So, the ladies of The View have blown up the internet again with thoughtless comments. Instead of insulting nurses, this time it’s co-host Raven-Symoné announcing that she would discriminate against people with Ethnic sounding names. She says it’s not racist, it’s simply discriminatory.
I wish I could say she’s the only person on the planet that would be so awful as to judge a person by his or her name. (After all, unless you were raised on some sort of commune where children pick their own names at the age of 3, you didn’t have a thing to do with your name. It may say something about your parents, but it says nothing about you.) Unfortunately, multiple studies have shown that people will discriminate against job candidates based on their names alone.
To keep reading, click here: Would You Hire Someone With a Black Name? Raven-Symoné Won’t.
Bit hypocritical of someone named Raven, yes?
You should check out the Twitter talk about that very fact. It cracks me up.
Why anyone watches this show, or listens to anything these vapid women say is beyond me. I agree with Antonia. Someone named Raven discriminating based on a name? OK then.
It’s sad that you have to discuss such stupidity, but I get it….
It’s not the Raven part. It’s Raven together with the made-up Symoné that makes her hypocritical. Raven by itself is a goth heroine in a paranormal novel.
I think Her Evilness gave perfect advice here: A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, “Would the ladies of The View think this?” and if the answer is yes, it falls into the bad idea category.
That and “Don’t be stupid about hiring. Just don’t.”
Yeah, those ladies tend towards the dumb as a rock side of the scale.
That smart?? Most of us don’t choose our names, but sometimes parents hang some very unusual names on their children.
“Would the ladies of The View think this?” and if the answer is yes, it falls into the bad idea category.
Yep, I totally agree. Although, I do have to wonder if they just say things to get a reaction.
Sometimes I catch the tail end of The View when I turn on the TV waiting for the News At Noon. Man, are they annoying!
I did watch them intentionally when Romney was running for President; they invited Ann Romney onto their show. I so wanted to just shake Whoopi when she tried a “gotcha” question on Ann. Whoopi was under the mistaken impression that Later Day Saints were a traditional “peace church” and wanted to know how was Ann’s husband going to send young men off to war when his own religion forbade him from fighting himself. Ann (being the classy woman that she is) quietly, yet firmly, set the record straight.
As for the name discrimination thing. It is as real as is age and gender bias. I do like your idea of having HR remove such identifying items as name.
I can relate to this article on so many levels. I have an ethnic sounding name based on the fact I have a hyphen in my first name but I am Caucasian. My parents thought they were creative when they named me because it is my mom’s first name and my grandparents names wrapped up into one. While I was growing up I thought it was fun to have a name that was unique because there were 3 Jennifers in all my classes and keeping them straight was tough. As I grew up, I have grown to resent the “unique” name because of the negative comments I have received over the years. Working in HR I now have found out how people view the name. I receive comments all the time when someone meets me that they expected a middle eastern Arab male to walk through the door. For a while I was job searching and wondered why I was not hearing back on my resume for positions I was more than qualified for. I find when I work with a headhunter I don’t have a problem because they explain to the company the “uniqueness” of my name which is a nice way of saying I am white and I seem to get in right away for an interview. This is a sad reality but I believe it is very true.
The women on the View represent a variety of viewpoints. Dismissing them out-of-hand is as stereotypical as rejecting job candidates based on their names.
While I agree it’s silly to dismiss an otherwise strong candidate because of a name, isn’t it true that when hiring you have to make all sorts of decisions based on really limited information – much of which may not be fair to the candidate?
In particular, your parents name you, and a big chunk of who you are – from your work ethic to your IQ – comes from the environment in which you were raised. Could somebody raised by parents who would name their child “Pineapple Salad Clover” be a really awesome worker? It’s entirely possible. But we don’t have god-like knowledge, so we have to make inferences based on the tidbits of information we have.
By the same token, could someone who’s been unemployed for the last year be a really awesome worker? Absolutely. But HR departments routinely discard resumes from the long-term unemployed because on average it’s a red flag. We also look at colleges attended, GPA’s, SAT scores, – none of which give you 100% accurate information about what type of worker someone will be, but all of which can be relevant.
What if somebody shows up to an interview wearing inappropriate clothing? Does that automatically mean they’re a terrible worker? No, but again we all know from empirical experience that it’s a red flag and that it MAY be a sign of a problem. And you never want to gamble and lose when hiring.
So basically I think this is one of those things where everyone is pretending to be outraged by these comments, but in reality it’s perfectly rational.
One final thought: You’re allowed to change your first name in this country. Some people would argue that you shouldn’t HAVE to change your name to get a job, but I argue no one HAS to give you a job either. If you have a name that’s going to signify to others that you were raised by ignorant or immature people, it may be a good idea to change it.