[sickofFAR]

I am born and raised in the U.S., but originally from another foreign country. I have been job hunting for the past couple of months now and feeling disappointed. I thought my Master’s and CPA (candidate) would land me a job fairly quickly- or at least that’s what my professors drilled into my mind. “You’re guaranteed a job right away!” Yeah, right.

I realize now it takes a while to find something to get my foot in the door. But, I should at the very least be receiving interviews. I have not had not one single interview, even though I feel like I am a perfect fit for most of the positions I am applying to. I am starting to think it’s my foreign name. I bet recruiters take one look at it and toss my resume in the bin. Has anybody else been through this? What advice do you have?

A- 77 1X
F- 83 1X YES!
B- 81 1X
R- 73 ._. got cocky. Retake: 83 Done.

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of this. We have a very, very, very diverse set of names here. There are few if any John Smith or Tom Allen types here. No professional recruiter or firm staff that I know of has ever put a resume/application to the side because of a name. It's pretty lol-worthy.

[Herbieherb]

If your name was like Sum Ting Wong or Ho Lee Fook maybe…

NEW YORK- DONE

[Martin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F9jXYOH2c0

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[rana_cali]

LOL @Herbieherb. I literally laughed out loud!

AUD: 84
FAR: 75
BEC: 78
REG: 75

DONE-ZO!!!!!!!!

REG: Used Becker 2014 book, NINJA MCQ, Ninja notes, ninja audio
_______________________________
CFE since Oct. 2013.

[mla1169]

cujster, I am lol at the notion that the only names that experience discrimination are middle eastern or Russian or that somehow bigotry was not rampant pre-9/11.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

Try to put an “Americanized” nickname on your resume. This happened to me often until I “changed” my name.

One time I was interviewing with someone and the douchebag told me directly that he was surprised that I knew how to speak English very well!!!!!! I got an offer but did not accept it for obvious reasons….

[Gatorbates]

For what it's worth, I saw an article on Linked in. A guy removed one letter in his name on his resume, and his job search changed drastically.

He sent about 100 resumes … no responses … or all not interested. He then removed one letter … then submitted his resume to 100 more prospective employers, and had a 70% positive response.

The letter he removed? He took the “S” out of Jose.

Licensed Florida CPA:
B: 71, 73, 79
A: 83
R: 78 (expired), 77
F: 74, 74, 80

It's finally freaking over.

[sickofFAR]

@cujster I am Middle Eastern ( originally from Jerusalem) but I don't have a typical Arab name. I know alot of people who put their nickname on their resume because of their stereotyped name ex. changing Mohammed into Moe. However, I do live in a fairly diverse town so although some discrimination is the inevitable, I don't think it's common here.

I have read various articles on studies where researchers sent in the same resume with an American vs ethnic-sounding name and their definitely are some discrepancies, so @bigfourexpert I don't think it's lol-worthy.

A- 77 1X
F- 83 1X YES!
B- 81 1X
R- 73 ._. got cocky. Retake: 83 Done.

[Anonymous]

Let me specifiy. I'm not saying it's not a real problem or that it doesn't exist, just that in this industry, specifically in the bigger markets, it's totally a non-issue. I'll concede that if op happens to be in a more rural area looking at local firms, it probably is an issue. Though it's my fault for looking at things from a metro/huge firm perspective all the time.

[Anonymous]

@sickofFAR , I advise you to focus your hunt on multinational companies and big4. These companies have strong corporate values and anti discriminatory laws and they usually promote diversity in their work places.

I also advise you, once you get more experience, to look for international assignments. I mean why not? They pay American CPA's ridiculous amount of money and living in a foreign country is becoming sort of a luxury these days (think Dubai).

Last resort? Change your name.

Good luck

Cuj

[Anonymous]

I think you should also look at your interviewing skills. I have an accent and I also know that I'm horrible at interviewing. I had started practicing with friends to get feedback and was told that I wasn't being enthusiastic about the job position I was interviewing for. I practiced and practiced until the day of interview and finally got a job offer :).

[Kimboroni]

This reminds me of some studies that have been done on the influence that names have on inquiries about rentals. Here is one such study:

https://home.earthlink.net/~logesw/Carpusor%20%26%20Loges,%20Journal%20of%20Applied%20Social%20Psychology.PDF

They generally find that white-sounding names get significantly more responses to email inquiries about rentals, and significantly more “yes, that is still available” responses than non-white-sounding names. Non-white-sounding-named people are more likely to be told that it is no longer available, or get no answer at all. Pretty interesting, and unfortunate.

AUD 84 (1/9/14-Wiley books/TB + free materials)
FAR 83 (5/21/14-the above + NINJA 10 Pt Combo Lite)
REG 84 (7/9/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC/Notes)
BEC 76 (10/5/14-Wiley books/TB + NINJA Audio/FC)

Disclaimer: My ninja avatar is not meant to imply that I have any affiliation with this site other than being a forum member. That's a pic of a T-shirt that my daughter gave me for my birthday. 🙂

[mw798]

@debbieh7 I believe OP was referring that he or she can't even get an interview so interviewing skills never even came into play. And it doesn't matter where you live, this happens everywhere. I work in a for a large national company in a large metropolitan city in the north east and I can assure you that it does happen here. You have to be pretty naive to think it's non-existent. That or because it doesn't impact you, you are just blind to it. Consciously or subconsciously, it's human nature to associate with people that are like yourself and unfortunately,there will be those who lose out because of this.

[mla1169]

Putting aside the important discussion on discrimination, it does happen. There's no way to know this is the case.

Don't put too much weight on a masters (have you graduated?) . When you say CPA candidate have you passed the exams and do you have the experience?

How many resumes have you sent out?

Have you had someone qualified review your resume?

Is your cover letter enough to capture interest or is it boring?

Do you have any experience?

When you say you've applied to jobs you feel you'd be perfect for, is there anything that differentiates your resume from the dozens of others for the same position?

Because honestly to me you sound like every other recent grad who believes a masters is a job guarantee which clearly it is not. And being a CPA candidate is also nice but chances are, so are the other applicants. I'm sure you'd be great at any position you applied to but probably so would any other person who applied.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Author]

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