So, I had an interview today and the guy who was supposed to interview me, a guy who freakin’ owns a staffing company, couldn’t be bothered to interview me himself. He sent Someone Else to interview me and Someone Else did a fine job but he cannot hire me. To be hired I have to talk to Boss Dude and Boss Dude couldn’t be bothered to interview me… do you see the problem here? And so, yet another job for which I am an OUTSTANDING candidate is going to go to someone else.
Here’s the backstory to all of this.* My maiden name was Smith. Plain. Straightforward. Non-threatening. Then I got married and became Cleanslate. And apparently Cleanslate makes me some sort of dangerous, fringe fanatic freakshow who should not be given a job. Now, lest you think I am over-reacting I present the following to you.
I have my resume on Monster.com (as do millions of other people). A couple of weeks ago, a friend said she didn’t think that Cleanslate was what was keeping people from hiring me. I stated that I have been asked, outright, if I would LEGALLY CHANGE MY NAME in INTERVIEWS….not once I’ve been offered a job, but in the INTERVIEW stage. And I know you are probably thinking “my goodness, isn’t that illegal?” The answer to which is “yeah, probably” but I don’t have money for attorneys. And the people I am interviewing with know that they can get away with this because what unemployed person is going to hire a lawyer to sue a company for something that they can simply claim was never said? I suppose I could go into interviews wearing a “wire” but the point is to get a job, not sue people until the cows come home.
Anyhow, I got distracted there. I have my resume on Monster.com. And to prove to my friend that it was ridiculous that my name was holding me back, she had my permission to post the very same resume that had MsCleanslate on it with one tiny change… to put Ms. SMITH at the top of the resume and post it. And she did. And in 24 hours, I got 74 views of that resume. And then I took it down. My Monster.com MsCleanslate resume has 44 views since July. THE EXACT SAME RESUME….except for the name.
Now.. in that 24 hours, the company I interviewed with today found my resume. And they called me. And I sent a followup email with the signature MsCleanslate. But, apparently, the interviewer was expecting Ms. Smith and didn’t want anything to do with the dangerous, fringe fanatic freakshow that is Ms. Cleanslate.. WHO IS THE EXACT SAME PERSON AS MS.SMITH EXCEPT FOR THE LAST NAME!
I don’t even have words for how this makes me feel. Part of me thinks I need to save my pennies and just give in and go get my name legally changed. And part of me thinks that Ms.Cleanslate is WHO I AM. It’s a name that fits me and that I wholeheartedly embrace. I am leaning toward changing my name to “Jane Doe” and fading into complete anonymity.
*for the record, neither “Cleanslate” or “Smith” are my REAL last name….