Romanian woman, 26, claims she only got job interviews in Britain when she used the fake ‘English’ name ‘Sarah C’ on her CV – as she accuses companies of ‘name discrimination’
- Georgiana Popescu changed her name on her CV to make it more ‘English’
- She said the name secured her job interviews she did not get with her real name
A Romanian jobseeker has accused British firms of ‘name discrimination’ after claiming she was only offered interviews after she sent out a fake ‘English’ name on her CV.
Georgiana Popescu moved to Leeds, West Yorkshire, in 2015 to complete her undergraduate and master’s degrees before starting her job search.
The 26 year-old claims she applied for more than 100 jobs but only secured roles in warehouses and retail – while her British course mates went into jobs related to their degree.
Georgiana then decided to apply for 40 roles using two identical CVs and applications while changing her name to the ‘traditionally British’ Sarah C.
She claims she ‘wasn’t surprised’ to hear back from 11 companies offering her interviews as ‘Sarah’, while her identical applications with the name Georgiana Popescu were seemingly tossed aside.
Georgiana Popescu, 26, sent out CVs with a fake English name over fears of ‘name discrimination’
After working in warehouse and retail jobs for years, Georgiana finally found a job as a fraud analyst
Georgiana says she doubts her applications under her Eastern European name were read at all.
After years of warehouse and retail work, she was delighted to finally land a job as a fraud analyst in March last year.
She said she feels confident enough to speak out about her ‘heart-breaking’ experience three years on as she feared people’s reaction would telling her to ‘go back to her own country’.
Georgiana, originally from Bucharest, Romania, but still living in Leeds, said: ‘It’s a serious issue.
‘I submitted the exact same CVs but with different names. I got 11 replies for Sarah and none for Georgiana.
‘I got the feeling that it didn’t matter what I was doing, but that it would never be good enough because of my name.
‘I have no words to describe how it felt. It affected my mental health so, so badly.
‘I kept the story to myself for years because I was scared I’d get hate comments such as “go back to your country” or “you are here to claim benefits”… I didn’t get any benefits and I wasn’t even eligible for a maintenance loan.
‘It’s a huge issue. It really made me realise the issue was my name rather than my application and skills.
‘Clearly they didn’t even look at my application because surely they would have noticed it was the same CV.’
Georgiana sent out identical CVs and job applications to 40 firms, changing only her name to make it sound more English
She added: ‘Before moving here, I was an intern at a local newspaper. After moving to the UK I didn’t get any job offers other than warehouses for years. If you look at the statistics, they are Eastern European specific jobs.
‘At the time, I wasn’t too stressed because I’d just moved here and didn’t know the language very well.
‘I was still a student. I did some volunteering for a year and warehousing jobs, then after applying to a 100 other jobs I managed to get a job as a sales assistant. It was a retail job.
‘I cried that day. I was so happy because I could finally get out of warehouses.
‘After I got my degree with an upper second class, I applied for 100 jobs again, most of them criminology-related but also customer services such as banks, call centres and data entry.
‘I remember looking and seeing English criminology graduates getting jobs while I didn’t get an interview. That’s the moment I realised my name could be the issue.’
Source: Read Full Article
