#SAYTHEIRNAME Series: PART FOUR

CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO

A person’s name is the greatest connector to an identity and one’s own sense of belonging and individuality. Yet, the racism and biases deeply integrated into our systems causes people, whether intentional or unintentional, to make harmful assumptions.

Demisha Jennings, Certified Professional Resume Writer and founder and CEO of She Assists LLC, a company designed to help clients craft competitive resumes that will help them land their dream jobs, suggest otherwise, “One of the conversations I had with a client recently, she said that she wanted her middle name to be listed as her first name on her resume because she has a hard time getting calls back because people tell her that her name is ghetto. It really saddened me when she said that because my name, Demisha, is ghetto to some people unfortunately…I told [my client] if you change your name and they do give you a call back that’s great but if they can’t accept you for who you are with your name, then you don’t want to work there.”

Some employers make intentional decisions to adopt a blind resume system to limit racial or ethnic biases, whether implicit or explicit. For example, Katherine McNamee, SHRM-CP, with the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), a nonprofit with 40 employees in Arlington, Virginia adopted a blind resume system and requested job…