is there a way to hide your real last name on a resume?

[GladGradDad]

<p>

I wouldn’t be so sure it is a ridiculous assertion. That resume call back study in Toronto (which has a decent Asian Canadian population) does hint at such racial discrimination existing in employment.

My words were “rampant employment racism against Asians” and IMO, that’s a ridiculous assertion. Note the keyword “rampant” which seems to be what the OP asserted since ‘she’ was suggesting taking a fairly extreme action to counter-act her perception.</p>

<p>

Well, if you look in the early pages you will see various people suggesting reasons why someone might not interview someone with a “not average sounding” name.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>They might not speak or write English well.</p></li>
<li><p>They might not have a work visa.</p></li>
<li><p>Their accent might be hard to understand.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The problem isn’t a bunch of HR people sitting around saying, “Now remember, we don’t want to hire any ASIANS. Because we haaaate theeeeem! <em>evil cackling</em>” It’s an HR director making assumptions, based on an Asian-sounding name, that they wouldn’t make for a name like “Jane Doe” or even “Marie Grande.”

I suppose some companies might have a completely incompetent HR director making assumptions based on something like a name, in which case they should fire themselves, but I don’t think it’s ‘rampant’ or probably even very common. Anyone with a modicum of experience in the business world and with hiring employees knows that one can’t make great assumptions based on such a simple attribute as a name. The assumptions are easily enough determined objectively (by asking directly if they’re entitled to work and by speaking with them and seeing examples of their writing) so there’s no need to make an assumption. The USA is comprised of people who derive from so many ethnic backgrounds that it’d be foolish to to make rash assumptions, one way or the other, based on just the name.</p>