[Boneco]

Originally Posted by PDLM

I think you should name and shame...

I personally feel the same!!!

[jayinhongkong]

http://www.todaysliving.com

It's an interior design magazine based in HK. I don't know if the decision was the interviewer's, but she did say she'd have to run it by her boss. At the very least, she shouldn't have told me to expect an e-mail if I wasn't gonna be getting one.

[MrMoo]

Originally Posted by jayinhongkong

I knew she meant my ethnicity when she asked it.

The only productive response is to be literal, I find many individuals give up trying to find the phrase ethnic origin. I don't know why "Hong Kong" is such an unusual answer for a non-ethnic Chinese. Especially in an interview it's none of their concern anyway.

[jayinhongkong]

Unfortunately, that's the way a lot of locals think. I might have been born here, but in the majority of locals' eyes, I'll never be from Hong Kong. I do tell people that I'm from Hong Kong though.

[Max]

Originally Posted by jayinhongkong

http://www.todaysliving.com

It's an interior design magazine based in HK. I don't know if the decision was the interviewer's, but she did say she'd have to run it by her boss. At the very least, she shouldn't have told me to expect an e-mail if I wasn't gonna be getting one.

well that's one magazine I definitely WON'T be buying....

Jay, I feel for ya man. This sucks. Sometimes the way things are done around here tends to be frustrating. I'm glad you outed them, let everyone know we won't let this slide too easily.

[links]

in the opinion of many people here, people who were not born here are second to best. And many think they are still the best of the best.

however, this is also the trend in shanghai......

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by jayinhongkong

Unfortunately, that's the way a lot of locals think. I might have been born here, but in the majority of locals' eyes, I'll never be from Hong Kong. I do tell people that I'm from Hong Kong though.

By that logic, the majority of "locals" aren't from Hong Kong either.

[Krad]

Originally Posted by jayinhongkong

I knew she meant my ethnicity when she asked it. I agree, according to the Western definition of origin, I'm from Hong Kong. I've never lived in India. She knew I was born here, because I told her that when she asked me how long I'd been in Hong Kong. but when she asked "Where are you from?" at the end of the interview, it was my ethnicity she wanted.

Ah well, I wouldn't want to work for a company with discriminatory hiring practices anyway. Their loss.

She couldn't tell you were Indian from your name?

At least you got avenues of attacking this sort of thing. Try being an actor. Discrimination's not only accepted, but encouraged.

[F1GP]

Hi Everyone!
I'm new to this forum so I hope you can excuse being a newb.

A few of these threads on discrimination caught my attention. I have posted on other sites, but perhaps their replies are biased since they are local HKers, rather than someone like me. May be I can get a different point of view here at GeoExpat.

I was born in HK (left before I started kindergarten), but raised and grew up in Canada. I hold both Canadian and Chinese values to certain degrees. I grew up with HK immigrants from the "97 scare period" and majority of my friends are Chinese (CBC and HK). I speak Cantonese at home, but my first language is English. So I can honestly say that I am a native English speaker, not by birth, but close enough. I would have to say that my Cantonese is conversational.

My point is, I've come across language discrimination back in Canada and in HK, both from HKers. I'm not ignorant that HKers discriminate and are hypocrits. I'm in HK now looking for a job, but this is another story. Looking through candidate requirements (a company's wish list), many companies are looking for fluent English and Cantonese. I guess I fit the fluent English, however, as I said, my Cantonese is only conversational. I've asked some locals that I know, and it seems that business documents (memos, reports, letters, legal, etc.) are all in English. Can anyone second this? They tell me that not many documents are written in Chinese. This being said, conversational Cantonese shouldn't be a problem then. All Cantonese is needed for is to communicate with other staff, right? Actually the locals that I know and asked about this, they say "may be you should be looking at International companies for a job, as your English is an advantage to you." What? And why? This seems to be a catch-22 for me.

Is there anyone else like me on GeoExpat? A person who is essentially a native-English speaking, conversational-only Cantonese Chinese? I mean, if everyone in the company can understand English and I can get by speaking to them in Cantonese (mixed with English of course) and business documents are in English, then why do I need to look at international companies only? As those requirements in job postings are just the company's wish list, would anyone of you still recommend on applying to companies that list fluent Cantonese as a requirement?

Any of your views is appreciated.

[KnowItAll]

Depends on the level or industry you're going to work in. Many industries are english only (Banks for example).. with oral conversations happening in Canto and written instructions in English.