He Dropped One Letter In His Name While Applying For Jobs, And The Responses Rolled In

[Heidi]

The Huffington Post | Posted: 09/02/2014 2:43 pm EDT

His name is José Zamora, and he had a routine.

During his months-long job search, he says he logged onto his computer every morning and combed the internet for listings, applying to everything he felt qualified for. In the Buzzfeed video above, he estimates that he sent out between 50 to 100 resumes a day -- which is, in a word, impressive.

But Zamora said he wasn't getting any responses, so on a hunch, he decided to drop the "s" in his name. José Zamora became Joe Zamora, and a week later, he says his inbox was full.

As he explains in the video, "Joe" hadn't changed anything on his resume but that one letter. But what Zamora had done, effectively, was whitewash it.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/02/jose-joe-job-discrimination_n_5753880.html

[Prophet 451]

1. A lot of racism, much of which was probably unconscious

The people reviewing those resumes probably weren't consciously avoiding the Hispanic guy but the subconscious assumptions that come with that label, the assignment of Hispanics to a subconscious "outgroup", made them reject his application.

[Heidi]

2. Conscious racism or unconscious racism, the results

for the victims of racism are the same, are they not?

[Prophet 451]

3. Mostly

The difference is in how you deal with it. Conscious racism can be challenged and legislated against. Unconscious racism takes much more effort and much longer to purge. Also, those guilty of unconscious racism will sometimes change their mind when it's pointed out to them.

[Heidi]

4. Absolutely agree.

[lonestarnot]

5. Recognition of the unconscious takes time to bubble up, add more fire.

[JustAnotherGen]

28. Excellent point!

[AverageJoe90]

14. There may be some racism, but maybe not all, necessarily

Not all prejudice is necessarily racism. Just thought I'd point that out.

Although, to be honest, subconscious racism is actually pretty damn rare these days, even in the U.S.; much of the racism that did occur, sadly, was likely quite conscious indeed, even if not spoken aloud.

[fishwax]

63. do you have any evidence for your claim that subconscious racism is "pretty damn rare these days"?

[XemaSab]

84. Free money!

n/t

[bettyellen]

87. LOL

[hughee99]

66. The last name didn't make it clear he was Hispanic? He didn't change the last name.

I think there's more to it than just "being Hispanic".

[Ken Burch]

91. Scary thought...were they ok with him being Hispanic...

...as long as it looked like he accepted the idea that he should sort of try to hide it?...Equal opportunity for those presumed to be self-loathing?

[Vine Gatherer]

86. And more of it was probably conscious

[suffragette]

6. What's in a name?

Sad truth about our society still projecting stereotypes and displaying racism.
Thanks for posting this, Heidi.
It needs to be seen to ever be changed.

[Heidi]

11. I am privileged

to have been given a distinctly "white" first name, a German maiden name and, now, an Italian married name. Like you, I know full well that our culture is still conferring subtle rewards to those perceived as white.

[suffragette]

13. "...our culture is still conferring subtle rewards to those perceived as white."

So very true and very well said.

[Heidi]

26. Spanish is my second language.

Maria is my middle name.

ETA: Where the heck did you see any such employment condition?

[Behind the Aegis]

30. Moi aussi!

Oh wait!

Spanish is also my second language, though I never use it anymore. I have lost so much of my language abilities.

Wie gehts?

Oh crap! I did it again!

[Heidi]

37. Ciao, Bello!

I haven't used my Spanish in more than 15 years. On the up side, I can now flirt in Italian.

Great to see you, friend.

[Behind the Aegis]

43. I won't say what I can do to Italians...oh wait...what I can SAY to Italians!

It's always a pleasure to see you! I would say give a to "him", but I haven't seen him about, so I am mad at him!

[Heidi]

44. I will give "him" a hug from you!

Re: your position on Italians:

Happy Wednesday, BtA!

[Behind the Aegis]

45. You do that....but you still don't my positions on Italians!

I won't share that!...unless you are Italian!

[Heidi]

46. Hahahahahahaha!

"You know who" is half Italian, you know!

[Behind the Aegis]

47. I guess I would be half-hearted in any position I took!

[Heidi]

48. *snort*!

[Behind the Aegis]

27. "Spanish only?"

I have never seen a job that only allowed someone to apply who spoke only Spanish. Where the hell did you see this?

[Heidi]

29. I've never seen it, either.

[Behind the Aegis]

32. Probably because we aren't on rainy plains.

You know how that goes!

[JustAnotherGen]

33. I'm wondering too BTA

I've seen positions that say "Spanish is a Plus" but Spanisk speaking only? We route overflow to all call centers at my company with the exception of Global Services. Everyone is expected to speak Spanish but in border states - Spanish and French are a plus.

[Behind the Aegis]

42. Yeah, "Spanish is a plus" is one thing.

I have seen many positions which require a certain language or encourage it. Then again, this is the same poster who claims stereotypes exist because they are true.

ETA to this lovely thought:

Sybil45 (10 posts)

154. Let's be honest

This isn't really about Putin's intervention in Ukraine, which he had every right to do after the Victoria Nuland incident. All the Putin hate is really about the fact that he doesn't think homosexuality is the greatest thing ever. So what? Is that supposed to make him a bad guy or something? There are many legitimate reasons to oppose Putin, but that isn't one of them. The anti-Putin homosexual contingent needs to get over themselves. The world doesn't revolve around homosexuals.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5482349

What if they are Spanish speaking homosexuals?!

[JustAnotherGen]

52. Oh laws no!

[Behind the Aegis]

35. They require "Spanish only?"

That seems odd. It is one thing to request "Bi-lingual" but not "Spanish only."

[Behind the Aegis]

39. Sure.

I can't imagine how you would arrive at such a conclusion until I read:

Sybil45 (8 posts)

2. Well I'm glad we have a Western born/raised and corrupted

Asian to speak on behalf of Asian women everywhere.

Stereotypes exist for a reason - because they're true. Nobody is saying ALL Asian women are submissive, but having worked in Asia for many years, I can confirm that generally, Asian women are more feminine and submissive. Not ALL of them. That goes without saying. However, its's true in general, so the stereotype is correct.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1255&pid=50316

What is Spanish for "taco?" I am dying to know!

[Heidi]

40. Oh, okay! Could you cite a couple of online job listings for "Spanish only"?

What I've seen are jobs asking for Spanish fluency or native Spanish speakers.

[alphafemale]

38. It said "Spanish Only"....in English.

Sure it did.

[Marrah_G]

51. LMAO!

[JustAnotherGen]

53. Bwahahaha

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

71. .

.

[SharonAnn]

93. In Miami, 40 years ago,a sign in a store window said "Se habla ingles!" (We speak English)

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Anybody want to say there's no such thing as white privilege

Any one stupid to believe there's no such thing a white privilege is stupid enough to think global warming is a hoax.

[Louisiana1976]

76. Right on! White privilege is like global warming--people deny it but it's there.

[lovemydog]

8. gracias heid

signed,
lovemdog

[Voice for Peace]

9. kneejerk response from me

I have no defense or explanation of this, but observed myself
having these immediate impressions:

josé zamora - mexico

joe zamora - all american, of european descent

[AverageJoe90]

15. That's interesting.

Nothing really changed for me, though. I guess it depends on the person.

[bvf]

10. Very telling--thanks for posting this. n/t.

[Buddha2B]

12. I sugessted this to me wife

IT professional here in Australia. She wasn't getting responses. I suggested instead of saying Kristy, put Kris down. She didn't go for it at the time.

Good thing she found a good government job at a Uni, that has positive female employment practices, and good unions.

She's still the only woman on her whole floor though.

She makes 3 times I do.

Loving it!

[Heidi]

50. Good for your wife!

And good morning, Buddha2B!

[Kalidurga]

16. I am not very good at this.

I was trying to figure out what letter he dropped. Jose Amora nope that doesn't sound right. Jose Zamor, well that just looks weird. Okay I give up then I read the rest of the post.

[Heidi]

17. He dropped the "s" in Jose. (nt)

[Recursion]

18. In fairness, he also dropped the accent from the é (nt)

[Heidi]

20. Agreed.

Hi, Recursion!

[Kalidurga]

19. Yeah I got that

It should have been obvious to me from just reading his name though. But, I had thought the problem was with his last name obviously which I myself had no problem with by the way, I am used to seeing non-Germanic/Nordic/English names.

[muriel_volestrangler]

49. I think 'José' implies, perhaps unconsciously, more recent immigration

while 'Joe' is very Anglicized - the informal short version of the name ("Giuseppe Verdi" is as Italian as you can get; "Joe Green" is as English as you can get), which makes them sound like someone who grew up among English speakers.

[Kalidurga]

73. My SO of 30 years is Hispanic from Mexico

I live in a metro area a lot of Hispanic people. Hispanic names no longer register as foriegn to me just like many names don't. I am used to seeing a variety of names. Giuseppi in this example would register as European to me, but I might miss Verdi as being Green it would just be another name to me.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

21. This reminds me of Pan Am founder Juan Trippe

His blood ran as blue as it came but he was kicked out of hotels he owned.

[4b5f940728b232b034e4]

24. The Wiki page doesn't say anything about that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Trippe

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

74. It doesn't say anything about his hotels period.

[4b5f940728b232b034e4]

81. "was the driving force behind Pan Am's formation of the InterContinental hotel group."

Huh?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

82. Indeed I missed that, but it says nothing of substance.

[liberalhistorian]

56. If that is, indeed, true,

if I were him, I would have immensely enjoyed firing the bigoted idiots responsible for that and would have laughed while doing it.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

75. It actually inspired him to cater to the Latin American market

[Helen Borg]

22. I disagree.

He did not just remove a letter. He also removed the accent on the "e"!

[Heidi]

23. As Recursion pointed out in post #18.

Thank you, Helen Borg.

[xchrom]

31. bon jour!

[Heidi]

41. Buongiorno, Caro!

[Louisiana1976]

77. Hola!

[whatthehey]

54. I don't know too many WASPy Zamoras though. nt

[Heidi]

55. I believe that removing the "s" from José and the accent over the "e"

would make clearer that one is not a recent immigrant. Another DUer pointed this out in this thread.

ETA: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5482385

[Gormy Cuss]

78. Right. Suddenly he was not as "foreign sounding"

and thus worth an interview.

[meathead]

57. I can't see the difference from here

Texas is a more diverse place than most of America. Juan made the top ten boy's names here back in the seventies. Houston was recently named the most diverse city in the country. Jose, Ha, Mohammed, Dinesh? There's more than one any where I've worked in the last 30 years. That's not to say there isn't prejudice, but he must not be casting those resumes very far.

[Heidi]

58. I was raised in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kentucky.

The difference is clear to me and most liberals. Indeed, that you're surrounded by Latino names does not mean that your area or you personally are without bias in hiring practices. Diversity does not equal inclusiveness. As a liberal, you surely agree. (Welcome to DU, by the way.)

[Jamaal510]

59. Almost the same thing happened with one of my brothers.

He used to put his first name "Jermaine" on job applications, but had more success finding jobs coincidentally once he starting using his middle name "Thomas" instead as his first name. While mostly blacks have the name "Jermaine", "Thomas" seems to be a more racially-neutral name.
This is yet another example of something that (non-Hispanic) whites typically don't have to go through compared to other groups of people.

[Xithras]

65. One of my cousins gets that with Tyrone.

Tyrone is actually an old Irish Gaelic name, and my cousin is about as Irish American as it gets (annoyingly so at times). His parents named him after one of his great grandparents.

In the United States, the name Tyrone is heavily identified with African Americans. It's not just a problem when applying to jobs, but for credit, when trying to get restaurant reservations, and for a number of other things. He once had a heated phone argument with a local company after a bad service call, and the owner of the company actually said that he was "just another dumb n***** looking for a free ride" when he demanded a refund. You can imagine how stunned the owner was when an angry 6'2", 240 pound redheaded Irishman showed up in his office to confront him about it and demand his money back.

To avoid the hassle he uses his middle name James for pretty much everything nowadays, and only family members call him Ty.

[Heidi]

67. That doesn't surprise me at all.

The hoops that people of color are forced to jump through are ridiculous. Sadly, your cousin would have probably been more successful in his job search if he'd put "Jerry" on his application. All too often, I just have to shake my head.

I'm 51 years old, white, and have never had to try to "pass" in any attempt to find employment. That's privilege.

[Xithras]

60. Not entirely on topic, but if you're applying to 50 jobs a day, you're doing it wrong.

Any modern career counselor will tell you that you should be rewriting your resume for every job you apply to nowadays. The "good old days" when you could write one resume and submit it everywhere ENDED when applications went online and automated sorting routines replaced human eyeballs when doing an initial applicant search. You should ALWAYS rewrite your resume to emphasize the specific skills that the employer is looking for, and include keywords in your resume & cover letter that match the primary skills on the job ad.

HR departments don't review every resume they receive. They use automated searches to find the submitted resumes that contain the skills they're looking for. If you don't list those specific skills, using their terms, no human being will ever even LOOK at your application.

Here's a simple (and common) example. A company posts a job ad for a "Sales executive with experience working in Venezuela and one year of practical experience selling medical devices. Spanish fluency a must."

Two people apply. Their resumes start off with these lines:

1: "I have 10 years of experience working as a lead sales manager for a hospital equipment company, selling in every nation across South and Central America. I am Hispanic, and can speak and comprehend all languages and regional dialects spoken in Latin America today."

2: "I have two years of experience working in Venezuela as an associate sales executive selling medical devices for Company X. I learned Spanish in college, and have been speaking it fluently for five years."

The second applicant gets the interview. The first does not. Why? Because the HR department is going to do a keyword search off the original ad. "Venezuela, sales executive, spanish, medical devices". Applicant #2 has the keywords in their resume. Applicant #1, in spite of having far more experience and being a native speaker, will never even be looked at.

Ergo, if you're applying to 50 jobs a day, you're doing it wrong.

[bettyellen]

88. while you re right, why do you assume he was "doing it wrong" when that tiny change made a HUGE

difference in responses?

Obviously a lot of people though he had a kick ass resume, after they thought it came from a more Americanized applicant.
BTW, using the same method you recommend, I could shoot off a dozen resumes in less than 3 hours. Because I already had a few good templates ready to tweak. I would have done fifty but there really weren't that many good jobs in the area that suited me.

Anyway, good advice- but presumptuous assessment of the situation.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

61. so many years of social science has shown this phenomenon

[Heidi]

68. I guess it's the "trickle down" theory at work.

How many more years until the mainstream "gets it"?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

69. no, its straight up discrimination on race/gender/religion.

[Heidi]

70. It was sarcasm.

I agree that the discrimination is outright shameful and obvious. But I still wonder how much longer until the mainstream "gets it." I'd like to be hopeful. I'd like to believe it will happen in my lifetime. But I'm 51.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

72. oh sorry. i am in the middle of 20 things and i think subtlety/sarcasm is lost on me currently

[Crabby Appleton]

62. K&R

[0rganism]

64. what amazes me...

is how many people in the huffpo comments for this article are offering apologetics for this ... phenomenon.

"just the way things are"
"assimilate if you want to eat"
"our white European ancestors had to change their names too"

and so on. how hard is it for some people to admit that name-based discrimination is just plain out&out wrong? amazing.

[Louisiana1976]

80. That is amazing. Sad that Jose' Zamora had to change his name to get his resumes looked at.

[ellenfl]

83. no way, jose! this is total bs. you guys aren't listening.

first, there's not enough time in the day to send 50-100 resumes, every day for months. second, if there are 50-100 available jobs per day every month utilizing the same skill set, why do we have any unemployment? unless he's willing to travel the country to take a job, there's just no way he's applying for 50-100 local jobs per day. anti-immigrant bs, imo.

[JEB]

85. This is one sick fucking excuse for a country.

[YOHABLO]

89. I'm interested in knowing what type of job he was looking for.

He looks like a pretty handsome fellow. Do people not get that this county will be very shortly, bi lingual? Spanish and English will be the most spoken languages. Perhaps we should do like Canada and make Spanish our second language, as they do French. If we could get rid of all the bigots and racist just think what a great country we could have .. well we could get rid of Republicans as well but that's just a pipe dream I suppose.

[MADem]

90. If he changed his name to Abudel Bin Rahim Zamora, he'd be in negative numbers!!!

It's one of those awful truths...

[Heidi]

92. Indeed.

MADem!

[randome]

94. That Jose fella looks kinda shifty to me. Joe, on the other hand...

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[GOLGO 13]

95. I too suffered the slings & arrows from first name racism...

My grandfather had an ethnic first, but he lived & died in his country. My father named after him came to this country and wisely took a civil service job & fortunately easily passed for white.

I was named after them and experienced racism at 4th grade. I made up a nickname for myself after that & now no one calls me by my first name; not even my wife. I too wisely took up civil service and my chart topping good looks sealed the deal.

This ethnic first name shit died with me. My son has a first world class name and both my kids will also speak our language and French. The French thing came from my days of chasing French girls at University.

[Heidi]

96. Congratulations on your chart-topping good lucks!!!

What's that like, anyway?