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mrcfo
12-25-2005, 07:24 AM
My old lady works for a DISTANT relative who owns a rather large clothing chain store, it was the experience that opened my slitty eyes to the world of Asian Nepotism and how it just truly sucks.

In this rather large chain store (which he brought off a Caucasian about 15 years ago), he has employed ONLY relatives and friends he knows of or anyone who is related to these people, basically all employees are Asian except for a few token non-Asians here just to pass the "anti-discrimination" policies here.

To get to the real "beef" of this story and what irked me to write this post is that my neighbour - 20 year old second year uni drop out who is currently working as a sales assistant there along with some lifiting duties applied for a position as advertised as an office clerk. She was rejected, primarily and indirectly because of the fact that she was not a family member, the foilage provided to reject her? She's not qualified enough? EXCUSE ME? FOR AN OFFICE CLERK????

As my mother is still fairly close to the owner's family (but I think genetically we are about 5-6 generation apart despite sharing the same surname), she knows that the applicant (my neighbour) was purely rejected not because she wasnt qualified as such (really, you only need a pass in final year of high school for this job), but rather because the owner didn't like her and more so, because she wasn't a relative.

However, this doode has employed a few relatives who are outright spoilt brats, screwed up at uni and is now only in such a position due to being born in the right family. He is employing

* 2 nieces who have foked uni - pretty much coz they clubbed virtually every weekend and refused to study as well as behaving like a subruban version of Paris Hilton. Didn't last over a semester 1st year at university and hopelessly bad in terms of even basic written communication. Poor performance, lack of respect for colleagues and is horrendously impunctual and incompetent of holding their somewhat high positions. One is a marketing strategist and another is a management accountant, yet my mother tells me that colleagues have to spend half the time cleaning up their shiet and mistakes.

* A newphew who is a known thief running one store as a manager. Now how silly is this?

In a way I felt VERY sorry for the applicant (my neighbour whom I knew very well). So she's not academic, but she's extremely hard working from what I've seen her, has a good working attitude and almost a model employee (from what she previously did at this chain's store). However, her potential in this firm is cut short only due to short sighted facism/nepotism.

So I accept nepotism is an old Chinese addage to do business and some may say, to survive in a Western world. I do concede that other from Nepotism, the firm operates in a very Western system and adopts mainly Western methologies and strategies. Management are highly educated and it has helped countless overseas students survive in a Asian-unfriendly part time job market (often requires a working visa or apporval of some sort here before you can work here).

With all due respect to management, the entire upper echolons and "ministers" if you like are all strictly relatives or friends the main owners trust. I find it rather sad and bizarre management have employed such a backward approach. Most of all, I feel for my friend who has all the ethics and attitude for the position but limited by a silly nature.

For all it's worth, every cloud has a silver lining and I believe her talents would be much better served in a fairer working environment. In some ways I'm happy she didn't get the job - cant imagine the politics she'd have to go through.

fresh22
12-25-2005, 09:50 AM
Eh, its pretty prevalent on the smaller scales among Asian businesses. Not surprising if it happened on the larger scales as well.

I liken it to Suharto nepotism on a smaller scale. Well a lot of SE Asia for that matter.

Sad, but in a lot of places meritocracy is not even in the vocabulary.

kpih
12-25-2005, 10:39 AM
Why not? If it can happen in the White House and the Cabinet...

Craig
12-25-2005, 10:47 AM
You are writing about this like it's not the prevailing business model for the white Western world ...

applehead
12-25-2005, 11:09 AM
what you wanted a job there but couldn't get hired?

SunWuKong
12-25-2005, 12:18 PM
Why not? If it can happen in the White House and the Cabinet...

You are writing about this like it's not the prevailing business model for the white Western world ...

exactly.

anyway, i can understand hiring only relatives in small businesses. but it can become counter-productive real easily when you're big and you are hiring a larger number of people. i actually think it makes sense to hire your relatives, but it's kind of dumb to hire only your relatives.

AliBabaIncorporated
12-25-2005, 12:39 PM
You are writing about this like it's not the prevailing business model for the white Western world ...
Well, in the US, it's more common for people to hire friends and cronies, rather than relatives ...

LaiSteve66
12-25-2005, 12:55 PM
My old lady works for a DISTANT relative who owns a rather large clothing chain store, it was the experience that opened my slitty eyes to the world of Asian Nepotism and how it just truly sucks.

In this rather large chain store (which he brought off a Caucasian about 15 years ago), he has employed ONLY relatives and friends he knows of or anyone who is related to these people, basically all employees are Asian except for a few token non-Asians here just to pass the "anti-discrimination" policies here.

To get to the real "beef" of this story and what irked me to write this post is that my neighbour - 20 year old second year uni drop out who is currently working as a sales assistant there along with some lifiting duties applied for a position as advertised as an office clerk. She was rejected, primarily and indirectly because of the fact that she was not a family member, the foilage provided to reject her? She's not qualified enough? EXCUSE ME? FOR AN OFFICE CLERK????

As my mother is still fairly close to the owner's family (but I think genetically we are about 5-6 generation apart despite sharing the same surname), she knows that the applicant (my neighbour) was purely rejected not because she wasnt qualified as such (really, you only need a pass in final year of high school for this job), but rather because the owner didn't like her and more so, because she wasn't a relative.

However, this doode has employed a few relatives who are outright spoilt brats, screwed up at uni and is now only in such a position due to being born in the right family. He is employing

* 2 nieces who have foked uni - pretty much coz they clubbed virtually every weekend and refused to study as well as behaving like a subruban version of Paris Hilton. Didn't last over a semester 1st year at university and hopelessly bad in terms of even basic written communication. Poor performance, lack of respect for colleagues and is horrendously impunctual and incompetent of holding their somewhat high positions. One is a marketing strategist and another is a management accountant, yet my mother tells me that colleagues have to spend half the time cleaning up their shiet and mistakes.

* A newphew who is a known thief running one store as a manager. Now how silly is this?

In a way I felt VERY sorry for the applicant (my neighbour whom I knew very well). So she's not academic, but she's extremely hard working from what I've seen her, has a good working attitude and almost a model employee (from what she previously did at this chain's store). However, her potential in this firm is cut short only due to short sighted facism/nepotism.

So I accept nepotism is an old Chinese addage to do business and some may say, to survive in a Western world. I do concede that other from Nepotism, the firm operates in a very Western system and adopts mainly Western methologies and strategies. Management are highly educated and it has helped countless overseas students survive in a Asian-unfriendly part time job market (often requires a working visa or apporval of some sort here before you can work here).

With all due respect to management, the entire upper echolons and "ministers" if you like are all strictly relatives or friends the main owners trust. I find it rather sad and bizarre management have employed such a backward approach. Most of all, I feel for my friend who has all the ethics and attitude for the position but limited by a silly nature.

For all it's worth, every cloud has a silver lining and I believe her talents would be much better served in a fairer working environment. In some ways I'm happy she didn't get the job - cant imagine the politics she'd have to go through.

Now that's a model to look up to.

mrcfo
12-26-2005, 05:07 AM
Well, in the US, it's more common for people to hire friends and cronies, rather than relatives ...

I agree, the Western facism seems to lean towards cronies than relatives....but thats only because 90% of Asian businesses are based on family.

Fireblade
12-26-2005, 02:04 PM
In most small buisnesses, a lot of companies hire relatives or cronies. Whichever way you look at it, if the person who does the hiring does not like you/know you... chances are you aren't going to get hired for your qualifications.

peaches
12-26-2005, 11:11 PM
I think the OP's issue is not so much with nepotism, but with not hiring good people from outside of the circle. I guess it is basically trust your own and screw the rest, even if your own screw you.

mrcfo
12-30-2005, 06:00 AM
I think the OP's issue is not so much with nepotism, but with not hiring good people from outside of the circle. I guess it is basically trust your own and screw the rest, even if your own screw you.

Yeah, you pretty much got my anger and frustration. It's more or less an issue of why wasnt the girl given any real chance? Knowing the owner pretty well, he's a nice guy and all but gee, I felt really bad for the applicant who I know tries so hard in life thus far but hasn't been fairly rewarded.

If the owner had considered getting some talented outside staff whilst keeping the management level to himself and family (what he is comfortable with), then maybe the place would be more efficent and attract better staff.

kimpossible
12-30-2005, 10:20 AM
How is this different from any number of family owned businesses across the globe? Even outside of family owned businesses, many positions posted publicly are filled with candidates that are already known directly or through personal introduction. This is why networking is so vital in employment searches. It reduces an employer's risk to go with the known rather than the unknown.

Paradox
12-30-2005, 10:59 AM
What are you complaining about exactly? I read your post a couple times and I am still puzzled. This is a _family_ business, in small family businesses typically the entire staff is composed of family members. Nepotism isn't bad unless it breaks discrimination laws or descends straight into cronyism in an effort to control markets or lock out competition.

Yeah, you pretty much got my anger and frustration. It's more or less an issue of why wasnt the girl given any real chance?

Why should they give a damn? It's a family business.

I felt really bad for the applicant who I know tries so hard in life thus far but hasn't been fairly rewarded.

Are you trying to get with this girl or something? I don't see the outrage here.

If the owner had considered getting some talented outside staff whilst keeping the management level to himself and family (what he is comfortable with), then maybe the place would be more efficent and attract better staff.
Maybe he's a much more savvy businessman than you give him credit for. Businesses aren't run like a democracy, as long as they don't break specific hiring/discrimination laws they can do pretty much whatever they want in evaluating or hiring someone.