A young professional says she was only offered interviews for jobs relating to her degree when using a fake 'English' name on her application - despite sending identical CVs with her real name.
Georgiana Popescu moved to Leeds, West Yorkshire, in 2015 from Romania to complete her undergraduate and master's degrees before starting her job search.
The 26-year-old claims she applied for more than 100 jobs with British firms but only secured roles in warehouses and retail - while her British coursemates went into jobs relating to their degree.
After feeling 'inferior', Georgiana decided to do an experiment - applying for 40 roles using two identical CVs and applications but simply changing her name to a traditionally British name, Sarah C.
She claims she 'wasn't surprised' to hear back from 11 companies offering her interviews as 'Sarah', while her identical applications with the name Georgiana Popescu had been seemingly tossed aside.
Georgiana claims she even doubts her applications under her Eastern European name were read at all - as no one ever flagged the indistinguishable applications.
After years of having to do warehouse or retail work, she was delighted to finally land a job as a fraud analyst in March last year.
She only finally feels confident enough to speak out about her 'heart-breaking' experience three years on as she feared people's reaction would tell her to 'go back to her own country' - but gained courage from others on TikTok.
Georgiana, originally from Bucharest, Romania, but still living in Leeds, said: "It's a serious issue.
"I submitted the exact same CVs but with different names. I got 11 replies for Sarah and none for Georgiana.
"I got the feeling that it didn't matter what I was doing, but that it would never be good enough because of my name.
"I have no words to describe how it felt. It affected my mental health so, so badly.
"I kept the story to myself for years because I was scared I'd get hate comments such as 'go back to your country' or 'you are here to claim benefits'. I didn't get any benefits and I wasn't even eligible for a maintenance loan.
"It's a huge issue. It really made me realise the issue was my name rather than my application and skills.
"Clearly they didn't even look at my application because surely they would have noticed it was the same CV."
Georgiana first managed to land herself a job in retail while still studying before starting work in warehouses as a graduate.
Despite having lots of work experience and volunteering during her time as a student, Georgiana struggled to get a job related to her level of study.
Georgiana said: "I moved to the UK when I was 19 right after sixth form in my home country. I completed my undergraduate and master's degrees here in the UK.
"I moved here for my studies, more opportunities and life experiences. I wasn't disadvantaged in my home country.
"Before moving here, I was an intern at a local newspaper. After moving to the UK I didn't get any job offers other than warehouses for years. If you look at the statistics, they are Eastern European specific jobs.
"At the time, I wasn't too stressed because I'd just moved here and didn't know the language very well.
"I was still a student. I did some volunteering for a year and warehousing jobs, then after applying to a 100 other jobs I managed to get a job as a sales assistant. It was a retail job.
"I cried that day. I was so happy because I could finally get out of warehouses.
"After I got my degree with an upper second class, I applied for 100 jobs again, most of them criminology-related but also customer services such as banks, call centres and data entry.
"I remember looking and seeing English criminology graduates getting jobs while I didn't get an interview. That's the moment I realised my name could be the issue."
After connecting the dots and concluding her name was holding her back in the UK job market, Georgiana decided to test out her theory - and claims she 'wasn't surprised' by the results.
Georgiana said: "In 2020 after a year of feeling inferior, I decided to do this experiment. I chose 40 companies and sent the same CV twice - there only difference was my name.
"I was too scared to contact any of the companies to tell them what I'd done. I didn't go for any of the jobs. When I heard the name Sarah I just ended the call.
"I wasn't surprised. I somehow expected it.
"My name is Georgiana Popescu so it's obvious I'm from Eastern Europe. The other one was Sarah.
"On TikTok, people related to my story. I got many comments - many heart-breaking ones.
"I am happy [to share my story] because I feel like people need to be more aware and I also believe it might encourage people to stop suffering in silence, but I'm also upset because so many people related to it."
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