<p>One of my friends from college is Caucasian & married someone who is of Japanese ancestry. When they got married, she took his last name as her middle name & kept her maiden name as her last name. The prospective employers always assumed from her resume that she was Japanese & married a Caucasian, until she showed up for the interview. </p>
<p>It may depends on the field, but in many fields, I donât believe Asians are necessarily discriminated against. Many receive numerous job offers. I do believe it may seem like the person has lived in the US longer if s/he has a more Americanized first name. It may also depend on the region of the country you live inâHawaii and the West Coast have A LOT of Asians, but they do compete for jobs all over the US.</p>
<p>Changing oneâs name requires following legal requirements wherever you live and will require that you also inform the schools you attended, social security, credit bureaus and other organizations, as well as posting an ad in the newspaper (at least in HI). It is not a trivial matter. One time & place where names can be changed at no extra cost is during marriages and divorces.</p>
<p>Well, if your resume says âCindy Christiansenâ but your face says âShi Wei Hongâ they will likely assume you are either adopted by or married to some western person named Christiansen. But if you actually get hired, if not sooner, your real name will come out. At which time they will realize they have been deceived.</p>
<p>Itâs kind of like lying in your on-line dating profile. If you actually get a date the truth will eventually become apparent, and your date may feel tricked or lied to. Not a promising to start to a relationship.</p>
Iâve seen this and itâs helpful to either indicate being a USA citizen or work visa status (assuming applying for a job in the USA). Also, some jobs ârequireâ USA citizenship so in those cases it eliminates any question to just put it on the resume.</p>
And if the employer suspected any lying at all or likely even something misleading, i.e. a lack of being open and honest, then the resume will likely go into the virtual round file and thatâll be that.</p>
<p>Racism is out there no matter what people say and a judgement is made about you as soon as your name is read on the resume. I donât see how you can change your last name; as others have mentioned your social security number, your references, degrees etc. would not match. Can you shorten your first name so it sounds anglo? or just put your first initial followed by your german middle name together with your last name on the resume.</p>
<p>I review resumes for technical positions, and there are many, many applicants from overseas.</p>
<p>My view would be that a resume with an Asian name would not be passed over because the company doesnât want to hire someone with an Asian appearance, but rather because the person reviewing it doesnât want to waste time considering an applicant whose English is not sufficient to the task.</p>
<p>Many Chinese assume English first names, so to have an English first name is insufficient to signal that English is your first language.</p>
<p>Make sure that your resume makes it abundantly clear that your English is completely fluent.</p>
<p>Fendrock,
What does one put on a resume to make it âabundantly clear that English is completely fluent?â Of course, spell and grammar check to be sure proper English is used, but that would not seem to be nearly enough to signal fluency, as one could get someone to help prepare or polish resumes. Other suggestions? </p>
<p>The Asians I know that are born in the US have not told me they have experienced problems getting jobs.</p>
<p>One suggestion would be to list high school or hometown accomplishments, to indicate that you have lived in the USA since childhood (and therefore have native fluency).</p>
<p>I have done phone screenings of candidates who have attended college and graduate school in the USA, and so have been here for a decade or more. The English of the cover letter can be completely fluent, and yet the spoken English is still not sufficient to be hired into a customer facing position.</p>
<p>Perhaps it may also depend on what field(s) the job-seeker is applying to and what job s/he is attempting to get. There seem to be many foreign born and/or recent immigrants in STEM fields, particularly those who DONâT work with the public.</p>
<p>The kids we know went to US high schools, some were Eagle Scouts and had other strong community ties during their teen years. Even though they werenât applying for positions specifically working with the public, they would have been suitable and strong candidates for such jobs.</p>
<p>Yes. Have a really good cover letter. We were super-impressed by the flawlessly written cover letter of an intern applicant who we knew grew up in Japan. It was better than some of the ones from people who grew up in the US. I think thatâs a way to show that communication is not an issue. Many places phone-screen as well, which is another way to show that.</p>
<p>I think I would think it was odd if you came in and we found out that your name was different than on your application (and we check CORI records so we would need your legal name) but if you had legally changed it, Iâm not sure how much we would know. Iâm guessing CORI might ask you to give your previous names since itâs a criminal record check and I doubt your name would actually get changed in all court records if you changed it.</p>
<p>I think it also depends a lot on the industry and the type of work. Another thing is that for internships, foreign students often need special visas and workplaces can shy away from that. Hopefully assumptions about that wouldnât affect an interview, but knowledge of that would affect hiring. We made sure we knew what our Japanese intern needed visa-wise and what was required of us before we hired her.</p>
<p>Wow, it didnât even occur to me that I should do this. But how? I was the editor of my high school newspaper, but I simply donât have room on my resume to mention stuff from that far back. I am too early in my career to have any notable publications or presentations. </p>
<p>I may be foreign-born, but I grew up in the states and my English is way better than my native language. Makes me sad that I still have to demonstrate my command of English : (</p>
<p>You have to write a cover letter for most jobs. I think that makes it pretty clear. And many native English speakers demonstrate their lack of command of English on cover letters as well. :)</p>
<p>^^^^Ok, but donât you have to demonstrate competency in all kinds of things when you apply for a job? Is it really that much more trouble to structure your resume in such a way that it highlights all of your strengths? Your employers want to be assured that you have good skills-all that apply to your job-thatâs really not that unreasonable.</p>
<p>I had a very âethnicâ last name before I married, and it didnât slow me down one iota. In my career, you are always having to prove your competency in all respects, certifications, etc., so having to âprove myselfâ just seems natural.</p>
<p>The comments earlier about Jewish people changing their names in the '30s and '40s struck a cord with me. (Iâm Jewish and we didnât change our name, but we know people who did.) There was tremendous prejudice â open and articulated back in the day; restaurants and hotels with signs that said âWe donât serve Jewsâ â and people definitely needed to assimilate so their religion would not be an obstacle.</p>
<p>Nowadays, I donât believe Asians are discriminated in the same way at all. First of all, itâs illegal, and it certainly wasnât in the '30s and '40s. Secondly, there are so many Asians in all parts of the country and in all industries. Admittedly, I live near NY and Iâve worked for large Fortune 500 companies, so thatâs my perspective. Things may be different in a small town in a less cosmopolitan area. But in general, I donât think itâs a problem at all.</p>
<p>That doesnât mean it isnât there, or that it isnât significantly abundant, or that many companies donât get away with it. When I was in elementary school I lived in a fairly-privileged predominantly white town (Cape Elizabeth, ME) and though they never articulated it explicitly to our face, they always treated us differently despite the fact we were from a former British colony and had very fluent English. The frank honesty of their children was the most revealing â on the playground there was a never-ending stream of taunts about our race. I can often detect an undertone in how Iâm treated now, the one that eyes you suspiciously or warily because âyou are differentâ.</p>
<p>When I hire I look for good command of English in all applicants regardless of race or where they are born. Some total paleface WASP who was born in the same town I was was does not get a free pass. Poor English is poor English regardless of who is speaking or writing it.</p>
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