clasic-j May 17, 2025, 10:02 p.m.

Did my resume get auto-rejected because of my name?? AI hiring bias is real and nobody's talking about it

Just found out something that's making me sick to my stomach and I need to know if anyone else has experienced this. I've been applying to jobs for 3 months, sending out probably 200+ applications, and getting literally ZERO responses. Not even rejections half the time, just complete silence.

Yesterday my friend (who works in HR at a tech company) told me that most big companies now use AI to screen resumes before any human even sees them. She said these systems can be incredibly biased and might be automatically filtering out candidates based on names that "sound ethnic" or don't fit whatever pattern the AI was trained on.

I have a distinctly Middle Eastern name and I'm starting to wonder if that's why I'm getting nowhere despite having solid qualifications. Like, my resume gets past the AI gatekeeper for white-sounding names but gets buried when it's attached to mine. The scary part is this is all happening invisibly - there's no way to know if you're being discriminated against by a machine.

Has anyone else noticed patterns like this? I'm thinking about doing an experiment where I submit the same resume with different names to see what happens. This feels like digital discrimination that's way worse than human bias because at least humans can be held accountable. These AI systems are just black boxes making decisions about people's lives.

Wahredimon Superbug May 18, 2025, 1:14 a.m.

Bro this is why my cousin legally changed his name from Rajesh to Ryan. Got a job within 2 weeks after struggling for 8 months. Absolutely fucked up but it worked

automag May 18, 2025, 9:22 p.m.

You're probably overthinking this. Job market is just brutal right now. Maybe work on your skills instead of blaming everything on your name??

??? May 19, 2025, 12:46 a.m.

easy for you to say. I literally tested this with my Indian name vs "John Smith" - same resume, john got callbacks, I didn't. this shit is documented and real

vang1 May 20, 2025, 6:20 p.m.

YES i've been dealing with this!!! Started going by "alex" instead of alejandra and suddenly companies actually respond. Makes me so angry that i have to hide who i am

John Silver May 25, 2025, 5:01 p.m.

Work in tech and our hiring AI was SO biased we had to scrap it. Thing was rejecting qualified candidates left and right based on stupid patterns it learned. Most companies don't even realize their AI is doing this

school48 May 27, 2025, 8:19 p.m.

nah this conspiracy theory stuff is getting old. Companies want the best candidates regardless of name. If you're not getting callbacks maybe your resume just isn't as good as you think it is

Lon Don 558662 May 27, 2025, 11:50 p.m.

spoken like someone who's never had to worry about their name being a barrier. check your privilege dude

colspan_v May 29, 2025, 9:12 p.m.

There's literally court cases about this happening. Educate yourself before dismissing other people's experiences

admin) May 31, 2025, 7:21 p.m.

What pisses me off most is companies can just blame the algorithm and act like it's not their fault. "oh sorry the AI decided you weren't qualified" yeah right

KPSS June 4, 2025, 12:10 p.m.

Started using my white ex-husband's last name on apps after we got divorced. Went from 5% response rate to like 30%. Shouldn't have to do this but bills don't pay themselves

Kr12345z June 8, 2025, 8:23 p.m.

Anyone know if we can sue over this? Feels like there should be laws against AI discrimination but everything moves so slow compared to tech

~~ June 10, 2025, 1:16 a.m.

Good luck proving it when they won't tell you how their system works. It's like fighting a ghost

mika______ June 12, 2025, 6:24 p.m.

The worst part is never knowing WHY you got rejected. At least with human hiring managers you might get feedback. AI just sends you into the void