Interviewer Allegedly Said He Was Looking For “Chinese-Speaking People” Only, After Confirming His Other Technical Qualifications
As if the job market wasn’t already competitive enough, a man shared that there’s at least one other obstacle that stood in his way of getting a job — his race.
Mr Tharenii Muniandy shared his experience dealing with a company who was allegedly only hiring “Chinese-speaking” applicants, in a viral Facebook video uploaded on Tuesday (13 Mar).
You can view his account here:
His dissatisfaction came when the company in question, declined his application despite Mr Muniandy affirming that he could speak Mandarin.
Here’s the full transcript of what Mr Muniandy said:
I’m on a job hunt, okay.
So I’m sending my resumes out to many people and people are also replying me, calling me.
You know, I’m going for interviews.
So I’m an IT guy — my job is highly reliant on technical competency.That being said right, I received a call.
And the person asked me if I can speak Chinese. I said, yes I can speak Chinese.
And then he asked me so many technical questions and then suddenly asked me,
“Don’t mind me asking, but are you Chinese?”
Then I said, “No, I’m not.”
He said, “Oh sorry, we’re looking for Chinese-speaking people.”
You mean to speak Chinese? I’m like do you really need me to speak Chinese so that I can prove to you that I can speak Chinese?Do you need me to say,
“Yeah 真的我可以讲华语. 我很厉害啊, 真的我没有骗你.”
(Zhēn dè wǒ ké yǐ jiǎng huá yǔ. Wǒ hěn lì haì a, zhēn dè wǒ méi yŏu piàn nǐ.)
Do you want me to speak that shit?
Like, I just told you I can speak Chinese what.
So I can speak Chinese, I can do the job.And then later you tell me,
“Are you Chinese? Oh no, we’re looking for Chinese-speaking people.”
Yo, asshole. What the hell? This is Singapore.
What kind of question is this? What if he did not ask me about Chinese and I actually go and show up for the interview.Is he like going to insult me in my face by saying,
“Oh we’re actually looking for Chinese-speaking person”
Am I supposed to beg and say,
“Yeah, 真的我可以讲华语, please. Give me the job.”
(Zhēn dè wǒ ké yǐ jiǎng huá yǔ)Let me speak on behalf of all non-Chinese people who speak Chinese okay.
Us learning Chinese, is just a privilege for people who speak Chinese.
It is not an entitlement that just because you know that this guy in your group speaks Chinese, you all speak Chinese all around for 24 hours.
It’s not nice, it’s not fair.
Since the transcript may be a long read, let’s focus on a few key points Mr Muniandy was trying to make.
A “Chinese-speaking” non-Chinese man
While searching for an IT-related job, Mr Muniandy allegedly received a call from a potential employer whose identity was not disclosed.
The caller initially asked if Mr Muniandy could speak Chinese, to which he replied, “Yes, I can speak Chinese”.
After asking Mr Muniandy more “technical questions”, the caller then proceeded to ask if Mr Muniandy was a Chinese man.
For obvious reasons, Mr Muniandy replied, “No, I’m not”.
According to Mr Muniandy, this was when he presumably didn’t get the job.
[Caller] “Oh sorry, we’re looking for Chinese-speaking people”
Interestingly, there was a clear disparity with the hiring criteria laid out in the beginning of the call, and the end of the call — which is probably the main reason why Mr Muniandy was so upset.
According to him, the initial condition set by the company was for Mr Muniandy to be fluent in Chinese.
However, nearing the end of the conversation, it seemed like the caller allegedly confused “Chinese-speaking” with actually being…Chinese.
Proving that he can speak Mandarin
Whether Mr Muniandy spoke “Chinese” during the actual interview over the phone is unclear.
However, he did make it clear in the video that he was kinda proficient in the language.
And prove to us he did:
Translation:”Yeah, I really can speak Chinese. I’m very good at it, I’m not bluffing you.”
Source
Inconsistent hiring criteria
After showcasing his prowess in Mandarin, Mr Muniandy said,
So I can speak Chinese, I can do the job. [emphasis ours]
According to him, if the conditions to qualify for the IT job he was gunning for were:
- Has IT skills
- Is Chinese-speaking,
He did fulfill at least both criteria, only to have the interviewer ask him,
Are you Chinese? Oh no, we’re looking for Chinese-speaking people.
Mr Muniandy suggests that once the caller determined that he was not a Chinese person, the hiring condition was really no longer about being able to speak Chinese. But about his actual race.
He goes on to ask “What kind of question is this?” and hilarious states that “This is Singapore!” — where having a non-Chinese person speak fluent Chinese may not be so uncommon after all.
Speaking on behalf of “non-Chinese people who speak Chinese”
Mr Muniandy then delves into the matter of ‘Chinese-privilege’ in Singapore.
Saying that he would like to “speak on behalf of all non-Chinese people who speak Chinese”, he mentioned that their fluency in Mandarin should not be taken for granted.
Or considered an “entitlement” when it comes to a group-setting, where everyone “speak(s) Chinese all around for 24 hours”.
He concludes his rant simply with “It’s not nice, it’s not fair.”
Netizens agree to existence of “thinly veiled racism”
The video has over 900 shares and certainly sparked conversations among netizens on the matter.
In fact, many believed the experience that Mr Muniandy described, claiming that the thinly-veiled racism he faced, is a prevailing sentiment amongst local firms.
Others advised Mr Muniandy to apply to multinational companies, which – according to them – may be less influenced by racial prejudices.
Of course, not everyone concurs.
Netizens commented that the interviewer’s hiring condition of being “Chinese-speaking”, could be due to the nature of the job, which may require him to communicate and relate well to “customers from China”.
They also pointed out that the issue may have had nothing to do with racism at all.
Of course, here’s some food for thought.
If Mr Muniandy did speak Mandarin fluently enough to communicate well with Mandarin-speaking partners, would things have turned out differently for him in his phone interview?
Regardless of race, language or religion
From this video alone, we certainly can’t vouch for Mr Muniandy’s command of the Chinese language.
Neither can we say for sure that the company he received a call from was indeed looking for racially Chinese applicants only.
So, we’ll have to take the contents of Mr Muniandy’s video with a pinch of salt.
As Singaporean society values both multi-racialism and bilingualism, we don’t think a job applicant should ever be denied a job opportunity based on his or her race, language or religion.
Especially if he’s proficient in the languages required — even if it’s not his Mother Tongue.
Featured image from Facebook.
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