Should I change my name on my resume?

This is a sad article to have to write, but we always want to give the best resume advice to Sheets Resume members to maximize their chances of landing an interview and job. Even if that advice is something you haven't heard elsewhere (or maybe, especially if you haven't heard that advice elsewhere).

If you're asking "Should I change my name on my resume?", it's likely (and regrettably) because you're worried about discrimination from resume screeners if you have a "foreign" or "weird" name in whichever country you're applying for jobs.

So here's the truth: resume screeners do discriminate based on a candidate's name.

Often not consciously, but everyone has their own biases, and screeners tend to tell themselves "stories" in their heads about candidates.

"Ethnic" Names and Nicknames on Resumes

"That’s a foreign-sounding name… I wonder if they speak English well or will need visa sponsorship…"

^ This is probably the most common "story" that we advise candidates to try to avoid. If you have a more "local"-sounding nickname, or can abbreviate your first name if it's uncommon in your locale or difficult to pronounce, we guarantee that this will help you get more interviews… even if it totally sucks that this is the world we live in.

And it's not just about ethnicity or national origin...

Gender Bias re: Resumes and Interview Callback Rates

Re: gender bias, there are also studies showing that male names get higher interview rates vs female names… even with the exact same resume content otherwise. So if you're "Samantha" and aren't getting many interview requests, consider testing submitting your resume as "Sam" for a few applications. (I feel gross just writing this, but I've seen it firsthand as a recruiter – I changed a candidate's name from "Jessi" to "James" and the client wanted to interview "James"... despite having passed on Jessi's exact same resume less than a week prior.)

Now, you may be asking yourself: would you even want to work at a company that would pass on an interview with you over something as inconsequential as your name? This is a complicated question. Resume screeners are the ones holding the keys to the interview, and while some of them do have biases, oftentimes they may be third-party recruiters that don't even work at the same company you're applying to. Or if they do work at the company, they may never interact with the team they're hiring for. In other cases, a screener's bias may be subconscious, and not something they'd ever act on consciously in the workplace. There are a lot more people who work at a company than just a resume screener (who is usually the lowest person on the org chart anyway, as it's the most manual, depressing, time-consuming work a company has), so avoiding a screener's implicit bias and securing an interview may lead to an otherwise great job at an otherwise great company. It's hard to say, and you'll have to answer these questions yourself based on the people you meet and the culture you observe in the interview process.

So, is it okay to change your name on your resume?

Overall, the rule on changing your name on your resume is: don't feel obligated to use your full legal first name if you think it may be holding you back (again, it's awful to have to even write this advice post, but I hope it's helpful for some people out there). There's no law against changing your name or giving yourself a nickname, and in a tough job market like the one we're in, you want to avoid every disadvantage you can when it comes to getting past a resume screen.

I hope this is helpful for some people who have this question, and maybe even for a few people who didn't.

originally posted to /r/SheetsResume