There are a lot of unspoken things that happen in society that we don’t want to believe. Sometimes, people feel marginalized and alienated due to their identity and we may not understand because we, ourselves, do not undergo this kind of conflict. But, when someone feels they are secluded or marginalized because of who they are, it can be a very difficult thing to deal with.
Sometimes, they want to “test things out” to see if things would be different should they have a different story.
When people feel as though their culture is the reason why people treat them unfairly, they often wonder if things would be different if they were from a different culture.
RELATED STORIES
Recently, one woman decided to conduct the experiment herself when trying to get a job.
The woman wrote into Reddit to ask if she was wrong for using her boyfriend’s last name as an experiment, even though the two are not married yet.
The woman explained that she has been looking for a new job for a while and has been struggling to get some interviews.
“I (30F) work as a copywriter in a fairly competitive field. I write in English even though I’m not an English native, but I have been working in this field and in English for over 6 years. Now, a couple of years ago I was looking for a new job and having difficulty getting interviews,” she wrote.
She realized it may be because of her last name.
“After some time, I realized it may have been because my last name is very typical of my country (think Martinez or similar) and people were screening me assuming my English level,” she added.
She decided to A/B Test the theory by using her boyfriend’s last name, instead for her applications.
“I asked my boyfriend, who is white and English-native [sic], if I could use his last name to apply for jobs. I didn’t see it as a big deal as we’re planning on getting married and me taking his last name anyway.
To be clear: other than the name on the CV, I made no claims to be an actual English native, just native-level, and I’m always honest about my background in interviews,” she wrote in the post.
Apparently, the A/B Test paid off because she got some interviews based on the secondary cover letter with her boyfriend’s last name.
“Well, guess what? It worked. I got my current job based on that CV, and now use his last name on LinkedIn and all professional channels,” she wrote in the Reddit post.
However, when discussing with a friend, the Reddit user was told she was wrong for “denying her culture.”
“Firstly they accused me of denying my culture, birth country, and trying to be white. Then they said I was lying to companies and misrepresenting myself, and that I could be stealing this job from more deserving people.
He even implied that he would go to my current company and ‘reveal my secret’ which is ridiculous as I’ve provided my ID to them, so they know that this is not my ‘official’ name,” she added.
Many said that she was not in the wrong, because in the end it wasn’t just the last name that got her the job interview.
“Sure the change in last name might have gotten them to look at your CV a bit closer, but your achievements and experience don’t lie, you got that job on your own merit and for him to suggest that you are taking this job away from someone ‘more deserving’ that actually does have a white last name is problematic and racist in itself,” one person said.
Another added that this friend should care more about the biases that are happening.
“I think your friend should be more concerned [with] the obvious hidden racism/bias going on here ([that] you were experiencing). There’s [sic] studies that confirm your exact situation: that using a less ‘foreign’ sounding name results in more job responses,” another person said.
What do you think, was it wrong for this woman to conduct her test, or did she make an important discovery about racial bias?
