Job Discussion Forums

[reachpeach]

i sort of have two questions, even after using the search and reading other topics on the forums. so.. hopefully i'm giving enough background information.

next year, i'll be graduating with a BA in linguistics from an english canadian university (my passport is also canadian but all my other schooling was done in america). my boyfriend and i both want to work abroad for a year. i'm most interested in teaching, and i think he is as well, but he won't have a degree by the time we're planning on going, so he's okay with non-teaching jobs.

also, something that has been bothering me is that i've read that asians get paid less or have a harder time finding jobs. i'm mixed (mostly asian), and my legal name is very "white," but most people think that i'm korean or japanese. however, asian people can usually tell i'm mixed. english is the only language i speak, though, and i was born and raised in north america.

so my questions are:
1. what is the best option (country wise and visa wise) for my boyfriend and i going somewhere together? should he just get a working holiday visa? we obviously want to live together, but we aren't looking to work at the same place.

2. will the way i look have an impact on my job search and in which countries?


thanks

[tttompatz]

[Tudor]

I beg to differ about the racial issue; my school (in Indonesia) has rejected applications in the past from Western teachers of Asian ethnicity, and I know they're not the only ones. Unfortunately, some students and clients can't seem to understand that someone who resembles them could possibly be a native speaker of English. Therefore, some schools can be reluctant to hire these teachers as it may affect their business - sad but true.

Of course, that's not to suggest that you wouldn't get a job anywhere. I'm sure you would, but it's best to remember that these types of attitudes do prevail in some parts of Asia. If you do a search on here, there's been numerous threads on this subject over the years.

[creztor]

Your race will be a HUGE issue. It doesn't matter what your passport says, if the boss sees an Asian face they'll balk and find an excuse to not hire you. Or, as you mentioned, they'll offer you a lower rate of pay. Obviously this is not the case at all schools, but you will face this and it will be a big issue, perhaps bigger in some countries than others. If you had an MA or were a licensed teacher, you wouldn't suffer from this, at least not so blatantly obvious.

[veronica2]

Well, so I'm an American teacher working in China, and I am caucasian. So I don't have really direct experience, but I see both sides of the coin play out. I know of schools that discriminate, but on the other hand I've met several Asian American or Canadian teachers who seem to be doing really well. So just give it a try and see what happens. It's definitely doable ...

[aviator1x1]

I am also mixed and look more Asian than white, but with an Anglo name. I have heard that some schools do want white faces, but I have got feedback from current instructors that the more reputable institutions, schools, and universities will hire Americans, British, and Australians of Asian backgrounds with the proper credentials. I personally would stay away from schools looking for white faces only because they are more business focused with a certain criteria. Maybe their student / customer base are those bored housewives or individuals looking for the amusement and entertainment value. My preference is to look for a school that have an academic focus. Please do not be discouraged and let's try our best to make this a more meaningful career.

[Glenski]

Obviously, from what people have posted, you can expect a mixed response at the very least to your Asian features. My suggestion is first of all, do not use any sort of hyphenated description of yourself, such as "Asian-American" or "Asian-Canadian" or whatever applies in your case. You are Canadian or American, nothing else, and if foreign employers can't understand that, then give them a polite pass.

Second, you have to be prepared for the narrow-minded employers & students who will only look at your face and think no English can come out of it. Yes, some think like that despite the name of your home country on your passport. How often you face this depends on where you go, which leads to the next point below.

Also, you have to decide on a country and let us know. Giving advice that fits the situation means knowing this. Here in Japan, you can both come on a working holiday visa (assuming you fit the requirements), and both of you can start work immediately without any employer worrying about being your visa sponsor. The hitch is, after a year, it's over.

You, on the other hand, can either come on a WHV or get a work visa (employer sponsors it, so you need to get hired first). The boyfriend is the real problem, and unless you two get married so he can come and use a dependent visa, the WHV is his only option. (Actually, he could come on a student visa but must study full-time, or he can get a cultural activities visa and study martial arts, flower arrangement, swordmaking, etc. but that visa usually requires proof that he has a history of doing that already. For those 2 visas he could get special permission to work part-time. He could also get a regular work visa if he can prove he has the necessary minimum number of years of related experience: 3 for teaching and 10 for other lines of work.)

Moreover, if he wants to do non-teaching work, he is going to face a language barrier because most non-teaching work (in Japan, anyway) requires a fairly high level fluency in Japanese. No degree itself is a hindrance even to Japanese, so what kind of related work experience does he have for the jobs he is interested in? Even with a WHV in hand, he may not look qualified for non-teaching jobs because he has poor language skills and insufficient work experience.

Let us know a little more about your and his background, when you plan to come, and exactly where you want to work (and for how long).

[reachpeach]

thanks a lot everyone for all the helpful responses!

[Glenski]

Your boyfriend is not going to get a work visa unless he gets a college degree or equivalent under his belt. His only option will be the working holiday visa (FT or PT work) or a student visa (if he enrolls in school FT and that means showing up front that he can pay for it).

[reachpeach]

[Glenski]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I would say that China is at the bottom of the list in terms of worrying about race. Mind you, you can find a lot of low-paying jobs around here if you are non-white. Here in China, qualifications are less important than looks. And if someone with a major in English walked in to a school asking for job and he was not white, and at the same time some white person applied for the same job with a major in Circus Sciences, guess who would get the job?

All you need is a BA to teach in China. Period. And even then, lots of people working here without one. I have seen highly educated dark-skinned fellows get the cold shoulder when applying for jobs because the school wanted to hire white teachers. Sad but true,

So yea, when some people say it's like a circus here, they are not kidding.

Good luck.

[reachpeach]