A Black TikToker is speaking out after she completely turned her fruitless job search around by making one change to her applications: marking her race as white.
“For the past 6 months, I have been angrily and aggressively looking for a new job. Absolutely no call backs, no text backs, no email backs,” she began.
Dee then shared that she tried everything to help her job search go well, including re-vamping her resume 3 different times and applying to at least 3 different jobs every single day.
She also took more drastic measures, including going by her middle name on applications, with the intention for her name to come off “a little less ethnic,” as she puts it.
Dee then shared that she eventually came across a content creator who recommended that applicants of color should mark their race as white to help secure job interviews, and — despite her initial skepticism — she decided to follow suit.
“I changed my race to white, [and] I have four interviews next week,” she declared. “Same resume. Same qualifications. Same errthang.”
“Boy are they gon’ be mad when my Black ass show up for that job,” she laughingly added at the very end of her upload.
@dee.realz has any melanated individuals experienced this? #jobs #jobinterview #fyp ♬ original sound – Dee Realz
Dee’s TikTok implies that her job search was made more fruitful solely on account of her masquerading as white on paper, suggesting that she had been racially profiled and denied interviews for the past 6 months on account of her race.
According to Human Resources MBA, it has been flat-out illegal for employers to ask about an applicant’s race or ethnicity on job applications since 1964.
However, Chron reports that various employers ask applicants to voluntary disclose this information to help meet internal diversity standards, though applicants can opt-out of answering these questions.
From Dee’s story, though, it appears as if her decision to mark her race as white paid off, as it allegedly resulted in her securing interviews that she supposedly wouldn’t have otherwise gotten.
What do you think about Dee’s story, and can you empathize with her situation?
