The Telegraph: African jobseekers changing their names to overcome ‘racist’ recruiters

2020-04-28

The Telegraph: African jobseekers changing their names to overcome ‘racist’ recruiters

African jobseekers changing their names to overcome ‘racist’ recruiters, author claims in new book

Yasin Kakande reveals that applicants are also swapping traditional African names with anglicised versions to improve recruitment chances

ByTelegraph Reporters 27 April 2020

African jobseekers are “whitening” their CVs by Photoshopping their skin and changing their names to overcome “racist” recruiters, an author has claimed in a new book.

Yasin Kakande, a Ugandan born migration expert and Reuters journalist, said some black applicants are digitally modifying their profile images to give the appearance of lighter skin to avoid a “colour cull” from discriminatory employers in the UK.

Mr Kakande, 39, also revealed that traditional African names are being replaced with anglicised versions, including Dafari for David and Salama for Sarah, as jobseekers suggest they are of dual-heritage to try and improve their recruitment prospects.

For his latest book ‘Why We Are Coming’, he interviewed 1006 academically qualified African job applicants aged between 21 and 50 over three years and found that 90 percent changed their resumes to conceal ethnic features….

[Read the full article on the Telegraph website.]

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One response to “The Telegraph: African jobseekers changing their names to overcome ‘racist’ recruiters”

Michael

May 31, 2020 at 6:40 am

Very interesting article about personal life experiences and issues affecting our Country Uganda. You can always make difference to make Uganda better even though away from home.

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About Me

A native of Uganda, Yasin Kakande holds a university degree in mass communications and is currently pursuing an MFA (Creative Writing) from Emerson College in Boston. He worked in the United Arab Emirates reporting for local newspapers for fifteen years. Named a Global TED Fellow, Kakande is the author of many international news articles and two previous books, The Ambitious Struggle: An African Journalist’s Journey to Hope and Identity in a Land of Migrants and Slave States: The practice of Kafala in the Gulf Arab Countries. He has lectured widely on the topic of African migration and the politics of nationality at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Lake Forest College in Illinois, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. His op ed pieces appear regularly in major media outlets such as The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and The London Economic.

Yasin Kakande