Ronald C. Telescope?
Ever since coming back to Auckland this year, i have decided to at least try and look for a part time job just to earn a bit of spare money. So far, i've submitted multiple CVs to different places and haven't gotten any calls or feedback at all. I'm not sure which part of the recession we're in right now but the last i heard, everyone was saying that we're out of it already. There are days where i just feel like i shouldn't be worried too much about getting a part time job since i should put more concentration into my studies but this other ambitious side of me just tell me to try it out for a while to get a feel of it.
I have just submitted another whole bunch of applications today and i'm hoping to get at least a phone call. Even if it's a phone call to say they're not looking for part timers, that would make me feel rather happy since at this stage, i'm not even sure if any of my CVs are even being looked at.
Speaking of jobs, if most of you didn't know yet, Auckland is currently filled with Asians. Like lots and lots of them. There's so many Asians here that even some Asians themselves decides to ditch their name and just adapt some caucasian sounding names.
Asians ditch identities in hunt for jobs
by Lincoln Tan
Desperate job-seeking Asians are not only taking on Anglicised first names but also officially ditching their traditional surnames for European-sounding ones in the hope that will help them find work in New Zealand.
One Chinese woman even changed her name to Brenda Jones in an attempt to get a job interview in the tough economic climate.
About 21,000, or 9.2 per cent, of the Asian population are without jobs, and experts say their foreign-sounding names have contributed to their unemployment woes.
Massey University researcher Paul Spoonley says New Zealand employers, especially in small and medium-sized businesses, tend to eliminate Asian applicants very early in the process through surname discrimination.
"We have a lot of research and anecdotal evidence that New Zealand employers are reluctant to employ Asians, so changing surnames is a novel way of getting a CV read," he said.
Last year, people born in Asia formed most of the overseas-born people who sought to have their names changed with the Department of Internal Affairs.
Since March last year, 2029 immigrants have registered to change their names, with the top five countries of origin being Samoa (291), China (264), India (152), Iraq (98) and Malaysia (97).
Although Samoans topped the department's name-change register, the Weekend Herald understands many of these were to add chiefly titles rather than adopt Anglicised names.
Other countries with significant numbers include Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore.
Asian immigrants told the Weekend Herald they changed their names in a desperate attempt to find work.
Most did not want to be identified because they thought it could jeopardise their job hunt.
The Chinese immigrant who changed her name to Brenda Jones said she did so after failing to get a single job interview when her former classmates, European New Zealanders who graduated from the same IT course, were getting employed.
"I was feeling very desperate and very small," she said. "Changing my name is not something I am proud of doing, but I really didn't know what else to do."
Another, who changed her surname from Teoh to May with an English first name, said a job interviewer at Work and Income advised her to do so.
"She told me that with an Asian surname, employers will automatically think that I cannot speak English," said Miss May, a former retail manager.
A University of Auckland School of Business survey in 2005 found anti-Asian discrimination to be significant among employers.
It found that even without immigration status consideration, having a Chinese or Indian name significantly raised chances of being considered unsuitable.
Chinese applicants with Anglicised first names were considered slightly less unsuitable than those with traditional names.
Justin Treagus, director of Omega, a programme which uses a mentoring scheme to help immigrants find employment, says the recession has aggravated discrimination.
"I think the economic recession has brought many Kiwi employers back to their old habits, and maybe even made it worse."
One Asian immigrant, who changed his surname from Wang to King, believes it has worked for him.
Lai Ming Wang, now Terence King, says it got him an interview that eventually landed him a bank job.
"I got that job interview only after submitting my CV with my new surname, and getting that interview meant I could prove that I am well versed in English and have the ability to do the job," he said.
An Internal Affairs spokesman says only those who are New Zealand citizens or permanent residents with indefinite visas can register for an official name change - but others are still free to use Anglicised names unofficially.
Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres says it is unlawful under the Human Rights Act to refuse immigrants a job or an interview because of their ethnicity or race.
"It takes away someone's chance to be judged on their merits and it goes against the idea of New Zealand as a fair society."
article extracted from: NZ Herald, 3rd April 2010
Personally, i'm not that desperate. Then again even if i am, i don't think i will come to a point where i completely drop my family's name and come up with some white sounding name. Heck, i don't even know what type of name i look like! Smith? Jack? John? I feel bad for some people who actually have caucasian heritage in their family blood to get stereotyped into the same categories as those who changed their names as time progresses.
Oh, not only those who have caucasian heritage in their family history, but also Ibans too.
Dang Chai-knees.
I have just submitted another whole bunch of applications today and i'm hoping to get at least a phone call. Even if it's a phone call to say they're not looking for part timers, that would make me feel rather happy since at this stage, i'm not even sure if any of my CVs are even being looked at.
Speaking of jobs, if most of you didn't know yet, Auckland is currently filled with Asians. Like lots and lots of them. There's so many Asians here that even some Asians themselves decides to ditch their name and just adapt some caucasian sounding names.
Asians ditch identities in hunt for jobs
by Lincoln Tan
Desperate job-seeking Asians are not only taking on Anglicised first names but also officially ditching their traditional surnames for European-sounding ones in the hope that will help them find work in New Zealand.
One Chinese woman even changed her name to Brenda Jones in an attempt to get a job interview in the tough economic climate.
About 21,000, or 9.2 per cent, of the Asian population are without jobs, and experts say their foreign-sounding names have contributed to their unemployment woes.
Massey University researcher Paul Spoonley says New Zealand employers, especially in small and medium-sized businesses, tend to eliminate Asian applicants very early in the process through surname discrimination.
"We have a lot of research and anecdotal evidence that New Zealand employers are reluctant to employ Asians, so changing surnames is a novel way of getting a CV read," he said.
Last year, people born in Asia formed most of the overseas-born people who sought to have their names changed with the Department of Internal Affairs.
Since March last year, 2029 immigrants have registered to change their names, with the top five countries of origin being Samoa (291), China (264), India (152), Iraq (98) and Malaysia (97).
Although Samoans topped the department's name-change register, the Weekend Herald understands many of these were to add chiefly titles rather than adopt Anglicised names.
Other countries with significant numbers include Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore.
Asian immigrants told the Weekend Herald they changed their names in a desperate attempt to find work.
Most did not want to be identified because they thought it could jeopardise their job hunt.
The Chinese immigrant who changed her name to Brenda Jones said she did so after failing to get a single job interview when her former classmates, European New Zealanders who graduated from the same IT course, were getting employed.
"I was feeling very desperate and very small," she said. "Changing my name is not something I am proud of doing, but I really didn't know what else to do."
Another, who changed her surname from Teoh to May with an English first name, said a job interviewer at Work and Income advised her to do so.
"She told me that with an Asian surname, employers will automatically think that I cannot speak English," said Miss May, a former retail manager.
A University of Auckland School of Business survey in 2005 found anti-Asian discrimination to be significant among employers.
It found that even without immigration status consideration, having a Chinese or Indian name significantly raised chances of being considered unsuitable.
Chinese applicants with Anglicised first names were considered slightly less unsuitable than those with traditional names.
Justin Treagus, director of Omega, a programme which uses a mentoring scheme to help immigrants find employment, says the recession has aggravated discrimination.
"I think the economic recession has brought many Kiwi employers back to their old habits, and maybe even made it worse."
One Asian immigrant, who changed his surname from Wang to King, believes it has worked for him.
Lai Ming Wang, now Terence King, says it got him an interview that eventually landed him a bank job.
"I got that job interview only after submitting my CV with my new surname, and getting that interview meant I could prove that I am well versed in English and have the ability to do the job," he said.
An Internal Affairs spokesman says only those who are New Zealand citizens or permanent residents with indefinite visas can register for an official name change - but others are still free to use Anglicised names unofficially.
Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres says it is unlawful under the Human Rights Act to refuse immigrants a job or an interview because of their ethnicity or race.
"It takes away someone's chance to be judged on their merits and it goes against the idea of New Zealand as a fair society."
article extracted from: NZ Herald, 3rd April 2010
Personally, i'm not that desperate. Then again even if i am, i don't think i will come to a point where i completely drop my family's name and come up with some white sounding name. Heck, i don't even know what type of name i look like! Smith? Jack? John? I feel bad for some people who actually have caucasian heritage in their family blood to get stereotyped into the same categories as those who changed their names as time progresses.
Oh, not only those who have caucasian heritage in their family history, but also Ibans too.
Dang Chai-knees.
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