Abstract
Literature reviews have brought attention to the discrimination towards names in the recruitment process by recruiters where these individuals are not considered for employment. In order to examine this phenomenon from the literature, an ethnographic study was conducted of the perceptions of recruiters through participant observation and a semi-structured interview during a period of three months. This study conducted a semi-structured interviewed with 20 recruiters who were a member of SHRM and a local chapter of SHRM in the state of Florida. A gap from the literature in furthering research in seeking what perceptions recruiters have towards first names of a perceived socioeconomic status associated with the first name is examined. The findings indicate the recruiter’s perceptions have an impact towards those with unusual and ethnic first names.
Highlights
The study was to determine if Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) members who are Human Resource (HR) professionals with hiring responsibilities do react to an applicant’s ethnic first name in a negative way due to the unfamiliarity and the unlikableness of the name, and because the HR professional associates ethnic first names with people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds or with people who have certain ―negative‖ characteristics
The bias and discrimination may range from the unfamiliarity of the name, the unlikableness of the name, and a perceived socioeconomic status of the ethnic first name, and the characteristics of a person associated with an ethnic name
The results demonstrate the ongoing human resource management issue within HR departments where recruiters have certain personal perceptions towards a name on the résumé
Summary
The study was to determine if Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) members who are Human Resource (HR) professionals with hiring responsibilities do react to an applicant’s ethnic first name in a negative way due to the unfamiliarity and the unlikableness of the name, and because the HR professional associates ethnic first names with people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds or with people who have certain ―negative‖ characteristics. These individuals may not be aware of their own personal biases and prejudices towards ethnic first names when these names appear on job applications or during selection, recruitment, and hiring. The gap presented in Cotton, O’Neill, and Griffin’s (2008) study is addressed of how recruiter’s perceive their own first name to other first names in rating each into a socioeconomic status
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