Marine Engineer Job Application Turned Down 40 Times Because of His Name
Hi my name is Saddam Hussein, I am a marine engineer applying for a job.
People are given names to have an identity. However, it’s not always that people’s names are unique – many parents give their children common first names, while some are copied or derived from famous persons or figures.
Such is the case of this Indian marine engineer. It might have been nice if he had the name of a celebrity or a scientist, but no, it had to be a former Iraqi dictator.
Named by birth as Saddam Hussain, whose name is spelt one letter different from the fifth President of Iraq, he suffered quite a lot because of the shared name.
In 40 jobs he applied for in multinational shipping companies he was rejected, because the human resources were afraid they were hiring a terror employee. “People are scared to hire me,” Saddam told Hindustan Times.
Despite ranking second in the 2014 batch from Tamil Nadu’s Noorul Islam University, he stayed unemployed because of his namesake. His batchmates have already secured jobs around the world, he said.
For the first six months of his job hunting, he wondered why he was not taken by the companies. So he asked them.
“I then inquired with the HR departments of the companies and some of them told me my name was the problem,” Saddam shared.
Having a Saddam Hussain around as a crew member could become an operational nightmare and complicate encounters with immigration officials, he was told.
His grandfather gave him the name 25 years ago, an act that he actually does not despise.
Due to the troubles that come with his name, Saddam got his name changed to Sajid and modified all his documents including his passport, voter ID and driver’s license – except his educational certificates.
Noorul Islam University had refused to change the name until he got his Class 10 and 12 exam certificates changed first. He took to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for a name change, but the authorities have not acted yet.
On May 5, Mr. Hussain is set to have hearing after moving to the Jharkhand high court with a plea to direct the CBSE to change his name.
Until then, Sajid has to suffer with ‘Saddam’ still in his school records.
While his batchmates are out there sailing around the world, Sajid is left with this predicament. “I am an innocent victim of somebody else’s crimes,” he said.
Source: Hindustan Times
