【Workers】 Ethnic minorities have high barriers to finding jobs. Chinese is difficult to teach English and do security

Workplace

Written by: University Line

2020-04-05 13:02

Hong Kong is known as a cosmopolitan city, but for some ethnic minorities, even with a good academic background, finding an ideal job is not easy. Abbas from Pakistan grew up in Hong Kong, and applied for security after graduating from high school, but was rejected by the company because he “does not write reports in Chinese”; the engineer Alex (a pseudonym) from Bangladesh is subject to language and cannot find a job that matches his major; Medium Kimberly, a Filipino, has lost her position as an English teaching assistant in a kindergarten because she does not speak Chinese. Compared with locals with the same academic qualifications, the path of minority employment is more difficult than others. After trying hard, they still can't escape their destiny, are they not thinking about making progress, or are they forced by the society to do nothing?

Reporter: Liang Yingshan, Ren Yanqi Editor: Guo Tingzhen Photography: Guo Tingzhen

According to the "2016 Hong Kong Ethnic Minorities Poverty Situation Report", among the poor ethnic minority population in Hong Kong, the unemployment rate is nearly 20%, slightly higher than the unemployment rate of the poor population in Hong Kong. Even with the government's subsidy and subsidy policies, nearly 65% ​​of the poor people of ethnic minorities are working poor, which is higher than the figure of 5 in Hong Kong. It can be seen that even if ethnic minorities find jobs, it is still difficult to get out of poverty. Because of language, culture and other reasons, there are not many job types available for them. It is even more difficult to engage in the work of high-skilled personnel, and many people end up in grassroots work.

Security language requires high ethnic minorities to enter

Abbas Arif, 36, of Pakistani descent, came to Hong Kong with his family at the age of six. When he was young, he learned Cantonese by watching TV cartoons, playing with local children in the park, and practicing at home with his siblings. He was fluent in Cantonese since childhood.

Abbas said that before 1997, English was the main language, so he did not think Chinese was important when he was studying. It was not until he graduated from high school in 2000 and was about to join the society that many employers asked about his Chinese ability, and he realized that Chinese is important. It is a pity that although he was studying in a government school designated by the government to accept ethnic minorities, there was a limit for the Chinese subjects offered by ethnic minorities in the primary school. Because the Chinese class was full, he was not able to study Chinese. By the time of middle school, the school has no Chinese courses for ethnic minorities. Therefore, when Abbas graduated from high school, he still can only say, not write.

After graduating, Abbas worked as a construction site, security guard, and tried to find office clerks. Once he applied for security, the security company specifically asked him if he would write Chinese. After Abbas told the truth, the company said that their supervisor was accustomed to the Chinese report and did not understand English, so he was not hired. Recalling his current feelings, Abbas said humorously, "My feeling is, you let me be a supervisor, I can read English! Everything is normal in the report, I can simply learn these few Chinese? If something happens, you can Call and speak in Chinese. "

Having said that, Abbas, who grew up in Hong Kong knows clearly that Hong Kong is always a Chinese society, and it is indeed difficult to handle paperwork without reading and writing Chinese. But even being a security guard must have the ability to read and write Chinese fluently, which he feels is unreasonable.

Abbas later worked hard to learn Chinese reading and writing, and also passed the social work card. The current staff union hopes to help ethnic minorities and more people. (Authorized use of the university line / photo by Guo Tingzhen)

Will you hear that ethnic minority job seekers repeatedly hit the wall

Also on the way to apply for a job, there are also 23-year-old Kimberly Patricio, a Chinese-Philippine hybrid. Kimberly was born in the Philippines. His father is Chinese and his mother is Filipino. At the age of 12, he and his mother came to Hong Kong to reunite with his father. After arriving in Hong Kong, she completed the middle school and diploma exams at Delia School of Nuns, and is now a fourth-year student in the Bachelor of Hotel Management at Caritas College. Kimberly understands roughly because her dad speaks Cantonese, but the pronunciation is not very accurate and can only speak simple sentences.

Language ability of ethnic minorities over 5 years old (authorized use by university line)

Four years ago, she applied for a part-time English teaching assistant in a local kindergarten. The employer sees her as a minority and has better English skills and invites her to interview. Unexpectedly, during the interview, the employer only cared about her Chinese level, and she did not hire her because she would not speak Cantonese. This experience made Kimberly a little bit at a loss: "They need me because of English, but they don't want to hire me because of Chinese."

Facing this situation, Kimberly felt helpless. Zeng Jiajun, the secretary of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese Labor and Herdsmen Center (Kowloon), who specializes in serving ethnic minorities, believes that the school ’s ideas are unreasonable: "The school has foreign teachers. I can hardly believe that a foreign teacher can speak fluent Cantonese. The goal is to encourage students to speak English. If every teacher can speak Chinese, the school ’s hosting of English days is actually not fun. "

Kimberly failed another job search, also four years ago, when he applied for a waiter in a fine restaurant in Central. Kimberly thought that it was enough to understand the guests' words. During the interview, it was discovered that all the colleagues were locals, and the restaurant manager did not hire her because of the language. She understood that the waiter might need to introduce the dishes to the guests in Chinese, but what caught her offended was that the employer did not only address the language issues, but deliberately emphasized that she was a Filipino. Kimberly has since deterred local restaurants: "I do n’t have the confidence to look for jobs in these local restaurants anymore. Now I only dare to apply for restaurants like Pizza Express that would hire minority ethnic groups.

After two failures, Kimberly succeeded in finding a part-time job in a restaurant that has always hired ethnic minorities, and was also hired by an Irish lady to work as a part-time English teaching assistant in a non-governmental children ’s English class. However, she will not dare to have too much hope for the future, and feels that her employment options are still limited: "Minorities seem to be only able to work as teachers or catering, and most of the rest are labor jobs like site workers. But other foreign minorities People of Chinese descent can do white-collar work without being asked to understand Cantonese. "

Kimberly said that even if foreigners do not speak Chinese, they can still find white-collar jobs, but ethnic minorities cannot, making her feel a little unfair. (Authorized use of the university line / photo by Guo Tingzhen)

Professionals can't pass the language barrier

For ethnic minorities, in addition to professional qualifications, employers often have additional requirements for language proficiency. 33-year-old Alex from Bangladesh graduated from the mechanical engineering department of a top local university. In 2013, he was hired by a Hong Kong pharmaceutical company as a mechanical engineer in a pharmaceutical factory to work in Hong Kong on a work visa. However, after the contract with the two local companies was completed, Alex tried to find a related job, but it has been fruitless, and has been unemployed for a year.

The two pharmaceutical companies where Alex worked before, colleagues from all over the world, can communicate in English everyday. So he did not have the opportunity to learn Chinese, nor did he particularly feel the need. But later when he was looking for a management position in the engineering industry in different pharmaceutical companies, the employer would always ask him if he could speak Cantonese or even Mandarin. Alex said that in his opinion, many companies now hire mainland masters because of their relevant experience and lower salaries. For this reason, Chinese has become an important entry condition beyond professional qualifications: "Engineers have to take care of the entire engineering department, other technical staff and masters are subordinates, many of them do not speak English, and I have difficulty instructing them to work."

Education level of ethnic minorities over 15 years old (the highest level of education) (authorized use by university line)

Alex understands the four languages ​​of Bengali, Udu, Hindi and English. During his one year of unemployment, he relied on his wife's income from the quality management of the pharmaceutical factory to maintain his livelihood. Students tutoring. Because he did not understand Chinese at all, Alex could not return to the position of engineer. He then enrolled in a Chinese training course at the minority support center in Yuen Long Town Hall. He said that whether he is an engineer or a teacher in the future, learning Chinese will help him: "When ethnic minorities can speak Chinese, locals will like him very much. I believe that as long as they learn Chinese, I will It ’s easier to find a job. ”

Educational qualifications are just professional qualifications for admission tickets

Regarding the situation where ethnic minorities find it difficult to find an ideal job, Zeng Jiajun said that even ethnic minorities who graduated from eight universities still have to find a job for months or even a year: "The difficulty is that employers usually have high requirements for language proficiency. The school requires homework in English, but in a real workplace environment, employers will require Chinese language proficiency. "He said that for ethnic minorities, academic qualifications are just basic admission tickets. In his experience of assisting ethnic minorities in finding jobs, employers often want them to have practical experience: "But when ethnic minorities find their first job so difficult, how can they help him find the ideal job a little easier?"

Zeng Jiajun said that employers have little understanding of the language and culture of ethnic minorities. He hopes that employers can learn more about their ethnic groups and trust their work ability. (Authorized use of the university line / photo by Guo Tingzhen)

Zeng Jiajun also said that although academic qualifications are admission tickets, they sometimes become obstacles to their job search. There have been cases in the past. After obtaining the accountant's license in Hong Kong, I was unable to enter the industry because I didn't understand Chinese, but it was difficult to accept low-paying jobs. Eventually, I was forced to reluctantly engage in labor jobs such as construction and transportation. Zeng Jiajun pointed out that this stems from their job requirements: "They have put in more effort to obtain a license and their job expectations will be relatively high. But among the ten people, those who really find a professional or ideal job may only have Two or three. "He added that of the more than 100 cases he has served in the past, three or four adults have a college degree, but only two or three of them can find ideal or professional jobs.

Hope that the society will accept diversity and make good use of the advantages of ethnic minorities

Zeng Jiajun said that in addition to the Chinese language level, the trickier thing is that employers only want to stay in Anshu District and do not want to do one more step to assist minority employees. For example, he used to focus only on driving skills and the applicant's familiarity with the road. But in recent years, logistics companies have begun to require drivers to understand the documents. Zeng Jiajun thinks this is the retrogression of workplace communion: "A Chinese address in Causeway Bay. If you add an English address and an English name, shouldn't it be as complicated as you think?"

Zeng Jiajun also believes that society often advertises the internationalization of Hong Kong, but only tends to accept Western and Chinese culture and resists Southeast Asian culture. This makes it difficult for many ethnic minorities to find an ideal job even if they strive to add value to themselves: "They feel that they need good Chinese and English to survive in Hong Kong, and they don't know enough about their own language. Go ahead. "

In fact, many ethnic minorities also understand many languages ​​and cultures, but employers do not make good use of their advantages. In the past, Abbas, who could not find a job because he did not understand Chinese, once felt unfair, but now he also understands the needs of society and work. He only hopes that society can provide more opportunities and environment for young ethnic minorities, let them learn Chinese well, and assist them in their future job search.

(Editor's note: This article is reproduced from the "University Line" No. 141, the release date is April 9, 2019, so all the years and years mentioned in the article are calculated in 2019.)

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[This article was reprinted with permission from the "University Line", an intern publication of the School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Original text: Obstacles for Minorities to Seek Jobs]

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