Asian name on resume
I am an international student and a rising junior at a semi-target/low target school.
When crafting my resume, is it advisable for me to create an English name (the likes of John/Dan) to fend off xenophobia? Or should I just go by my real name, which all of my friends and previous employers call me?
In other words, is it okay to go by Dan Lee or Min Lee (short version of real name) instead of stating my full legal name on resume? (Min Lee versus Min Soo Lee, for instance - this is a common Korean name and is totally made up. Not my real name)
Thank you!
Umm, is a company that would pass on you because you're Asian the kind of company you want to work for?
A lot of companies would do this, though obviously they wouldn't admit to it.
Which ones? Care to comment? Can't be a hedge fund since there's tons of Asian running around in them. All the banks have tons of Asians and historically, Asians don't stay at bulge brackets as they jump ship to buyside. The old school mega PE-funds maybe but look at the roster of senior dudes and you'll see that there's some REALLY senior Asian guys there. Blackstone has Michael Chae, KKR has Herald Chen, Silverlake has Ken Hao, etc. Not to mention all these businesses have Asian offices with senior partners who sit on mgmt. committeees etc. There's also tons of Indians too if you include them as Asian in very senior positions.
So no, don't hide who you are and honestly like the previous posters say, if they're going to discriminate, then don't work there. And for all those people who SB'ed esuric's comment, you're an idiot
I'd disagree with the posts above. Your name can definitely have an effect on whether you receive an interview. Take a look at this study: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/17/jobs-search-hiring-racial…
Asians are smart, so for certain jobs it could be a plus.
Korean names are easier to pronounce. Chinese a little harder but still doable.
no offence to SE Asians, particularly Vietnamese folk, but some of you have names that would guarantee a non interview, e.g:
Phuc Dat Bich - real name.
I'm Vietnamese and no offence taken, but I can assure you that you got trolled/misled. Phuc Dat Bich is no way in hell a real name.
Ok look I had quite a few Viet friends too back in school and most of them were either - trans or mins etc, so pretty simple.
but is it not the case that all those words specifically are real Vietnamese words.
relax I pity Indian guys with the name: Hardik
Or a school friend who had Fucked up parents because his name legit was: Neil Downward- yes he swings the other way now too, much much more.
Anyways fuck names this is America, a
Barack Hussein Obama was once the POTUS.
Ban Ki Moon was the Secretary General of the UN.
So do what you like, but to keep it safe get it westernised if you must.
although I cringe every time I meet a bespectacled nerdy Asian dude from HK called Milton Wong
Or Winston Chan
the Brits are gone guys, HK is free, so what's with the bullshit upperclass English names?
Let's be realistic here.
Unless you're applying for the HK office where a Chinese name would make the HR think you are not those ABCs that only speak kitchen Chinese, always put an English name on your resume. Always. You would be f**king surprised to know how huge a difference it makes, especially for international students.
e.g. John (Min Soo) Lee or John Min Soo Lee
It's a heads-up for whoever will be reading your resume that this person is 'one of the converts'.
Most international students with english names just make the name for themselves at some point, usually when they move to the states. You don't need the name to be on any official documents, just make one for yourself at any point and use it. It has nothing to do with lying or background checks.
Just put whatever name you want on your resume, and use your real name for official documents where they need to match your ID/passport (like when they ask you to fill out your background check form). For some application forms, you can put your real name and then put your english name as "preferred name".
Leaving your Asian name out won't hurt your chances so I think you might as well. You don't want to be perceived as someone who doesn't speak English well.
True story: I have a very European name (think Luc de La Barre de Nanteuil vs. Sam Jones) and I had one or two interviewers remark that, "Yeah, we weren't sure whether or not you'd speak English very well, but you're doing great!"
For the record, I'm American...
Indians often have as difficult, if not more difficult, names as East Asians do and you never see them changing their names.
Have some respect for yourself – use your real name. I cringe every time I see someone acting like they're ashamed of their own name and tell people to call them something generic like "John" or "Mike." I've never gone by anything other than my actual, and obviously foreign, name but have never run into any issues.
It's stupid to suggest that people have any less respect for themselves just because they want to use a different name. Why would you judge people based on what they want to call themselves? It's their choice. If you have to "cringe" every time someone asked to call them by a preferred name it says more about your character than theirs.. don't understand why you would consider yourself to be any superior because you use your real name.
The amount of racist idiocy on this page is outstanding.
If you actually go by a different name, put that on your resume If you have only an Asian name, and you're willing to make up a BS name just for a job interview, you need to go take a real good hard look at what you want to be doing in life
Yes there's racism out there, yes there will be some idiot who won't want to interview you because you're Asian - such is life but I gotta tell you. If that guy is racist, your last name will give it away so what's the point? You're willing to white wash yourself for a slightly higher % chance of getting an interview?
It is understandable you'd be insecure and want a good shot but your resume should be more than just your name. Also resume picks are done by large groups of people and I can tell you, resume picks at all BB firms are done by a VERY diverse group of people that HR sees to (i.e., they make sure there's sufficient women, minorities etc.)
One thing to note though, Asians do not count as protected minorities in the workplace at banks.
Just food for though
This is one of the dumbest, serious posts on WSO I've ever read. "Racism" and "white washing" have nothing to do with it. As others have pointed out, an FOB Asian name may indicate difficulty in verbal communication because--surprise, surprise!--Asian languages are radically different than English; English is very difficult to master at a professional fluency for non-native speakers. My Chinese business partner (a naturalized citizen who has been in the U.S. for 16 years) is a strong professional writer of English but struggles mightily on the phone because of such a heavy accent. It's a very real problem. The last thing many people want to do on a resume is to highlight that they are recent Asian immigrants to the U.S. and may not be able to speak English at professional fluency. That's not racism or self-hatred.
What I advise clients is this -- the resume is usually the first point of contact that someone has of you before they even see you in person.
And that top section with your contact info is very important for a very human reason: when we meet someone for the first time (even if it's virtually), we can't help but want to know basics: are you a man or woman, what's your cultural background/nationality/ethnicity, where are you from/currently based. That's why even before they get to the rest of the resume, just your name and contact info can say a lot.
With Chinese and Korean names in particular, it's a practical issue. Outside of Chinese or Korean speaking folks, it's simply hard to tell whether the person is a man or woman based on the name alone. This has nothing to do with prejudice, racism, etc - it's just that as people, when this kind of info is not clear, it can throw you off just a bit even if gender or cultural background have nothing to do with the job (or that the person has no strong prejudices). It's not make or break, but if the person has no problems with having an English first name, I tend to recommend that they put it on there [example: Song Hyun (Michael) Kim]
On the other hand, with Indians and Japanese names it's easier to keep it as is, simply because it's easier for folks to identify gender right away based on the name. But if they want to put an English first name by all means it's cool. I've even seen some Indians condense their surnames (so their legal name is still 50 syllables long, but their given name they use in business and everyday life is something like "Vik Anand")
This also goes beyond just ethnicity, but connotation when it comes to western names.
Jimmy McGill Jim McGill James McGill James McGill, Jr. (or James McGill III)
All the same variation, but have different connotations. The first one seems young (like you'd give a child). The second one feels more informal to neutral. The third one a bit more formal but still neutral, and the fourth one definitely has some upper crust connotations (which may work in very specific instances, but most of the time will likely turn people off). Or just change your name to Saul Goodman that connotes a specific ethnicity. :)
Perhaps, but maybe it's just me, even as an Asian. I find Japanese names easier to identify gender. But the reality is, the chances of coming across a Japanese first name in the English speaking world are far less than Korean, Chinese or South Asian names. If they're Japanese-American, almost always they'll have an English first name (like most Asian-Americans frankly, except for Indian-Americans where it's less common), and if they're pure Japanese, almost entirely they're resistant to assigning a given name anyhow.
With Chinese names it can be even tougher because you don't really know which is the surname unless they use a hyphen (Yi Huang-Siu) and especially confusing for Chinese names with just two characters (Song Fung). If it's the Chinese way, then it's 'Yao Ming' but if written the western way it should be Ming Yao. At least with Korean names, because of the overwhelming commonality of specific surnames (Kim, Park, Choo) it's easy to tell, and for some reason at least from memory Koreans will hyphenate their given names to make it even easier).
And you can almost always tell what kind of Chinese -- if they don't use an English first name, they're almost always from mainland China. The ethnic Chinese in Taiwan, HK, and those who've emigrated to the west have had a long tradition of almost always not only have English first names but use it exclusively in everyday and business life.