THE CONVERSATION: Four ways your name can affect your job prospects

Description

What’s in a name? A lot, according to research. Your name can have a huge influence on your prospects in life. Much of this is due to bias, stereotyping and other rules of thumb that people employ when making judgements about others.

In hiring this can be a huge problem. While there are nine characteristics in UK legislation that are protected from discrimination, it is difficult for humans (or even artificial intelligence) to make unbiased judgements. The characteristics that are protected from discrimination include things like your gender, whether or not you have a disability, your race, religion and sexual orientation.

But even if you don’t disclose these features on your CV, our names can suggest much about us. Here are four ways your name can affect your job prospects: