“Resume’ Whitening” Aids Black Job Applicants

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“Resume’ Whitening” Aids Black Job Applicants

April 7th, 2016

Awake Goy

Hiding ethnic identity on resumes helps blacks get callback for job interviews.

A study conducted by researchers at three universities has found that some black job applicants “whiten” their resumes by hiding their ethnic identities. This strategy increased their chances of getting a response from prospective employers.

“Resume whitening” consists of altering information on one’s resume that indicates one’s ethnicity. For example, TaShomba Marie Gaines might give her name on a job application as T. Marie Gaines. In addition to using initials instead of “black-sounding” names, resumes may be whitened by omitting memberships in or awards and other honors from black organizations, listing degrees from predominantly white universities but not including degrees from predominantly black institutions, and not listing work published in media associated with minorities.

Researchers interviewed 29 black job-seekers between the ages of 18 and 25; almost a third reported that they “whiten” their resumes to some degree and two thirds reported knowing someone who does.

During the study, researchers sent out 1,600 fake resumes to employers in 16 different metropolitan areas in the U.S. Resumes that were not “whitened” received responses from 10% of prospective employers. Those resumes that changed the name but showed some affiliation to blacks received responses 13% of the time. Those resumes that had both the name and the affiliations changed received responses from 25.5% of the prospective employers.

The two-year study was recently published in the journal Administrative Science Quarterly.