has being asian ever helped you in the workplace?

[kasia]

has being asian ever helped you get ahead in the workplace? if so, describe how.

[nicedream]

if it has... i'm not aware of it. and if it was known, i would not take advantage of it.

[John0101]

Affirmative action! Certain employers need to maintain a % of minorities in their workforce, some even recieve tax cuts for doing so. Being an Asian no doubt helped some but hurt others.

[kimpossible]

It's helped in the sense that I've mainly worked for white bosses with predominantly white co-workers who seem to 'like' Asians because they like sushi or dim sum or J-pop or dated an Asian girl, stuff like that. I get some truly strange comments and awkward interaction from bosses and co-workers particularly since my name change after marriage. They're often delighted because their interpretation is that I bring The Orient into the office or something like that.

I've had a couple of offers through ye olde Chinese connection for jobs or business but I've turned them down. The jobs required working for Taiwanese slave driver boss and the business ops were just not going to work because I didn't agree to the operational procedures. I have no problem bending rules when appropriate but pissing off US Customs and the IRS concurrently seems like a bad idea.

Then again I've been offered jobs in Taiwan and HK simply for being a foreigner. Teaching English of course, because what other job could a foreigner possibly want than to teach English?

I hope more people reply to this. I'd like to hear the experiences of (full or mixed) Asians who have worked in offices with many other Asians, Asian boss, etc.

[Oblivious]

It sure helped when I worked for my dentist on NORIEGA street. LOL
And as a hostess at Yank Sing.

But other than conversing with patients/customers in Cantonese,
being asian didn't really matter or make any difference in my other
workplaces.

[>:^|]

Insofar as some people's racist love has caused them to assume I would be a good worker bee, I guess you might say it has "helped" me get jobs. I even had one employer who told me he always prefers to hire "Orientals." But for some reason I never seem to stay at those places. :tongue:

Overall I would say that my appearance and name have been negatives when searching for employment. I wish the people who did the study with "White" and "Black" names would have included Asian and other ethnic names as well.

And as a side rant: When there is ONE OTHER PERSON of Asian descent in the company, I don't necessarily want to be romantically involved with that person.

[ellsworth81]

I also mainly work for white bosses with white co-workers. Asians seem to be a foreign bunch of a lot of these folks. I get lots of un-PC racial shiet that if I wanted to could complain about ... but, nyeh.

I dunno if I'm as much as novelty as you were in some of your offices.

Despite my parent's connectivity, I've gotten zero assistance from that (mostly due to the fact that I never asked I suppose). And I don't know if I could handle working in a primarily Asian office. It'd weird me out.

It's helped in the sense that I've mainly worked for white bosses with predominantly white co-workers who seem to 'like' Asians because they like sushi or dim sum or J-pop or dated an Asian girl, stuff like that. I get some truly strange comments and awkward interaction from bosses and co-workers particularly since my name change after marriage. They're often delighted because their interpretation is that I bring The Orient into the office or something like that.

I've had a couple of offers through ye olde Chinese connection for jobs or business but I've turned them down. The jobs required working for Taiwanese slave driver boss and the business ops were just not going to work because I didn't agree to the operational procedures. I have no problem bending rules when appropriate but pissing off US Customs and the IRS concurrently seems like a bad idea.

Then again I've been offered jobs in Taiwan and HK simply for being a foreigner. Teaching English of course, because what other job could a foreigner possibly want than to teach English?

I hope more people reply to this. I'd like to hear the experiences of (full or mixed) Asians who have worked in offices with many other Asians, Asian boss, etc.

[SunWuKong]

i think being Chinese American may have helped me in my job in HK, being that i spoke fluent Cantonese and English. we had both local and English-speaking colleagues, and i also had to talk to some clients, which were all local and Cantonese speaking.

[>:^|]

Huh ... so we have versions of racist love or language ability. And the latter is arguably not about being Asian per se. You'd have the same advantage if you were White and spoke both English and Cantonese, no?

I don't think affirmative action has been all that helpful. I think its main purpose has been to force employers to consider people they normally wouldn't consider. At one place of employment, there was One Asian, One Latina and One Black. Two were from Harvard and one was from Northwestern. All three graduated summa cum laude. I don't think you could argue that they were unqualified or even less-qualified than many of the other applicants. But the company wanted to look progressive.

[SunWuKong]

Huh ... so we have versions of racist love or language ability. And the latter is arguably not about being Asian per se. You'd have the same advantage if you were White and spoke both English and Cantonese, no?

i suppose. Cantonese-speaking Westerners do exist, but they're not common. those who are fluent in it are simply rare. but English-fluent Chinese people in HK are not that difficult to find.

[iris]

Yes because I know I am perceived as more stable and harder working. Although I may send my days at work googling random people and stalking others, my Asianess has allowed me to get away with it.

[kasia]

Insofar as some people's racist love has caused them to assume I would be a good worker bee.

yeh - this was what i had in mind. from my first job in the swimsuit department at macy's to my current job as an attorney, i sometimes feel that my supervisors hold this belief about asians. or at least ones that look like me.

Yes because I know I am perceived as more stable and harder working. Although I may send my days at work googling random people and stalking others, my Asianess has allowed me to get away with it.

that, too. but i think it only works if you don't have highlighted hair, a weird sense of style, etc.

[SunWuKong]

i don't think any of my colleagues or bosses have ever thought i was hard-working just because i'm Asian. i think my routine tardiness has overridden that... :tongue:

[deez nuts]

i don't think it has helped me advance. but, i do get the bulk of the asian patient pool.

[iris]

Yes because I know I am perceived as more stable and harder working. Although I may send my days at work googling random people and stalking others, my Asianess has allowed me to get away with it.


Being Asian however, has not helped me learn to spell. I meant "spend."

I lurn good.

[Emperor_Mike]

When you're East Asian or South Asian in information technology areas like InfoSec people are willing to believe the old "hard worker" bit. This in spite of the fact that I spent about 60% of my time doing completely unrelated things when I was working in the field.

[maxwell]

One of my friends applied for a job and was immediately contacted and hired. She did a Google search on the boss and got the hint that he is an Asiaphile. She was qualified for the job but she hadn't gotten many offers until that one.

[holybull101]

HELL NO!!!. If I was black or hispanic, I'd have a choice of jobs due to aff action. I remember while I was in school, firms wouldn't consider students that had under a 3.0 and a 3.5 in major, but that went out the window for blacks and hispanics

[jjlee3dson]

Yes. I'm a litigation lawyer and being Asian helps because my cultural sensitivity helps me avoid making some horrible gaffe that a non-Asian colleague might unwittingly make with an Asian client or witness. Some of the adaptive behaviors that clients of color adopt with white authority figures are remarkably less effecitve with me as they: [1]Don't see me as the MAN and therefore do not feel it necessary to resort to such tactics. [2] Feel they may have a more sympathetic ear for their troubles (which they do!) and are more receptive to a course of action I may propose. Being Asian also appears to be somewhat disarming to opposing counsel and others as there are few Asians in litigation work and they are surprised to see me in their "court".

[mrazntre]

i don't think it has helped me advance. but, i do get the bulk of the asian patient pool.

and hunnyz!!! w00t

[artsfartsyjanet]

I don't think being Asian has helped me get away with anything or has given me an advantage in the work place. White men and women have told me privately that me being Asian is a sure advantage for me to get the foot into the door. While it's great to hear that a company is mindful of diversity, I certainly don't depend on that to get my foot into the door or advance in a company.

[Faithless]

HELL NO!!!. If I was black or hispanic, I'd have a choice of jobs due to aff action. I remember while I was in school, firms wouldn't consider students that had under a 3.0 and a 3.5 in major, but that went out the window for blacks and hispanics
At your workplace as a "Solutions Developer"? Or just in general?

[YuheiCarreau]

I don't think being Asian has helped me get away with anything or has given me an advantage in the work place. White men and women have told me privately that me being Asian is a sure advantage for me to get the foot into the door. While it's great to hear that a company is mindful of diversity, I certainly don't depend on that to get my foot into the door or advance in a company.

A lot of White people think that... It's really pretty stupid, as they have no way of knowing unless they're the ones doing the hiring. But I remember reading that the group that benefits most from affirmative action hiring is White women, which makes a lot more sense.