This Guy Was Rejected For 40 Jobs Because His Grandfather Named Him Saddam Hussein

“Never judge a book by its cover.”

It’s an age old saying which has stood the test of time for a reason. It generally holds true. However, while we’ve coined several such phrases over the years, we don’t seem to practice what we preach. The story of this marine engineer is the perfect example.

A marine engineer from Jamshedpur is having a tough time finding a job and it has nothing to do with his qualifications. In fact, the only reason companies are refusing to hire him is because his name is ‘Saddam Hussein’. 

Talk about thoroughly judging a book by it’s cover, eh?

 

For the first 6 months, he wasn’t able to understand why he kept getting rejected from job interviews. 

“I then inquired with the HR departments of the companies and some of them told me my name was the problem.”

 

A top executive at a leading recruitment consultant tried to reason why his name might be such an important factor in the recruitment process.

“Even Shah Rukh Khan gets detained at US airports. What is this Saddam in comparison?”

 

Despite ranking 2nd in his marine engineering batch of 2014, Saddam has been rejected from over 40 interviews while his batchmates have found employment with reputed multinational companies.

“People are scared to hire me.”

 

Since he was made aware of the problem, Saddam has changed his name to Sajid and has got all his documents like license and passport issued in the new name. However, his university and board certificates still bear his original name.

He has sent a request to his university and the CBSE board for changing his name on the certificates but they’ve refused to do so. Their reason for refusal may be justified because people in the past have repeatedly got their names changed on these certificates and committed fraud.

 

It’s shocking how something as innocuous as a name has been such an overwhelming determinant of a man’s fate.

“I am an innocent victim of somebody else’s crimes.”

While the age old saying of not judging a book by its cover may be a noble thought, applying it in real life may be more complicated that previously anticipated.

News Source: Hindustan Times