I hired a girl a few months ago named Lonsharay (pronounced "lingerie"). She's turned out to be an excellent employee so far. She made mention during her interview that we were the only company to call her back of the dozen resumes that she sent out. She's educated, very qualified, and has a great work ethic, but even she admits that her name has been an obstacle in employment.
I've long since learned not to judge someone based on their name alone, but I think I'm an exception to the rule. What I wonder though is this... are employers who won't consider someone with a "black sounding" name not interviewing someone because the name is odd, or are they not interviewing that person because they are assuming that they are black? If they are assuming the latter, then the name wouldn't matter. As soon as they meet the person and see that they are black, they won't hire them anyway, right?
For the record, some of my shittiest employees have had common names. I've found no correlation between a persons name and their job performance. I find age to be a bigger factor. Most younger employees I've hired have been a pain in the ball sack.
