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Discrimination against foreign applicant?

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  1. #11

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    if you have a better idea, please feel free to share


  2. #12

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    Does the company need you more than you need them?

    Answering that question should be enough for you to know if your trying to find a job in HK, you should be in HK yourself.

    Finish your school, then figure out where you want to work. Try things the simple way. Save some dignity and don't call them a 4th time.


  3. #13

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    All job selection is discrimination - you are choosing the best person and so have to discriminate against those who you feel are not the best. What is wrong is unfair discrimination. In this case I do not think it is unfair. Try to look at it from their point of view. When I advertise a post I often face a pile of several hundred application forms most of whom are qualified for the job, so I am looking to discount as many as possible often for very small reasons. The fact that you are abroad is definitely one of those reasons. What they did wrong was to keep you hanging on rather than give a definitive answer.

    jgl, dipper and Load Toad like this.

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Frankiee:
    Does the company need you more than you need them?

    Answering that question should be enough for you to know if your trying to find a job in HK, you should be in HK yourself.

    Finish your school, then figure out where you want to work. Try things the simple way. Save some dignity and don't call them a 4th time.
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    1). Businesses, no matter how big or small, it's always looking at the bottom line. If there is NO chance that the company is going to hire you, why waste a long distance call? The HR people are there to collect a paycheck; I don't think they really give a damn about other things, e.g. courtesy and human relations.
    2). I once wasted 3 trips on a job interview and I thought for sure they were going to hire me, no such luck. It a way, this company might have done you a favor by not "jerking you around" making you waste $1000s on plane tickets and days of your time to come in for a hopeless job interview that you have no chance of getting.

    It is bad enough to be unemployed and have no income and yet job applicants must spend all these money and time on job interviews which have already been pre-determined the results by the companies long before it was advertised to the public. Talk about the game is raked!
    Last edited by Renotommy; 10-02-2010 at 04:28 AM.

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by newbie2010:
    I have one more question, how do you all get a job from HK?
    The most common method according to previous surveys on this site is an internal transfer with a multinational. I suspect the second most common is direct overseas recruitment of NETs (Native English Teachers).

  6. #16

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    I haven't actually seen any HK job ads that specify you must be Chinese or foreign. What I have seen frequently is specifying language skills, but that's not unfair discrimintation.


  7. #17

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    What I have seen frequently is specifying language skills, but that's not unfair discrimintation.

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    I agree. Language skill doesn't count as discrimination because any race can learn a specific language.


  8. #18

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    FYI: Equal Opportunities Commission

    I forgot to add this earlier today..


  9. #19

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    At least the OP got as far as he did. Many places will toss resumes for people living overseas straight into the "No' pile because they are not immediately available for interview. This does of course depend on the level of the job; top management... not so much, fresh meat... yep.


  10. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by newbie2010:
    LittleCamel: Beanieskis and Renotommy are right. I am originally from Hong Kong. But many many thanks for the feedback.

    Still no words from HR....very disappointed. Even though I understand they have lots of local applicants and its now a employer's market, but I cant hide my disappointment about the HK job market. It doesnt take that much of an effort to make an oversea call for an interview right? But i guess HR dont think so.....

    I have one more question, how do you all get a job from HK? Do you also relocate yourself to HK first, before applying jobs? Because I am not sure if I sure apply any more to HK firms if they are not going to interview me given I will not be back at least until the summer (altho I would fly back for final stage interview)

    Many many thanks for all your comments. Greatly appreciated
    Newbie, I can understand your frustration, but I think it's a bit dangerous pinning all your hopes on one position and you're only setting yourself up for dissapointement. The job market is still relatively weak and no doubt there is numerous applications for every position at the moment, particularly for highly sought after grad schemes. You shouldn't take it personally; there is always going to be a lot of people that miss out simply because CVs need to be cut down to a manageable level.

    Being overseas is definitely a big disadvantage and you will no doubt find it much easier once you arrive in HK. However, if you want to make a start early there is still no harm in applying from abroad; just because one company doesn't give you an interview, doesn't mean none of them will.

    A couple of years ago the job market was flooded and companies would be tripping over themselves to hire you, but sadly that is simply not the case anymore. If you apply for just one position and get offered the job in the current climate, I think you can consider yourself extremely fortunate! If you're intent on applying for positions prior to your arrival, my advice would be to get applications out to as many companies as possible and see what sort of response you get; at least that way you'll give yourself the best possible chances of success.