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PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

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Re: PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

#21

Post by ak_111 »

abc_lisper wrote: post #8

Before a knee jerk response of unconscious bias, which I’m in no way denying, it is more important to know how this research was conducted. What about the publications and references? It’s not like the job is flipping burgers - postdoctoral positions are extremely specific and people tend to know each other within a couple of hops on their social network.

I wouldn't say that all postdocs are extremely specific in a field like plant biology. You might require the postdoc to be knowledgable of certain lab practices only for example.

In fact, in many cases it is very unlikely that you will find a postdoc that has done work in a cutting-edge niche area that a professor is interested in, so the pool of candidates even globally is not sufficient. Your best hope is to find a postdoc in an adjacent area who you can train up on what you are doing.

Re: PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

#22

Post by netsharc »

ak_111 wrote: post #17
nullifidian wrote: post #10

Do they not check the actual publication record? It shouldn't have worked at all with a fake name.

At the stage of shortlisting for the interview, a lot of people don't actually go out and check the paper, they just register it is published in a good journal, they might do a deep dive when preparing for the interview if at all. Especially in a field like plant biology, papers probably have many authors, so even if you check the paper you might not pay attention to the author list (or he could have chosen a name th…

Maybe the papers have names like M. Lastname, and M could be extrapolated as Mohamad or Michael...

Re: PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

#23

Post by gadflyinyoureye »

hexomancer wrote: post #12

There was a similar post a few days ago where someone did this but instead of changing their name they changed their gender (female names got significantly more responses). That post got flagged and this post is in the frontpage. Interesting.

Dang! That’s interesting. Just give this post time.

Re: PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

#25

Post by space_fountain »

hexomancer wrote: post #12

There was a similar post a few days ago where someone did this but instead of changing their name they changed their gender (female names got significantly more responses). That post got flagged and this post is in the frontpage. Interesting.

Not commenting on that post because I didn’t see it but just noting. Some people support affirmative action. There are arguments that can be used that are somewhat convincing. Correcting generational feedback loops is hard and may require more than just blind indifference. Personally I think affirmative action can go too far, but it is very much a live issue in politics for good reason. Meanwhile there aren’t many who would say discrimination against people from the Middle East is good

Re: PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

#26

Post by zen_1 »

dtx1 wrote: post #19
keepquestioning wrote: post #4

A good example of unconscious bias.

I doubt it's so UNconscious. I know enough people that would straight up filter any muslim out from working with them.

It's also fun when you're Arab but not Muslim, and still get to deal with all the associated stereotypes...

Re: PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

#27

Post by ak_111 »

abc_lisper wrote: post #8

Before a knee jerk response of unconscious bias, which I’m in no way denying, it is more important to know how this research was conducted. What about the publications and references? It’s not like the job is flipping burgers - postdoctoral positions are extremely specific and people tend to know each other within a couple of hops on their social network.

Indeed it is not a rigours experiment by any stretch of the imagination. But the difference in scale in response (and the fact his profile looks earnest) we have an interesting data point on bias in academia.

Re: PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

#28

Post by nullifidian »

ak_111 wrote: post #17
nullifidian wrote: post #10

Do they not check the actual publication record? It shouldn't have worked at all with a fake name.

At the stage of shortlisting for the interview, a lot of people don't actually go out and check the paper, they just register it is published in a good journal, they might do a deep dive when preparing for the interview if at all. Especially in a field like plant biology, papers probably have many authors, so even if you check the paper you might not pay attention to the author list (or he could have chosen a name th…

No post body was provided.

Re: PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

#29

Post by curious_cat_163 »

hexomancer wrote: post #12

There was a similar post a few days ago where someone did this but instead of changing their name they changed their gender (female names got significantly more responses). That post got flagged and this post is in the frontpage. Interesting.

Do you know why the other post was flagged?

Re: PhD gets 5x increase in postdoc interview invitations by just changing his name

#30

Post by nuclearnice1 »

detaro wrote: post #14
abc_lisper wrote: post #8

Before a knee jerk response of unconscious bias, which I’m in no way denying, it is more important to know how this research was conducted. What about the publications and references? It’s not like the job is flipping burgers - postdoctoral positions are extremely specific and people tend to know each other within a couple of hops on their social network.

Wouldn't that in all cases benefit the real CV over the fake one? (because if you started to look up the fake person you'd find less useful results than for the real name, which would turn up real publications)

No.

You’d find more information on the real person.

But the news might be bad.

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