Many ethnic minorities in the UK are changing their names to improve their job prospects, according to Conrad Braithwaite, founder of UK Deed Poll. He says thousands of people Anglicise or adopt new names each year, with a significant number doing so to escape discrimination in the job market.
Research from several countries, including the UK, shows that job applicants with foreign-sounding names face significant bias. A University of Toronto study found that applicants with Chinese, Indian, or Pakistani names were 40% less likely to receive interview callbacks than those with European names. Similar studies in the US, UK, Australia, and France revealed comparable racial bias among CV screeners.
Terence King, born Wang Lai Ming, experienced this bias firsthand. Despite holding a master's degree from a UK university, he struggled to get interviews in New Zealand. After changing to an English name, his job prospects improved dramatically. 'I'm confident there will always be a job for me somewhere with my English name and qualifications to match,' he says.
Paul Spoonley, a researcher at Massey University, notes that employers often discriminate based on names and accents, assuming immigrants do not understand local cultural practices. A study in Chicago and Paris found that foreign-sounding names elicited 40% fewer callbacks, attributed to a phenomenon called homophily—the tendency to favour people like ourselves.
