Job Seeker in France Changes Name to Combat Hiring Discrimination

Many Muslim foreigners continue to face discrimination in hiring in France due to their Maghrebi origin. To give themselves a chance to find work, some do not hesitate to change their first name. Saifeddine, an Algerian in France, was forced to make this choice, as his first name "closed doors" for him. It was a "difficult" but "assumed" choice, he confides to Ouest-France.

The one who is now called Romain recounts having been more than once a victim of discrimination in hiring when he lived in Le Havre, in Seine-Maritime. The Algerian says he decided to get rid of his original first name which was "difficult to bear". For five years, when he presented himself for job interviews, he was "necessarily taken for a foreign person, even unconsciously, and moreover a Maghrebi".

The graduate in accounting and management was only invited to two job interviews out of more than a dozen applications filed. He explains that during one of these interviews, "the human resources manager was aggressive towards me. What surprised me was that he did not have the same attitude with the other candidates". Marked by this experience, he decided in 2019 to change his first name.

A decision that "many people do not understand," continues Romain, who says he does not "regret" his choice, even less "deny [his] origins". Saifeddine currently resides in Quimper, Brittany, where he works as a salesman in a city food store. The change of first name is a rebirth for him. "For me, it’s a bit of a new life beginning. A new start."