May 25, 2007
Devoted disciples will recall Guru's recent analysis of Christian names in which Yours Truly exclusively revealed that if you want to get ahead in human resources it helps if your name is Michael or Susan.
Guru was immediately inundated with demands for surname analysis to complete the picture.
Smith, Robinson and Williams polled highest among HR directors, and Guru immediately identified Mike Smith, director of HR at Yorkshire Water as the very model of a modern HR professional - by moniker, at least.
Personnel Today followed up with an excellent opinion piece on the career-threatening phenomenon of alphabetism, whereby people whose surname initial falls towards the end of the alphabet suffer great disadvantage in life (though it hasn't appeared to hinder the aforementioned Smiths, Robinsons and Williams).
And finally, this week, the national newspapers have caught up - The Daily Telegraph publishing an article entitled Is your name to blame for your life?
It cites real-life examples of workplace discrimination based on whether you are an A-lister or Z-lister by name. And human resources is the very bastion of this nominal inequality.
