Employers In The UK Kept REJECTING Me | My African Name Cost Me Jobs

Africans in the UK are told that if you work hard, get the right qualifications and keep applying, the right opportunity will eventually come. I believed that too. Then I applied for more than 700 jobs in the UK. The rejection emails kept coming. Interviews became rare. Even jobs I was overqualified for turned me down. Eventually, I started asking a question that many Africans in the UK quietly ask themselves: Is my African name working against me before anyone even reads my CV? In this episode of The Untamed Section, I share my personal experience navigating the UK job market as an African professional. This isn't a conversation about refusing to work or expecting opportunities to be handed to us. It's about what happens when you have the qualifications, the experience and the right to work in the UK, yet still struggle to get through the first stage of recruitment. We discuss the reality many Africans in the UK face when trying to build careers beyond the roles society often expects us to do. During the conversation, we also look at research suggesting that applicants from certain ethnic backgrounds have to submit significantly more job applications before receiving the same level of employer interest. We discuss recruitment bias, African names, AI recruitment tools, visa assumptions and why many Africans feel they have to work twice as hard simply to be seen. I also share experiences of applying for junior positions despite being overqualified, being told I was the strongest candidate before losing out on a role, and even having to write "Does not require visa sponsorship" on my CV because employers often assume otherwise. We also explore another uncomfortable conversation. Why do so many Africans in the UK feel pushed towards certain industries while finding it much harder to break into corporate careers? Is it simply competition, or are there barriers that many people experience but rarely discuss openly? From career progression and salary progression to recruitment practices and workplace experiences, this episode asks difficult questions about what it really takes for Africans to build careers in the UK today. If you're an African living in the UK, have struggled to find a job, applied for hundreds of roles, questioned whether your name, background or ethnicity affected your opportunities, or simply want an honest conversation about the UK job market, this episode is for you. Subscribe for weekly conversations on Africans in the UK, life in the UK, careers, the African diaspora, money, immigration and the changing reality of life abroad. . #AfricansInUK #AfricanDiaspora #UKImmigration #LifeInUK #AfricanMigrants #TheUntamedSection