“When I grow up, I'm not going to give my child an 'ethnic' name. I want them to be able to get a job."
This is a statement that I remember ignorantly making in grade school as I played “house" with my next door neighbor. Imagine that! Even as a young child, I unconsciously was impacted by the idea of “whitening" my life and my family. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only person that felt this way in grade school; many of my friends agreed that they would rather give their future children a “white" or “American" name. Even to this day as an adult, I have met plenty of Black people that have vowed to never give their child an urban/ethnic name. As ridiculous as you may think this sounds, it is our reality in America.
As a hiring manager, I have interviewed countless of people that purposefully left off certain organizations and affiliations on their resume. For those folk, it wasn't until they were hired, and they realized that my company was diverse that they opened up about their organizations, affiliations, and hobbies. Resume whitening is real you'll (more so disturbingly real). For some job seekers, there is this misconception that by tweaking their resume to omit their race or culture, they are more likely to get hired.
The saddest part about the idea of resume whitening is that studies show that it actually works. During a two-year study at the University of Toronto and Stanford University, Sonia Kang and her colleagues sent out 1,600 fabricated resumes, based off of real candidates to employers in 16 different metropolitan areas in the US. Some of the resumes were left as is, and some were “whitened". It was discovered that out of all of the races, African Americans and Asian Americans were most likely to “whiten" their resume.
In the study, 25.5% of resumes received callbacks if African American candidates' names were “whitened", and only 10% received a callback if they left their name and experience unaltered. For Asian applicants, 21% heard back if they changed their resume, and only 11.5% of candidates did if their resumes were not “whitened" The Asian applicants were more likely to change their names or use a middle name instead of their first name and African American applicants were more likely to slightly change their name and exclude race-focused organizations and awards.
“When I was in college, I definitely decreased the amount of Black-named organizations on my resume. I am a part of a Black Greek sorority, and I was the President of NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists), and I was the Membership Chair for Black Campus Ministries. My name is already very 'urban' and I didn't have a lot of work experience so after not receiving any callbacks, I thought that by “downing my Blackness" I would get more interviews. To be honest, I saw a substantial difference in the amount of callbacks I received after I whitened my resume." - Anonymous
Similar to the person above, most people that were interviewed in the Resume Whitening study said that their reasoning behind whitening their resume is to eliminate potential obstacles that would prevent them from getting a callback. By whitening their resume, they felt like they at least had a better chance to make it to an interview so they could have the opportunity to impress the interviewer. Studies have unfortunately shown that applicants with “black-sounding names" get fewer callbacks than those with white-sounding names, even when they have equivalent educational and work credentials.
While most hiring managers or people won't admit it, discrimination does exist and some people would rather not hire anyone with “urban" names. Even as Raven-Symone said on The View, “I'm not about to hire you if your name is Watermelondrea." I know we can all agree saying this comment is out of line, but then again it came from Raven-Symone so we are not surprised.
We can all agree that discrimination sometimes happens during and before the hiring process but no one should have to “whiten" their resume to get an interview.
Here are 5 times that you have “whitened" your resume and probably didn't realize it.
1. Abbreviating your name
Instead of listing your full first and last name, you shorten it.
Example: Instead of putting Kamesha L. Smith, it becomes K.L. Smith on your resume.
2. Using your middle name as your first name
You believe that your middle name is more “American" so you use it instead of your first name.
Example: Your name is LaShandra Courtney Dean, but your resume says Courtney Dean.
3. You remove or decrease your minority affiliations
In college, you were involved and had leadership roles in various organizations. Most of these organizations had the name of your race in the name so you remove some of them from your resume.
Example: Instead of stating that you were the President of your Black sorority, a founding member of the Black Democrat Society, and the Vice President of NABA (National Association of Black Accountants), you only list one organization and instead list other organization that don't sound “too Black".
4. You change your hobbies
On your resume, you list interests that are more common with the American culture.
Example: You choose to put interests such as hiking, hockey, or snowboarding because you assume that these interests are more aligned with non-minorities.
5. You alter your location
You change your current location on your resume so that you don't appear to be from an area that is primarily minority-based.
Example: You list you are from San Francisco but you are really from Oakland, California (back in the pre-gentrified Oakland days).
There are many more examples of resume whitening or altering yourself to hopefully get the approval of others. Even once we get the job, we begin to “code-switch" or in other words shifting your language or behavior to identify with more closely with others.
Related Post: Raven Symone, Watermelondrea, and My Job Hunting Reality
What are your thoughts on resume whitening? Drop a comment below and share what you think.
- 'Resume whitening' doubles callbacks for minority job candidates ... ›
- When Resumes Are Made 'Whiter' to Please Potential Employers ... ›
- Harvard Study Says Minority Job Candidates Are 'Whitening' Their ... ›
- 'Whitening' the Résumé - The New York Times ›
- When Resumes Are Made 'Whiter' to Please Potential Employers ... ›
RELATED
Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak