What's it like for white guys trying to get jobs?

807

•

I'm more or less self-employed, though I have bosses, depending on the project and clients.

For that reason, I don't really experience what I'm hearing about from a couple of family members, who are claiming the job market is abysmal for white people. But I'm interested to know.

Is this true?

They have Irish names.

Their schools are white zip code schools, etc.

I assume it is easy enough to identify them as white from their resume, plus social media (dumb), etc.

I'm told they also just ask your race on every application.

I've done a couple of fly by tests and I'm setting up some profiles that I'm about use to run some tests with.

I am seeing some articles suggest that 10 applications should result in at least one interview, if you're doing it right.

https://www.zipjob.com/blog/application-to-interview-ratio/

Anywhere from 10 to 20% is considered average and 20% to 30% is a good application to interview ratio. Remember that the numbers can be very different depending on your industry and experience level; entry level applicants might see fewer responses while job searching because there is a bigger pool, or highly technical job openings might be seeking candidates with very specific skills.

https://www.blacktechjobs.com/5-Tactics-to-Improve-Your-Job-Application-to-Response-Ratio

https://www.askamanager.org/2015/09/whats-a-good-applicationinterview-rate.html

https://careers.workopolis.com/advice/the-truth-about-resumes/

These other articles all suggest about the same thing.

So, I've started with my cousin and his friend, who are both looking for jobs. We set up accounts at Indeed, Monster, USAJobs, etc. I also did a scrap of local job listings from craigslist and other smaller boards.

Additionally, I've created another set of accounts that are almost exactly the same, except the resumes are black people.

I've finished my first blast, so to speak, and have applied for approximately 300 jobs, each. It's only been a day, so we'll see, but there are zero responses for white resumes and 7 for black resume.

This is enough of a difference that I think I need to do more accounts and more testing. However, my first observation is that even the black resume is not getting anywhere near the response rate these articles suggest.

I'll start taking screenshots and making it more official.

But I wanted to ask Poal... is there something to this? Is it too soon for me to tell?

I'm more or less self-employed, though I have bosses, depending on the project and clients. For that reason, I don't really experience what I'm hearing about from a couple of family members, who are claiming the job market is abysmal for white people. But I'm interested to know. Is this true? They have Irish names. Their schools are white zip code schools, etc. I assume it is easy enough to identify them as white from their resume, plus social media (dumb), etc. I'm told they also just ask your race on every application. I've done a couple of fly by tests and I'm setting up some profiles that I'm about use to run some tests with. I am seeing some articles suggest that 10 applications should result in at least one interview, if you're doing it right. https://www.zipjob.com/blog/application-to-interview-ratio/ >Anywhere from 10 to 20% is considered average and 20% to 30% is a good application to interview ratio. Remember that the numbers can be very different depending on your industry and experience level; entry level applicants might see fewer responses while job searching because there is a bigger pool, or highly technical job openings might be seeking candidates with very specific skills. https://www.blacktechjobs.com/5-Tactics-to-Improve-Your-Job-Application-to-Response-Ratio https://www.askamanager.org/2015/09/whats-a-good-applicationinterview-rate.html https://careers.workopolis.com/advice/the-truth-about-resumes/ These other articles all suggest about the same thing. So, I've started with my cousin and his friend, who are both looking for jobs. We set up accounts at Indeed, Monster, USAJobs, etc. I also did a scrap of local job listings from craigslist and other smaller boards. Additionally, I've created another set of accounts that are almost exactly the same, except the resumes are black people. I've finished my first blast, so to speak, and have applied for approximately 300 jobs, each. It's only been a day, so we'll see, but there are zero responses for white resumes and 7 for black resume. This is enough of a difference that I think I need to do more accounts and more testing. However, my first observation is that even the black resume is not getting anywhere near the response rate these articles suggest. I'll start taking screenshots and making it more official. But I wanted to ask Poal... is there something to this? Is it too soon for me to tell?

(post is archived)