It’s not about Muhammad being your first or last name!
Job market is pretty tough these days, especially if you are fresh out of college in the computer industry here in the United States. If you are a Muslim, or have a Muslim sounding name, there is another variable of concern to your job search.
Many of my friends who graduated with me or a little after or many who are about to graduate, keep complaining about tough times. Mostly Pakistani (or Muslim) friends try to shrug off their failure to find a job saying it’s because of discrimination against Muslims. In their view, it has a lot more to do with their religious preference (or their perspective employer’s religious preference) than the global economic slow down & bursting bubble of the Internet driven computer industry.
I understand their concerns & am pretty much in the same boat but do not agree with them on their self-failure analysis.
There is no doubt in my mind that there are people (employers) who are prejudice and after looking at a Muslim name on top of the resume, they will throw it straight into the garbage. There must be others who intentionally or unintentionally prefer like sounding names. Recently there was a study that concluded that African American sounding last names are screened out by recruiters.
Still, the failure of a job hunt has a lot more to do with just your name.
For example, employers these days are reluctant to hire anyone on whom they have to spend extra money regarding immigration policies. They also seem to be more interested in local people, so they don’t have to pay for relocation etc. Recruiters are more alert about the job description & key words in your resume. They also have a lot of applications to choose from, which gives them a choice to interview people with relevant experience.
I have been trying to find a job from close to a year n’ a half, with no luck. A couple of interviews but nothing promising! Unlike most of my complaining friends, I have a descent GPA, a good work experience for someone out of college not too long ago and have no immigration issues. I can easily put the blame on my very Muslim name & get over it.. but I believe my lack of success is due to my own laziness & focus.
In these tough times, finding a good job is a skill! (1) Resumes have to be customized for each job according to it’s description, (2) cover letters need to be appealing, informative & to the point, (3) job search should be diverse though (4) it’s important to not waste time applying for something that you know you don’t even stand a chance (e.g. non-US-nationals wanting security clearance jobs), (5) try to find local addresses & contact info in the home town of the company you are applying for .. like a relative or a close friend and (6) most of all it’s not what you know, it’s who you know that gets you an interview, so start networking!