Should You Change Your Name on a Resume? Pros and Cons for Job Seekers

This article will outline the situations that cause people to hesitate to use their real name, and five facts about Canadian hiring practices you should know about.

Discrimination and bias in the recruitment process

According to The Harvard Business Review, Minorities who ‘whiten’ their resumes are much more likely to be contacted for an interview.

For example, a Black man has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against a Detroit hotel, alleging that he was only offered a job interview after changing the name on his resume.

According to CNN, Dwight Jackson filed a lawsuit against the Shinola Hotel, claiming he was denied a job when he applied as ‘Dwight Jackson,’ but was later offered an interview after changing his name to ‘John Jebrowski.’

The Amercian lawsuit asserts that Jackson's job denial violated the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act which aims to to prohibit discriminatory practices, much like the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Every day qualified international students, newcomers, Black, Brown, BIPOC and other underrepresented candidates are being screened out of recruitment processes due to bias around their names.

Here, employers are making false assumptions about their skills based on the given name at the top of the resume.

For example, an employer might assume a candidate with a non North-American sounding name lacks strong communication skills. As a result, this minority candidate may see themselves screened out of the process without ever landing an interview.

Many job seekers face discrimination and bias in the recruitment process.  The bias and discrimination might be conscious or unconscious. 

Unfortunately, as a consultant in the Human Resource space, I’ve seen candidates be screened out of the hiring process based on assumptions related to their given family name. 

I’ve heard employers say things like this about candidates with a non-North American sounding name: they won’t fit with my team, they probably don’t speak great English.

Maybe you’ve been struggling with something like this in your job search.  Something’s feeling very off and you suspect this might be due to your family name on your resume. 

Maybe you’ve even considered changing the name on your resume and adopting a nickname for your job search. 

I really hate to think that you’re not getting interviews on the basis of your name.  On the other hand, I want to be real with you. 

I don’t love the idea of a candidate needing to change their name to get a job interview.  It is morally and ethically wrong for employers to require this. 

I can’t honestly imagine how that would make you feel.  But at the end of the day I get it. You need a chance, a fair shot, a job.  And you might be willing to try just about anything at this point.   

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5 facts about changing your name on your resume to get more job interviews

1. It's legal to use a nickname

You have absolutely zero requirement to put your full legal name on your resume in Canada.  In fact, a lot of people don’t put their legal name on their resume.  For example, Michael goes by Mike.  Herbert goes by his middle name, Craig, and so on. 

It’s fairly common for folks with Asian names like Xiue Yu, for example, to adopt a North American nickname.  Xiue might list their first name as Rebecca on their resume.  This is a an accepted practice in the North American job market. You can do whatever you want when it comes to your name on your resume, without any negative repercussions.

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