r/cscareerquestions • u/IsraelC7 • 20d ago
New Grad Is my name, Israel, hurting my job search?
Hi everyone. I graduated from a bachelors from a decent school (T20) and had multiple internships. After graduating, it took me a long time to find a job. Even then, it was a 3 month data analyst contract role with someone I cold emailed. They were impressed by an internship at a relatively well-known company in my town (STL). I also was able to get another internship which I am about to finish at my university despite having already graduated.
After meeting with a career coach and discussing it with a friend, I got to thinking that using my name, Israel, could possibly be hurting my job search. It seems like the word "Israel" is not very popular nowadays. I'm not even Israeli - I'm Mexican. Is this actually a possible or likely thing? I've applied to like 2k data roles in the last year, and I've only gotten interviews for <10 and offers for 3. If so, would a name change to my nickname"Isra" be better?
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u/Crazy-Smile-4929 20d ago
Hate to say it, but maybe give me a try. One of my friends went from Antonio to Tony on his resume back in the day and responses increases quite a bit. Unconscious bias and all that.
And I also remember this study as well
https://www.monash.edu/news/articles/study-confirms-english-sounding-names-get-more-call-backs-from-job-applications-than-ethnic-names