportunity to identify their sex and race to potential employers. Monster.com guarantees that this “option” will not jeopardize your chances of gaining employment. You must answer this questionnaire in order to apply to a posted position—it cannot be skipped. At times, I would mark off that I was a Black female, but then I thought, this might be hurting my chances of getting employed, so I started selecting the “decline to identify” option instead. That still had no effect on my getting a job. So I decided to try an experiment: I created a fake job applicant and called her Bianca White.
First, I created an email account and resume for Bianca. I kept the same employment history and educational background on her resume that was listed on my own. But I removed my home phone number, kept my listed cell phone number, and changed my cell phone greeting to say, “You have reached Bianca White. Please leave a message.” Then I created an online Monster.com account, listed Bianca as a White woman on the diversity questionnaire, and activated the account.
That very same day, I received a phone call. The next day, my phone line and Bianca’s email address, were packed with potential employers calling for an interview. I was stunned. More shocking was that some employers, mostly Caucasian-sounding women, were calling Bianca more than once, desperate to get an interview with her. All along, my real Monster.com account was open and active; but, despite having the same background as Bianca, I received no phone calls. Two jobs actually did email me and Bianca at the same time. But they were commission only sales positions. Potential positions offering a competitive salary and benefits all went to Bianca.
At the end of my little experiment, (which lasted a week), Bianca White had received nine phone calls—I received none. Bianca had received a total of seven emails, while I’d only received two, which again happen to have been the same emails Bianca received. Let me also point out that one of the emails that contacted Bianca for a job wanted her to relocate to a different state, all expenses paid, should she be willing to make that commitment. In the end, a total of twenty-four employers looked at Bianca’s resume while only ten looked at mines.
Is this a conspiracy, or what? I’m almost convinced that White Americans aren’t suffering from disparaging unemployment rates as their Black counterpart because all the jobs are being saved for other White people.
My little experiment certainly proved a few things. First, I learned that answering the diversity questionnaire on job sites such as Monster.com’s may work against minorities, as employers are judging whom they hire based on it. Second, I learned to suspect that resumes with ethnic names may go into the wastebasket and never see the light of day.
Other than being chronically out of work, I embarked on this little experiment because of a young woman I met while I was in school. She was a twenty-two-year-old Caucasian woman who, like myself, was about to graduate. She was so excited about a job she had just gotten with a well-known sporting franchise. She had no prior work experience and had applied for a clerical position, but was offered a higher post as an executive manager making close to six figures. I was curious to know how she’d been able to land such a position. She was candid in telling me that the human resource person who’d hired her just “liked” her and told her that she deserved to be in a higher position. The HR person was also Caucasian.
Another reason that pushed me to do this experiment is because of the media. There’s not a day that goes by in which I fail to see a news program about how tough the job market is. Recently, while I was watching a report on underemployed and underpaid Americans, I saw a middle aged White man complaining that he was making only $80,000 which was $30,000 less than what he was making before. I thought to myself that in this economy, many would feel they’d hit the jackpot if they made 80K a year.
In conclusion, I would like to once again quote the late, great, Booker T. Washington when he said, “You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him.”
The more America continues to hold back great candidates based on race, the more our economy is going to stay in a rut. We all need each other to prosper, flourish, and to move ahead.
P.S. A lot of comments showed doubts that racism against Black women still exists. This very important blog post shows how strong- and open– racism against black women still is- world wide…
Dark-skinned women- of all races- are portrayed as ugly, dumb, miserable & as sexual objects.
Why?
And what are the implications?
The racism against Black men in America is also alive and very real. It is no less than a threat to their very existence. SEE THIS POST…
knowledge of self 
I would be interested to see this study done using the same name. This is not an accurate indicator of pure race since you opted to use a ‘bland’ name. There are articles written depicting bias based on a person’s name (and before you say it there are many other races, including whites, that have non traditional names). All you proved was having a more common name combined with the white box checked allowed you to receive more responses.
I, like Yolanda, questioned the “intent” of diversity information and whether it has hampered by job search efforts. I did the same thing, only because my cell phone number is identified as a predominantly white suburb, I did not have to change it. I also received several responses to my “white” resume whereas my “black” resume had received none. Not scientific, but very interesting,
Lisa/Helen
See the picture under the point to which you are responding, and check the source if you like.
White people who have no EVER been discriminated against….will NEVER get it! Willfully blind is worse than just being ignorant!
so why do you keep trusting the white liberals? they did nothing to stop stuff like what is presented in the blog post, instead their dysfunctional ways just further compromises the future of minorities
you need a way to report such unfair treatment, there’s no platform for that because the white liberal thought it was a good idea to implement stuff like affirmative action instead
Actually, “Affirmative Action” benefits White-identifying women more than anyone else.
Just as Welfare’s biggest recipients are- you guessed it!- White males. Btw, Blacks are leaving welfare.
Read up, bruh: https://selfuni.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/10-black-myths-debunked/
AMEN!
So true
John . . .You do understand that Affirmative Action and the office of the EEOC were created just as you said. They were a result of finding continued discriminatory practices.
The term “affirmative action” came from the SCOTUS when it demanded that organizations had to act in the affirmative because there was so much evidence of qualified blacks not being hired or promoted or being given spots in schools.
It really only applied to things which black tax dollars supported, as in the public sector.
So the very things that you say you want to see such as a way to report these actions affirmative action WAS the platform.
So conservatives really just want the right to continue to discriminate and not to be held accountable.
At least liberals recognize that there is something wrong. Conservatives have used this for years to pretend that these were all about giveaways to blacks instead of how they began as forcing organizations that were acting in bad faith to act in good faith. So now you’ve been educated.
Explain exactly how you think a “platform” would work.
There is no way to effectively isolate race and name in an experiment like this, dear Aby. Thus, the “pure race” factor you had hoped to investigate is non-existent. And if you take a moment to think about it, why do you think these biases based on names exist? To employers, these “non-traditional” names represent an individual they would not like to hire, typically a minority. If there were indeed a white woman named Yolanda Spivey applying for positions who had not indicated her race, I expect she’d be passed over all the same. Why? The employer would see the name and, I expect, make the assumption that she was black and therefore not “a good fit” for the position.
And when you say, “All you proved was having a more common name combined with the white box checked allowed you to receive more responses,” THAT’S HUGE, ABY! Do you not realize this? This combinative discrimination is an issue that needs to be redressed! I’ve no idea why you’re downplaying what this author found (Except, perhaps, the possibility that you’re choosing to remain blind to the discrimination minorities face every day, in a host of different areas).
I do agree, however, with posts below that highlighted the often-overlooked factor of time of account activation. I have heard that employers filter their searches according to this item, so if anyone were to attempt this experiment for themselves, I hope s/he would consider that.
Regardless, though, this article is most certainly food for thought, and I really appreciate Yolanda sharing her experience with us.
@aby,
Your point is well taken, but your preference to focus on the name change only comes at the expense of the questionnaire. Had the author of this post used the same name then the prospective employers would have seen two applicants with the exact same name and credentials. This solution would not be a fair measurement albeit a more complete more complete one if she could have gotten away with posting three resumes with the same history.
At the end of the day the fact remains that the resume views as compared to the emails received was almost 50% greater to the resume that listed ethnicity as Caucasian versus African American (29% vs. 20%). This is not acceptable regardless of the name used.
As you can tell it seems that Aby is only wanting to see what benefits her viewpoint.
I’m sure you’ve heard of this topic:”reading comprehension” the author stated that she applied at some of the ”same companies” and she received a response back from 2 of them at the same time ”Bianca White”.
Bianca is a very white sounding name. It is not “bland” as you say, since it is more common among white people it is taken to be “generic, normal” or the standard.
And the point is, Aby, that the culturally neutral name WITH the box checked “White” is what made the difference. She could have the same ambiguous name but checked the box “Black” and she wouldn’t have gotten a response. I have an unusual first name and I heard a newscast on the radio that said this kind of blatant bigotry was alive and well. So I decided to change my resume by using my first initial and my middle name “Lynn” and the same job I previously contacted with the unusual name called me for an interview. I did not use Monster.com it was a direct contact position. Got the job, but had to get through the door first. Why don’t you try it. Use a conventionally ethnic name and select Black on Monster and submit your resume with your name and select the box marked White and see the results.
Yes, you’ve got it right, a more common name combined with the white box checked allowed you (Her) to receive more responses. Thats the point. Not qualifications, experience etc. Hiring is largely dependent upon factors that have no bearing the potential to actually perform.
I think you’re missing the point. Checking Caucasian on the profile and changing her name to sound “bland,” or non-ethnic got her much more interest than did checking “African-American” or using her own, ethnic-sounding name. Bigotry still exists and diversity questions seem to exacerbate the problem. Caucasian employers can simply screen qualified candidates out of consideration based on how they identify on the diversity question. If you don’t think this was a good test, do it yourself. Create two profiles- one for a Caucasian candidate and one for an African American. Keep the education and experience the same. See for yourself how much attention each candidate attracts.
Aby,
What are you writing here? You tried to twist Yolada’s intent but verified her hypothesis without realizing what you were saying.
What Yolanda experienced is loud and clear to the majority of readers here. Bianca is not a bland/common name. Yolanda is intelligent and used this particular name Bianca White (means white in Italian and Spanish) pushing the envelop. It doesn’t get any clearer than this. Part of what she wanted to prove and did was that checking the “white” box opposed to checking the “Black/African American” box was favorable for acquiring phone messages and emails related to interviews/prospective employees.
For such accusations you’d think some more proof would be attached with this article. The actual email and account being used, followed with a lawsuit. I do firmly believe that there is prejudice going on in work places. It usually hurts minorities more often, but it is a universal problem and is part of our overall problem as a society of separating each other. I’d be willing to bet the stats on a black/hispanic owned business hiring white people are just as bad if not worse. Her story seems a little off from the start by saying she applied to 300 places without a single response? Then says she went back to Monster.com because she’s had success on there before. Before people comment, yes, I understand that the questionnaire came later which changed results but her original comment was that employers were not calling because of her name yet she had success before posting her resume online. I’m confused how that is legal for those questions to be shown to a potential employer and not just used to track statistics. I also found it kind of ironic that the write actually puts that her calls from potential employers to the fake application came from women who “sounded Caucasian”. Really? At the end of the day it should be illegal to ask for race, or anything that infers your race, in any application for a job, school, loan etc. I still don’t get how this question is allowed this day and age.
I am in the same boat as her. I have applied to even more than 300 jobs since 2009 and sweet heart I have only gotten maybe two responses from that. So that is so ttrue.in response to the other thing it is illegal the problem is proving it so that there can be a lawsuit (dealt with a discrimination suit).
300? Try 15,000 in that time frame.
It most definitely is illegal, but it is difficult to prove. Companies will say “oh, the person that see that one is not the same person that screened this one” or “that HR person left the firm.” Stuff like that is said and there’s no proof unless you really want to dig deep. People have won cases, however.
Cant say I agree more. I’m a black male but I need some factual evidence to support this article otherwise it poses no significance
More evidence: http://www.chicagobooth.edu/capideas/spring03/racialbias.html
I think it really depends on where you are regionally. I was contacted for an interview with a staffing agency for an insurance claims position or Prudential. I only had a couple months experience for insurance on my resume. They chose my resume from Monster, Career Builder or Indeed and contacted me. It seems that I only get calls from employers, I didn’t apply too. This woman should I apply to Corporate Brokers. They have offices all over the US. I believe due to the diversity issues some white people can’t get jobs too, because maybe they have to have a certain amount of minorities. I am a black woman from Jacksonville, Fl.
Hey Donald,
”At the end of the day it should be illegal to ask for race, or anything that infers your race, in any application for a job, school, loan etc”
France does apply that idea, that sounds very good in theory, but let me tell you that it’s not as good as it sounds. The French government does not allow any questions on race or ethnicity, and officially considers the state “blind to race and ethnicity” but then there is still as much racism, but absolutely no data on the situation of ethnic groups/immigrants, while racism still takes place. I’d rather live in a place where they ask these questions, and put in place historical reparation, or positive discrimination(I’m from Canada, and they use that) and can collect datas to see how these problem occurs who who is affected by them.
Have a good day.
Thomas
Thomas, just an FYI – it is against the law in the United States of America to ask the following questions on an employment application and/or as part of an interview. This includes any questions that would, in a round-about way, ask these questions:
Among the more obvious application prohibitions, you’re forbidden to ask about:
I hope this information helps everyone on this blog. Don’t let a potential employer screw you over. Saying things like “we have a day care program. Is that something that would interest you?” is the same as asking if you have children. Not allowed. Or saying “we provide health insurance for your spouse. Would that be good for you?” is the same as asking if you are married. Not allowed.
@Donald Robert,
I would be willing to take you up on your bet. Unfortunately, in many cases like this your argument that “…minority businesses do the same thing.” seems to pop up time and time again without any factual basis. Your reply picks apart the details of this blog post, but then you yourself provide factless statements that just “sound good.”
You cannot lump black and Hispanics into the same group with your statement due to fact that many black-owned business that operate outside of the immediate black community feel it better to show a diversity in their workforce that reflects their customer base. Additionally, rationale for the hiring of other Hispanics by Hispanic-owned business many times can also be found more in language than race. For a business to grow and prosper employers must be able to communicate with their employees and employees with the business consumer. Selling insurance requires neither of the above.
Also when you question her use of Monster you also forgot to recall that she had been in the business already for 10 years and already had something there like many others.
~Troy
My first husband was black. I am too. But I’m fair-skinned mixed. He is a college graduate and was the valedictorian of his high school and did well in college. His name is “Jeffrey” with a fairly white sounding last name. For two years he sent out resumes and made interviews and he would walk into the door for the interview and they’d say “we just filled that position today.”
I would call the next day and the job would be open. He hustled. He never used drugs or even drank a glass of wine. Always spoke flawless proper English. Never had any trouble with the law of any sort. This broke him inside. I watched him recede away from me because he couldn’t get a job no matter how hard he tried. Our white friends would say we were making it up or exaggerating.
I would get jobs but no matter my qualifications or excellence, I would always be informed that for some reason I couldn’t be paid the same as the previous person or what they said the job was going to be paying. At one job I found out that all the other director level positions were making at least $100K more a year than I was. I was on the only person on the management team that had exceeded the objective goals set by us a leadership group, but they always had a reason why I shouldn’t be paid as much.
When I left, the next person they hired was a white man. He was paid $100K more than I was to start. I later heard that during his two years with the company he achieved less than 75% of what they company wanted.
It’s shaming and heartrending when this happens. It seems so crazy when you hear all about the marvel of “the market” and how it will solve all problems.
You presume that people favor their own race and this does happen within communities of color who have learned to stick together in a society that discriminates against them for no cause.
That said, studies that are designed to measure empathy felt by people of color have found that most people of color have been conditioned to feel empathy for white people as well as people of color, but most white people unwittingly been conditioned to see people of color as nothing more than walking stereotypes; two dimensional figures with little depth.
This certainly affects how likely an employer is to hire a person of color. It turns out that it doesn’t swing both ways. Race is a social construct and how we behave in a racialized society at even a subconscious level favors whiteness. It isn’t something that people intentionally do or that has a simple remedy, but recognizing this reality is a good first step.
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I think it is honestly more that the account had just been activated. When my account had just been activated on monster.com, i got slammed with insurance positions, too.
I don’t think I agree. While I also got commission pay insurance job offers (and other offers that looked more than a little pyramid-ish) when I first posted my resume on Monster (and ZipRecruiter, Glassdoor, Monster COLLEGE, SnagAJob,et al) I didn’t get anywhere near the type of response that the author’s fake profile got. And my name doesn’t sound ‘ethnic’. My last name is actually Germanic (meaning that my family name originates from the German language, not that ‘Germanic’ is my last name). Now I haven’t done this experiment, so I can’t say if the reason MY resume isn’t being picked is because I pick Black as my ethnicity, but it does make me wonder. And she’s right, if people who are hiring are skipping candidates who aren’t white, they’re doing a disservice not just to people of color, but to the entire country. Our money helps the economy, too.
Actually this is NOT a racist situation, and the reason that her personal account did not receive interview offers is known to some extent. If you create a new/different monster profile, your new profile will get many job offers, while your old profile will not.
Employers, when searching job boards often choose to search candidates who have new accounts, or candidates who have been searching for a job for LESS than X months.
Hiring managers do this to bypass candidates who have been passed over by other companies for X amount of time, as they conclude that there must be a problem with someone who can’t find a job after X amount of time.
Yolanda, could have created a new account using her real name and ethic profile and would have received interview offers as well.
Thank you for your information but the average person doesn’t know this, unless I’m the only one !!
I don’t know about Yolanda, but I do know about making a change and resaving the information so that it appears new. I wondered why the questions were being asked, and was the information separated from the resume, who really is collecting those statistics?
Not true! I made a new account same credentials but different address and I promise it doesn’t make a difference in the least. If this is being based solely on the fact that she changed name and the ethnicity (mostly the ethnicity because bianca white can be just as much a black name as a white one) then YES this is all based on race
What a coincidence that this is the Gary Becker Taste Discrimination experiment, and, even further, the test of “Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal.” I’m not calling you a fraud, but I am saying that it strikes a huge coincidence. If you are telling the truth then I am very sorry, but I am black also. If you are telling a lie, then you should be ashamed that you are taking advantage of the education level of the people commenting. I graduated with a degree in Economics, and this is a primarily economic test. People should read these tests/studies they are very interesting.
Spivey? Honestly the only 2 people I knew with that last name were my Aunt (Filipino) and Uncle (White). Weird.
She should have gone to an interview and shocked them. I would’ve loved to see that reaction.
I wonder how many potentially fantastic employees have been thrown away simply because of a name?
You should show up as “Bianca” just to expose them. They should hire you since you are clearly qualified. Maybe you’ll get the job after all even if it’s just by guilt.
Its the ‘diversity’ questionnaire that IS racist, they are only hiring whites from it. I have two degrees and a great background, have conducted my own research. We need black entrepreneurship to help blacks to gain employment, because racism has become clear. I wouldn’t call it racism as much as its ‘cultural preference’, which is insulating these types of opportunities from people who may be a ‘better fit’. Race is an openly ‘secret’ characteristic to define what people “want” from their new hires, discussed with these HR and Managers who privately discuss the types of people that they ‘want’. If its a white Manager, right off the bat – they are going to choose someone like them, and vice-versa for all types of people. If blacks are 13-18% of the population, then 13-18% of employers should reflect in this manner.
Don’t you think that what you call “cultural preference” is the new racism though? I believe that nowadays it’s really shunned upon and badly viewed to be openly racism, so racist people will hide their racism behind “cultural preferences”. They’re gonna say, “Oh no, I don’t discriminate these people cause their skin color, it’s only that their ways is not compatible with mine, it’s a clash of culture.” But in the end, whatever the reason is, they’re still going to discriminate. We moved from “biological racism” to “cultural racism”. Not better, just harder to identify.
Thank you for your information but the average person doesn’t know this, unless I’m the only one !!
Scroll for people who ALL deny that this is possible. “You’re lying! This is false!” The only thing worse than the problem are the people who choose to deny that it exists. Ridiculous.
Shes telling truth people .I would like one of you to go on a dating site and register as a black guy.You will see that your chances of getting any responses are slim.If you register as a white guy you will get a lot of responses and I’m talking from experience .I had done this before and i was really shocked .
She is telling the truth and most of those who say that this doesn’t happen are whites, blacks will agree it happens to us daily I AM A WITNESS!!!
It is foolish of us to depend on someone else to provide means of survival for us. Sad part is, it is almost impossible to get this in the heads of a our people especially if they have a so called education The bottom line is we must come out from her. Collectively come together if not by the hundreds or thousands, then by 5″s and 10’s. Spend, support and create our own avenues.
I believe her. She shouldn’t have to but maybe she should go by Landa Spivey. It is still going to take America a while to end racism. Hidden racism is still racism.
This is another reason why Blacks and black AA’s need to have more of their own dam businesses. But noooooo! all is fair. Yeah right!
Well ugly people and poor working class whites dont get the job as well. I think they perceive black people as trouble makers if you stand up for your rights and dont take none sense. Black people need to support more black businesses. How do they keep you down? By not employing you, by keeping you in low paid jobs, with no scope of promotions, if you dont look and behave like them, you don’t get that promotions.
You just hit the nail on the head. I agree with your commitment 100% And I gonna stand up for my rights & yours too!
You really said ‘ looked at mines? ‘ I hope the grammar in your resume was better than that, because I wouldn’t hire you after reading that one sentence. makes you sound unprofessional and ghetto, which i’m sure you aren’t.
Before criticizing others’ grammar, you need to insure your own can pass an inspection. First of all, you need to eliminate the comma between mines and I hope. Secondly, capitalize the m in makes, the start of the sentence. Lastly, don’t forget to capitalize I’m.
I know, right? Not even noticing that s/he is seeking to find an excuse as to why this person isn’t qualified.
We had a Harvard/Yale graduated president who said “Am our children learning” and those who supported him said “he’s perfectly qualified to represent a superpower.”
So there is that!
You have a great point, OT. Every sentence that was typed, had either grammatical errors, run on and fragmented sentences. Please “Big Sexy”, do us all a favor and stop the obvious criticisms, when you are a primary offender yourself…dropping the mic!
I wish I could upvote this comment
In the entire post, that was the only word that was wrong and ungrammatical. While she could have proofed better, have you never written a typo?
I’m black, but I grew up in a very educated white family. Have you ever heard the word “alls,” as in “alls I’m trying to say is.” It was actually the topic of a Murphy Brown back in the day. Well, my white brothers had no problem becoming chief of staff of a hospital, getting double masters from MIT, two being college professors, my sister has a Ph.D. in urban studies and is a professor as well. Every single person in my family says “alls.”
I was horrified when I learned it wasn’t proper english but is a regionally accepted expression. I have to speak perfectly at all times because I’m black. But I’ve lived and worked amongst whites all my life and one of the things I’ve noticed is that we only care about grammar when it is a black person or marginalized person speaking.
I know so many white people who can’t speak or write proper English. But it typically isn’t a barrier to ever being able to earn a living for mistakenly putting an “s” at the end of a word.
Mediocre whites get jobs all the time. You have to be exceptional to get a job while being melanin enhanced.
you just discovered the dysfunctional system of white liberal america, where they pretend affirmative action will help you when it doesn’t, and where they don’t understand how to actually fix this problem
you will never fix that problem using affirmative action, but punishing unfair treatment and asking the employer why he or she would refuse the exact same resume in one case and not the other
You do know that is where “affirmative action” came from right? The challenging of these types of behaviors. The SOCTUS demanded that all publicly funded entities must act in the affirmative to ensure that this wasn’t happening.
Conservative whites have always pretended that affirmative action was a giveaway to unqualified blacks. But instead it always was attempting to enforce that white resource holders (particularly those who made decisions about where tax dollars are spent such as in public education, government jobs, etc. had to act affirmatively).
How does one go about holding these entities accountable? That was always the problem. It is only in white conservative’s minds that affirmative action was anything other than what you just described in your second paragraph.
People need to wake up if u have applied for 300 jobs and get nothing its simple you are obviously useless, people use race as a pity card and its wrong in africa white people cant get jobs because of a system called BEE honestly if u have applied for 300 jobs its not ur race thats not getting you the job its being useless and under qualified!!!!
I don’t know what state the woman who conducted this test lived in, but its not Maryland.I am a white male who has been unemployed for about a year now. Most jobs in my field seem to go to Blacks or Asians. Its all a matter of prospective until a large scale test is done, this story isn’t exactly newsworthy.
I question this entire thing. So the author was chronically unemployed for what sounds like 2+ years and continued to use monster.com as her only avenue to find employment even though it never worked? Monster.com is a dumping ground for organizations to meet EEOC job posting requirements and for recruiters to source candidates for future positions. Was the point of this “Research” to illustrate that completing the diversity information may hinder your job search? Are you guys aware that the diversity information is collected from candidates so that organizations can be sure they are being fair in their hiring practices and not discriminating to avoid lawsuits. Alot of the time…being an educated African american female and indicating you are one will get you further in life. The author should also explain what type of jobs were suddenly calling “Bianca White”. Where these positions to sell vacuums, timeshares, insurance sales, and other jobs on monster? I believe this situation happened but I believe the authors perception is skewed by the author felling oppressed and on the receiving end of being black in america rather than accepting that he or she could not find a job because of something wrong with them (lack luster job search skills, a sense of entitlement, bad resume, etc). Self awareness will get you far in life. You are your color. Not a victim of it.
I can definitely understand what you have posted. However, I can also see where she is coming from in many aspects. Some companies may have looked at her almost 3 year unemployment as a signal that her skill set may be outdated. I am also not certain that she was only using Monster to seek jobs. She is apparently speaking about her personal experiences. I am well-educated and I am self-employed as a consultant. I am never going to believe that racism and sexism doesn’t exist when I know that they do. That may not be the sole reason for her lengthy unemployment but we as readers will never know since we do not walk in her shoes. I am glad that you are able to maintain your career because there are a lot of other people that were not able to. All I can say about that part is count your blessings in that arena.
Very good article, its sad that these facts are reality, however its about time for our people to work to build each other up by investing in black owned businesses and doing more independently to help our community. We can’t complain about what we aren’t willing to change. All other race of people reinvest their dollars in their own communities, however we as a body of people don’t but this is a new day and hopefully we will see progress as who God blesses no man no matter of race or creed can curse.
It’s so sad how the system is there are a lot of educated black people I mean afro American to me black is not a race black is a color which both or all race misunderstood so I got a question for y’all Why can’t a well educated afro American get a job what is wrong with this society
Wait…so you think “black” is not a race, and “African American” is? You do realize that only in the United States would someone call a black person African American. Have you ever heard African Asian, African European, or African Australian used? Oh, maybe you meant American as in a country…then what about African French, African Canadian, African Mexican, African Iranian, African Russian, or African Filipino? No? What does that tell you about just how idiotic both racists and those claiming to oppose racism in the United States have become?
Afro American as well (South American term that fell out of favor here in the ’70s) is still not a race. It’s a geographical distinction of race distribution…
I’m black, but I’m not “afro” American. I’m Dominican Danish. “Afro” isn’t a culture or a country. I resent saying that I’m African-American. I believe in our diaspora, but the Ibo are very different than Yoruba. The Hutu and Tutsi.
I prefer Mocha Latte actually but then again I’ve always been an iconoclast.
I believe people should be able to call themselves and to be called what they prefer.
very interesting! i’ve seen other studies that also cite a person’s attractiveness as an indicator of employability (of course, this usually requires getting an interview first–some people include head shots with their résumé).
This not only applies to the white/black community, it also happens in the Latino community but in a different way. Latinos most of the time do get hired and they do because there is a fast growing population, but we work twise as much as the white individuals would. They do not want to respect our rights as employees and we are known to work hard, so hard people take advantage of us.
People need to be careful to not confuse blog posts, news articles, opinion pieces, and scientific studies. This is just a post on a blog site. No where does she articulate following any scientific method. Having said that, this post is intriguing when taken into context in a racialized America.
I was told it was a waste of time to apply to several larger ee companies as a white male just out of college because i wouldn’t help the numbers with them being an ee and aa employer. Sorry i forgot to complain in a blog about it
I am sure that this is a little known fact because white women actually were able to succeed due to the ee that you speak of.
And who told you this? Did you go to those companies?
Seems like you are complaining about it right now. The mythical lament of white men all over and when you go to where they were applying you discover there are virtually no people of color. Or, if there are they are highly qualified and exceptional.
I was just talking about that with a Vice President at a major bank. Her team is the most well-qualified and credentialed in the system, yet the white men who are less qualified frequently complain.
You’ve been played. This was all a ruse and rumor to make you resent black people.
OK, first, this article is simply race baiting and that needs to stop. I, too have an unusual sounding name but still manage to find jobs. I have been at the other end of this as a white woman trying to b get hired in a majorityb black or majority hisoanic workplace. Many blacks are racist, too. So let’s get over the war and move on, folks!
I don’t have any issues getting a job using that search engine. I even used the questionnaire once before.
That’s your experience. This is hers. Neither, alone, proves anything. But there are studies of trends you can look at.
“mines”
You are so right. If you make a typo in a blog post that is total evidence that you should never be qualified for a job.
We had a president who said “Am our children learning” and too many other ungrammatical things to mention. We considered him authentic and quaint and charming.
I believe it. And the sad thing about it is they say blacks are lazy! REALLY? They don’t want to give blacks a job, they complain that blacks are lazy then they complain about blacks being on welfare then they don’t want to pay unemployment! SMDH……. What the Hell do they want? Blacks are not going anywhere so they might as well work with them! They don’t die they multiply… And they wonder why people rob and steal. Blacks have to eat and live too you know!
There is an article in the Essence magazine that discusses this topic in detail. I read it and I will provide the information:
September 2013 Essence : No, You’re not imagining it written by Isabel Wilkerson.
I am glad that she wrote the article and has exposed the scientific side of the racial division and its effects on the black well-being inclusive of their health and the sort. She discussed the differences in their lack of medical care also. This is important information because the unconscious way of thinking is literally killing black people because it is being pushed under the rug and disregarded. Things to think about when you choose a career and spend your money. We need to fix our own community in order to see the change that everyone is agreeing is needed. Education is the key to survival and that is also financial in nature as well. There is more to this but I lack the immediate time to publish it all here. When I was in school for psychology I learned a great deal about the viewpoints of people and the way that minorities are affected.
i’m white and i haven’t received any job offers. i don’t think it’s a matter of black and white, i think it’s a matter of how “American” your last name sounds. you can be white but if u r a minority, people still don’t care. they go for the typical American born. i think i don’t get job offers because my last name is hard to pronounce and ppl feel im an immigrant and thats why they’re not interested.
It could be grammar. If your resume has poor grammar, like saying “like mines” instead like mine, and the other “white” resume does not it changes things. Any business has the right and need to discriminate against candidates that would be poor representatives of their service. What variables is the author of this alleged social experiment concealing?
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I am in the HR field and I am black. Please know and I tell every young person that is having a baby the same thing….be aware of the names you give your children..they may sound cute to you but white corporate america will beg to differ an you can best believe an Emma with no experience will get an interview over an Khadija with all the qualification and experience EVERY time and yes they do get tossed in the garbage!!
OK, well, I am white and if I applied for a job at an African American company would I get the job?? No, I wouldn’t. I think it is fine for cultures to stick together and what African American’s need are more black entrepeneurs. She can easily open her own company and hire whomever she wants. Go to China town in Chicago and tell me how many whites and/or African Americans work there! They don’t even speak english on that side of Chicago but no-one calls that racist?! How many white people work in your neighborhood? African Americans stick together and so do whites. That is OK. I think that the solution to this problem is that there are not enough African American businesses. Start there, educate the young kids on how to open a business, then they can hire whomever they want and compete in the free market. Then they can call the shots. That is the only way, as I see it. xoxoxox
Wow, I think you’re possessed by the ghost of Strom Thurmond. So the only solution you see is for people to continue the practice of hiring only those who look like them instead of basing their decision completely on qualications?
This is funny because I did the same exact thing back in 2006 when I was looking for permanent work. I did the same exact thing except I used the name Jill Hahn. I used the name of ex-supervisor and just changed the first name. How I did it was I sent in my resume first with my original name, education, and job credentials. Two days later I sent in the same resume only to change the name only to Jill Hahn. Same address, same number, same credentials. Guess who call the call. Not only did they call Jill Hahn all week,I never forget it, they called Jill four times that Friday. I mean this lady broke her neck trying o reach a fictious person. I eventually confronted the company on their hiring practices. They were stunned. Racism is alive.
I sadly have no doubt that the author and other POCs are discriminated against in the way the author construes. I hope that it’s not as often as the anecdotal experiment would suggest, I would like to think white people are getting better but… I think there’s still a lot of Old People discrimination out there and they are the gate-keepers to jobs, I was hired by one of them so I it’s easy for me to believe.
But, that’s not why I’m posting, I read this other blog post (link at bottom) earlier today and was discussing it with friends because I really identify with what the author is saying and how these discriminations intersect. There was no money set aside for me to go to college and in fact it was never discussed and I never saw it as a part of my future. Neither of my parents have degrees.. I’m in my mid forties now and I’m making an okay living (it’s certainly not $80k/year – I should be so lucky!) but I’ve worked very hard to get where I am and networked my ass off. In today’s society you don’t get a job with a decent income unless you have at least a BA, and it doesn’t even matter what that degree is in so long as you have it. Without a degree you’re lucky if your resume gets a second look. My current position requires a degree, again, not any particular degree just a requirement to have one but I happened to get lucky and was recommended for the job. So, that’s how I got my job without having a degree. Before that I was unemployed for most of a year collecting rejection notices until I heard about an opening from a friend and was able to get my resume and a personal recommendation in front of the hiring people.
So my point is… well, I guess I don’t really have one other than to say that we as a society still have a lot to work on.
http://thefeministbreeder.com/explaining-white-privilege-broke-white-person/
That is totally possible. I have been applying for jobs almost everyday over the last two years and I have over 20 years experience in finance/accounting and investments and I just received my bachelor’s in accounting with a 3.7 gpa and I to have completed the race questions and I can count on one hand how many calls and emails I have received, good thing I have a job!! Very sad world we live in!!
Back in the 80’s i was a road tech for a company… on the route about three years when i took on a guy of ‘swarthy’ complection to train. We got along fine. Strange thing though, every single account we entered stopped us at the front desk, most asked for ID, while we waited for the manager to escort us to our appointed rounds. Strange because almost every account knew me and regularly granted me unescorted entry with no questions asked.
I knew it had be my mouthwash…
Reblogged this on Free UniversE-ity.
It’s unfortunate that people still are discriminated against. But these obstacles should only make them stronger. As an African-American male, I suffered in Corporate America; which forced me to leave a fortune five hundred insurance company, where I worked in IT. I started my own business, which has flourished. Although I now reside in Orlando, I have every intention of dying on soil that is not as stained with blood and soul of racism. As Ms Winfrey said “racism is a birth defect of America”. Talented Blacks like myself are quietly making an exodus to places like Brasil, Dominican Republic, etc. My mom loves this country so I brought her to Orlando, but once she transitions, so will I.
“….while only ten looked at mines.”
Is it at all possible that she was speaking like a better potential investment for an employer while she was presenting herself as white?
You are right. Someone should never get a job if they make a typo. How dare they.
Of course, we did have a white male yale and harvard educated president who actually said “Am our children learning?”
So, it appears this grammar thing only matters when it’s black people speaking. When white people do it, it’s quaint and a sign of authenticity!
I’ve been unemployed for over three years plus and still no job and I have a college degree and is white. Umm so I don’t think her study was correct.
Since many here are looking for reasons why this person isn’t employable and citing the “s” at the end of the word “mines,” maybe it’s because you say “is white” instead of “am.”
For all you naysayers, here is a well respected study on this issue. But I imagine this may conflict with your ideology or dogma. http://www.nber.org/papers/w9873.pdf
Reblogged this on Baulkman and Company.
Let me just say, good for you Yolanda for writing this article. It is bold and it tells the truth that most whites do not want to hear. I am an employer, Black but I can “pass” for white unlike my children and husband. My clientele is professional whites and I have no doubt that if they knew I was black upon our first meeting and if they saw my family initially, we would not have achieved the amount of success we have thus far. May I also add, as an employer, my husband and I do look at names and addresses in order to figure out the race of candidates. We do it for diversity purposes within our work place so in my mind, an employer is straight lying if they say that they never pay attention to those things! Whether this personal experiment of yours is considered scientific or not, facts are facts and racism does exist within the employment industry. My husband and I are and have always been well aware of that so none of our four children have traditional African-American names, but more white if you will….I use a nick name for business purposes.; sad but true! Thanks for the article!
Eyes can’t be open of those who don’t want to see 1/9/14