Young, Asian and Unemployed? Know thyself.
Struggling to find employment or even land an interview and find yourself or your friends blaming racist attitudes by New Zealand employers? I urge you to think again. Blaming racism relinquishes self accountability and changing the attitudes of the people around you can be a nigh on impossible task that could leave you suffering a lifetime of frustrations. A simpler and much more effective solution is in knowing yourself and understanding your environment.
Your identity, culture and values systems are the golden key to your success.
By being self aware and confident in your own beliefs and abilities and learning how to manage who you are with the realities of New Zealand society is fundamental to overcoming the hurdles you face in the job market.
Born in Malaysia, I migrated to New Zealand with my family when I was three years old. Walking past me on the street there would be no doubt in your mind that my roots were not originally from Aotearoa, my face gives it away. I have heard every racist joke and been part of countless discussions surrounding racism. For my entire life when asked where I was from I would always answer New Zealand to which the asker’s instantaneous reply would be “But no, really where are you from?” It didn’t matter what ethnicity; Pakeha, Maori, Pacific Island, Chinese, Indian, German etc there would be a common disbelief that New Zealand was where I called home. While this was incredibly frustrating at first, over time I got used to it. I knew in my heart where I was from and where I belonged and those around me could choose to accept it or not.
Interestingly, when I recently travelled overseas and met with people who previously had very little interaction with New Zealand, I found myself taken back when friends from Japan and Turkey were in utter confusion when they realised I could speak (basic) Mandarin because they thought I was from New Zealand where we only spoke Maori and English. While this isn’t a correct assumption about New Zealanders either (as only 4% of the total New Zealand Population can speak te reo Maori) I was surprised that my very Chinese looking face had no relevance on the language that I could speak or where I was from. Was it because they previously had not been (over) exposed to a preconceived ideal of what a New Zealander should look like or act; a concept which back home often does not include an Asian face or Asian behaviour. 
This preconceived ideal is becoming more and more of a problem as the population in New Zealand and in particular Auckland becomes less European. Currently, 40% of Auckland’s residents are immigrants with the Asian population easily the fastest growing demographic and it is estimated that they will surpass the combined Maori and Pacific Island and will comprise around a quarter of Auckland’s population within the next decade. There maintains a lingering cloud of angst and frustration among the Asian community (particularly in Auckland) of feeling unwelcomed in the country they call home. In particular, the conversation that has been bought to the surface recently is the issue of the Bamboo door.
Bamboo Door: A term coined by Chinese young professionals’ network Future Dragonz, the bamboo door is regarded as an obstacle in an Asian young professional’s career mobility at entry or intermediate level within the mainstream workforce in the Western world. This barrier may act as a visible or invisible force towards hindering confidence, success and leadership development in any given industry.
A few weeks ago I attended a panel discussion in Auckland called White or Wong: Unlocking the bamboo door which questioned whether or not workers of Asian descent are purposely being locked out of jobs and promotions because of their Asian heritage and/or Asian sounding name. Yik Kun Heng, one of the panel speakers claimed that New Zealand holds racists attitudes when employing Asian graduates. Born in Malaysia, he spent 22 years of his life in New Zealand, he tells his story of how after graduating from the University of Auckland with a first class masters in Political Science (which he obtained while holding 3 part time jobs) he has applied for 175 jobs and only received just three interview requests. When seeking advice from a career advisor he was advised to change his name to an Anglo Saxon one.
"It's almost like you have to give up your identity, everything you are as a person - your history - just to secure a job and a pay cheque.That's too much of an ask for anyone." - Yik Kun Heng
On the other side of spectrum Lin Zhuo, Project Manager at Asia Business and Accountant at WHK provides an alternative perspective where she believes her Chinese heritage gave her the competitive advantage over other graduates. When Lin arrived in 2002 as an international student she didn’t speak much English. She worked hard to learn English and understand the New Zealand culture. Although she uses an English name in China, she chose to maintain her Chinese name to preserve her cultural heritage. When looking for jobs she specifically focused on offices that would appreciated what an Asian employee would bring to the office eventually leading her to land her current job at WHK.
"Be more confident in yourself. If they do not understand, educate them and influence them with a positive attitude" - Lin Zhuo
The fact cannot be ignored that racism is prevalent in New Zealand society but it is important to note that it is not only the Asian demographic that feels effected by racist attitudes. If you’ve looked at the paper recently, you wouldn’t have been able to ignore all the news items surrounding Blues coach Pat Lam who was reduced to tears this month when he and his team suffered racist abuse on internet message boards and talkback radio. Claims of how that because the team was coached by a Samoan and had too many Polynesian players was the reason for the team’s recent poor performance. And don’t even get me started on Paul Henry and Michael Laws. These are the more blatant examples of racism in this country but there are many more unheard stories that casually take place everyday behind closed doors, shared between friends and family.
Honestly, it’s not surprising that racism exists in New Zealand. It is human nature to want structure and familiarity in our lives. Our mind is conditioned to seek out and rely on stability as it is a comfortable and safe place. Dealing with change is often hard and doesn’t come naturally to everyone. As New Zealand’s changing identity becomes more obvious, racism can be seen as the normal reaction to reluctance to move beyond what many have considered a “traditional” New Zealand Identity. Take for example many of Heartland New Zealanders who have barely gotten used to the recognition of Maori as tangata whenua and now are being asked to extend a similar sort of understanding to the growing Asian communities in the country. Fear and resistance is a natural response and for a person’s attitude to change it takes time.
Interestingly though it seems that the proportion of people with racist attitudes towards Asians in New Zealand has improved in the last decade. Perceptions of Asian reached a low point around 1996 due to the scaremongering tactics of New Zealand First that focused on the “Asian Invasion”, views which were reinforced by the media. However a survey conducted by Asia:NZ earlier this year shows that 83% of New Zealanders agree Asian people contribute significantly to New Zealand society and 78% agreed Asian immigrants bought a valuable cultural diversity to New Zealand. While this is a positive step forward, it still begs the questions why are so many talented Asians are struggling to get jobs in New Zealand.
Firstly, let’s quickly address the name issue and get that out of the way. A person’s name provides a remarkable amount of information about you, such as race, gender and ethnicity. This information can lead to assumptions that are not necessarily reflective of who you are as a person. In a recently published paper titled “The name-pronunciation effect: Why people like Mr Smith more than Mr Colquhoun” found that easy to pronounce names 
(and the bearers of those names) are judged more positively than difficult-to-pronounce names. People with an Asian sounding name can constantly feel that they are judged negatively because of it however the harsh reality is that if an employer can’t pronounce your name they’re not going to hire you or want to work with you. They may be embarrassed or find it too difficult and an Anglo Saxon name is much more familiar and comfortable. How to get around it? Get creative and turn your unique and interesting sounding name into a positive advantage, it makes for a wonderful icebreaker. My name is Ying Kong, y’know like that famous gorilla of the similar name.
New Zealand, we’re a country of 4.4 million people, it’s natural that employment is hard regardless of the colour of your skin or your cultural background. In March 2008, New Zealand entered the recession with an unemployment rate of 3.6%. Since then, unemployment has risen and in June 2011 unemployment was at 6.5%. The bamboo door discussion is centred on Asians being locked out of interviews because they were judged on their name or country of origin rather than their skill set. Dig a little deeper; and we find that the roadblocks are occurring at recruitment agencies or when reading CVs. While in many Asian countries displaying the right set of qualifications and skills on paper is a common way to be hired, the way the majority of jobs are obtained in New Zealand (and many westernised countries) is quite different. Figures suggest that around only 30% of jobs are advertised, while the other 70% are found by direct contact and networking. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES defined by the Ministry of Economic Development are enterprises with 19 or few employers) who play a dominant role in New Zealand the percentage of jobs that gets advertised is even smaller.
The focus needs to be shifted from relying solely on CVs and recruitment agencies to making a name for oneself in the community and industry of your line of work and interest. 
Expand your network and boost your visibility in order to meet and form relationships with influential people. In the modern world of Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and LinkedIn it has become much easier to promote oneself. Instead of tirelessly looking at Seek or TradeMe try offering yourself as an intern to your favourite companies or seek opportunities in community projects, although unpaid the relationships you build will be invaluable.
For many Asians I can understand that this can seem like an overwhelming task. It is against many of the fundamental values that our parents raised us to follow. Expressing opinions and/or promoting oneself is often frowned upon and seen as disrespectful. To be successful you must get good grades, work hard, be humble, deferential, keep your head down and blend in with group. This is part in parcel one of the most common reasons that has lead to so many frustrated young talented Asians as they realised that meritocracy comes to an abrupt end after graduation. Achievements, technical skills and intellectuality are the easiest kind to identify and measure and tend to be how people evaluate their own performance and worth but in reality competency is often ranked second on the skills that employers value for an ideal employee. At White or Wong, Jillnaught Wong (Deputy Dean, Director of the Graduate School of Enterprise and Professor of Accounting at The University of Auckland Business School) spoke about how he believed that employers ranked warmth first and foremost. A warm person he defined as someone who came across as a good natured, helpful, open, friendly, empathetic, kind, sincere and trustworthy.
Unfortunately, even employers with the best of intentions are not immune to the influence of stereotypes and unconscious bias. Surveys have been done that show Asians (and other ethnic minorities like Jews, as well as career women) are often regarded to be high in competence and low in warmth explaining why they are often pigeon holed into technical and analytical roles like accounting and engineering and passed over for roles that involve people interaction or leadership because of an assumed inability to connect with others.
It is not enough to stamp one’s feet and claim racism from employers’ rather Asian people must assume the responsibility for dispelling unjust perceptions by understanding and knowing how to influence the way others perceive them. This is only possible if you understand who you are as a person and who you want to be. Only by having a high level of Self Intelligence will you be able to know if people’s perceptions are based on stereotypes or are actually a result of the way you behave, think and interact. If the perception is unjust, understand why and work to influence your potential employer so that they get to know (and love) the person behind the face and the name instead of staring and making judgments based on words on a piece of paper.
"The building of understanding through dialogue is of utmost importance in Asia-Pacific. Our wider region is one where all of the world’s great faiths are to be found – and the same is true of New Zealand itself, which is becoming increasingly multi-cultural and diverse. I believe we owe it to today's children and future generations to build a world in which we strengthen the co-operation and understanding between us." - Joris de Bres, New Zealand Race Relations Commissioner