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...a lot, if yours is Delroy, Letisha or Olubunmi and you are trying to get on the corporate ladder
After graduating nearly two decades ago, Delroy Constantine Simms was looking forward to a career in his chosen field of psychology.
But after weeks of filling out application forms and sending off letters looking for work, he got no response.
It was only after he shortened his name to Roy on one application form that he began getting interest from prospective employers.
His experience confirmed his worst fears - that the lack of response from employers was as the result of having a traditional Caribbean-sounding name.
"When I started using Roy I started getting through. It was then that I realised my name was the barrier.
"An Asian HR officer told me that I was going to have problems finding employment because my name is stereotypically black.
"I've come to realise that it doesn't matter where you're from, you have to change your name to get through."
And it seems, he is not the only one to have gone through this experience.
Despite laws against racial discrimination in the workforce, several studies have shown that African or Caribbean-sounding names like Letisha or Olubunmi can seriously reduce an individuals' chance of being short-listed for a job interview.
As a result, a growing number of prospective BME employees are Westernising their names in a bid to get jobs.
Recognising this trend, Simms recently created Ebony Recruitment Solutions, a company aimed at providing practical advice on application forms and interviews.
In only it's first few months of existence, Simms, 40, says he has received hundreds of enquiries from frustrated BME job seekers.
"What I always tell my clients is that a university degree is a degree of knowledge, it doesn't qualify you to do anything, it's just a stepping-stone," he says.
FRUSTRATED
"This is why so many of them are frustrated, they think that they have gone through the system and challenged all the stereotypes about blacks in education, but once they leave university they realise the harsh reality."
He adds: "Rather than complain about a system, I had to learn and understand how the system worked and I started Ebony Recruitment Solutions to ensure that our community has a better understanding of how the system works."
Although black and ethnic students are well represented in university, more than 40% of students from this group have trouble securing permanent full-time work after graduating, compared to 27% of white students.
In 2004 a BBC undercover investigation found that white applicants were more likely to be selected for an interview then their similarly qualified black and Asian counterparts.
Six fictitious characters were created and the producers of the programme gave each traditionally white, black African or Muslim names and then sent these CVs to 50 firms.
RESULTS
Although the applications were almost identical the results showed that only 9% of 'Muslim' and 13% of 'black' candidates received a response whereas almost a quarter of 'white' applications resulted in interview offers.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Brendan Barber condemned the findings saying: "Statistics as shocking as these suggest that many people recruiting for private firms are harbouring inherently racist views."
Under the 1976 Race Relations Act, public authorities have a legal duty to promote race equality in the workplace and are required by law to implement race equality policies throughout the recruitment process.
"Until the Race (Amendment) Relation Act is extended to the private sector, black and Asian people will continue to be treated unfairly and will be denied opportunity to succeed at work," Barber said.
Over the last 20 years the employment rate for black and minority ethnic people in the UK has been consistently lower than their white counterparts.
Earlier this year, a report by the Policy Studies Institute entitled Unemployed Ethnic Minorities Urgently Need More Help, (The Voice, May 22 - 28, 2006) showed that African and black Caribbean males and Pakistani females account for the largest groups of employed people in the UK, while white British females were the least likely to be unemployed. Chinese and Indians favoured better than their African counterparts, but less well than white prospective employees.
Among those who welcome the new initiative created by Simms is Ghanaian Tetteh Nortey, 29. He has worked as a junior underwriter at an insurance company for the past three years despite being a qualified senior underwriter.
Nortey has sent out a number of applications for senior positions but received no reply. The 29-year-old from east London told The Voice: "I am a qualified senior underwriter but I can't get a senior job. I have tried using my Christian name, Rafael, because I am told it sounds French but I am only getting interviews for junior positions and even then it's with a raised eyebrow."
Pearl Mok, labour market information co-ordinator for research company, Graduate Prospects, also believes there is a place for Simms' new project and says that in the coming years, we may see the appearance of several more such companies.
"There are a lot of variations in the performance between different ethnic minority groups in the graduate market," she says.
"Generally speaking, ethnic minorities are not performing as well as their white counterparts but regarding discrimination by names, although it might be the case with a small number of employers, it certainly is not in their interest to turn away potential talents."
But recruitment consultant, Afua Yeboah of Career Focus, says that while discrimination on the basis of names does exist, it should not be exaggerated.
"As the CV and application forms are the first stage of the selection process, the easiest way to sift out candidates is by name, age and some companies even go as far as post code.
"But the only experience I have had of applicants being discriminated against is by a black -owned company.
"The managing director informed me that he did not want to recruit any African applicants because they bring trouble."
Sarah Eldoori, a spokesperson at popular recruitment agency, Adecco said that as far as her agency is concerned, discrimination is not an issue.
"Adecco works with employers to put diversity monitoring in place, ensuring that their workforce is representative of local demographics. As a member of the Race for Opportunity organisation, Adecco is involved with a variety of projects specifically aimed at local and regional community networks, actively supporting job opportunities for ethnic minorities," she says.
However, Robin Landman, executive director of the Black Managers Network, says that while it was important to have the debate about tackling racism in recruitment, another challenge was improving the numbers of black people in senior positions in Britain's boardrooms.
"In some sectors, nearly 20% of students are black and minority ethnic, yet there make up fewer then 2% of senior staff in the sector. That is a clear problem.
"Our particular aim is to increase the number of black staff in line with the representation of students," he says.
