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Is it because I is Black?!

10/4/2012

11 Comments

 
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Organization
The pace of modern life means you need to be able to juggle many things at one time without stumbling, getting confused, angry or annoyed. Tall order? Yes, it is.

Presentation, packaging
The comments on this article are even more interesting and insightful than the article itself. One anonymous comment reads: “My son recently went for a minimum wage menial job interview. He dressed smart casual - no jeans, ironed shirt, neat haircut and the rest. He didn't get the job but at least the manager took the time to write to him and commend him on his appearance and enthusiasm in the interview.”

That’s just it, right? If you receive a gift that’s been neatly wrapped and ‘ribboned’ you will take more interest in it that a carelessly packaged box wrapped in newspaper. The same applies at interviews. Even if you are applying for a low-skilled job dress smartly, smile and act enthusiastic. The very fact that this employer took the time to commend the young man for his presentation shows he was pleasantly surprised.

Overall, I would say that if you are highly numerate, literate, fluent, learned, disciplined, organized and well-presented and you still can’t find a job, it’s possible that it’s because you is black! Whatever the case stay positive.

Picturewww.instructables.com
Academic profile
Nowadays so many people have great GCSEs, great A-levels and a university degree so if you don’t have the same, it will count against you.

Discipline
A couple of boys admitted to having a criminal record. One paragraph in the article read: "'I’ve been looking for a job for almost seven years,' says Gogo, 28, who served three years in jail in his teens for what he describes as a number of small offences. 'I would take any job, I don’t really care, I’ll take any job — but once you get a criminal record, even a minor criminal record, it’s hard to get any jobs.'"

Let’s be honest, if you were about to employ someone you would want some sort of signal that they are disciplined, right? That they will get to work on time, that they won’t be dishonest and overall that you can trust them to do right by the firm. In times of such high unemployment, when employers can afford to be picky, they will take a criminal record as a ‘signal’ of poor discipline. If someone has a criminal record the best they can do is admit to it before it’s ‘discovered’ and try to explain it away.

If an employer discovers the record on their own they are more likely to think you lied than if you are upfront about it. Everyone knows that having a criminal record does not in itself mean you’re a bad person but it’s part of your profile and as such indicates something about your character. Like as not, the signal is not usually a positive one although rarely it can be (see Nelson Mandela). Most applicants competing for the same job will not have a criminal record.

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On 26-Mar-12 the Evening Standard produced a highly emotive article about the unemployment levels of young black men: Young, Black and Shafted. The interviewees were all from the low-income neighborhood of Dalston. Personally, I don’t think that this story reflected the unemployment levels of black people from wealthier and more educated neighborhoods.

Growing up in Malawi, the concept of race and racism almost never traversed the contours of my brain. As a result, when something bad or negative happens to me, I almost never think of it as “racism”.

I don’t argue that racism does not exist but I think this article lacked balance because it left some important areas unexplored. It entirely focused on race rather than the issue of: what are employers looking for and are these qualities lacking in the interviewed cohort? What is it that these lads can do to make themselves employable? And, if you can’t find a job, have you thought of creating one? I want to tackle the issue of employability in this blog. 

WHAT EMPLOYERS WANT:

Numeracy
You don’t have to be a super mathematician but basic mathematical skills are needed in almost any job. I am not talking about simply adding up but being able to understand ratios, proportions and if you are in a desk job formulae in Microsoft Excel. A surprising number of people are severely lacking in this area. If it can’t be done on a calculator, they get stuck.

Literacy and Fluency
Being brought up and bred in Britain doesn’t immediately imply an ability to fluently speak in English. Many people’s grammar is all over the place. Hand them a piece of paper and ask them to write something and in the absence of a spell check the piece is riddled with spelling errors. It's also likely to have misplaced commas and full stops, a poor flow as well as an incoherent structure.

If the job involves writing to and communicating with clients this simply cannot do! You need to speak and write well, your grammar needs to be in check and you have to space your paragraphs. Effective communication is a must.

I understand that a top City law firm had to provide elocution lessons to a few of their new graduates  because customers complained about their Estuary English.

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11 Comments
bridget
9/4/2012 11:42:02 pm

very interesting article, indeed while we may not play the racism card here in Malawi but where an excuse can be found people use it, - its cos am poor, cos am from the north/south/central, cos of my name etc. As you've highlighted in some cases this is true but most of the time its cos we r just too lazy to do that extra bit thats needed to get the job or indeed create one! some of it is borne out an inbuilt inferiority complex and some of it maybe cos people havent had a chance to read or know the tips as you have put them across. bt the race issue will always be a contentious one!Funny enough for me growing up in malawi there was always the impression that everything white is good (ie zachizungu) and i get the sense that even though we may not have racism as bad as it is in the west, we have inadverterdly told ourselves that black (zachikuda) is not as good as white!

Reply
ms b
10/4/2012 09:52:04 pm

so bummed that my initial comment didnt upload, but here goes the 2nd try. i think you've tackled something that most of us hv never thot of, the fact that even for the most menial jobs the tips that r commonly used in the cooperate world are just as applicable here. when i really thot about it i realised that even when i was hiring my house staff most of the points you raised were valid - numeracy, appearance etc. while every job will hv specific needs on top of the above having a tick in each of the above boxes will definately count in any jobseekers favour. That said i think that a lot of jobseekers suffer from inferiority complexes that they need to learn to get over. indeed while the racism card is not often played here, i know for a fact that we have our own versions here in malawi e,g. 'its cos of ..my tribe/my political partyy/ iam poor/ iam malawian/ iam female/iam dark etc etc. the list is long but you get the picture. while in some situations this can be true, in some cases people just are not ready to admit that they just werent quality enough for the job. And when it comes to race, i had a slightly different experience growing up in malawi. somehow everything white was associated with good things (zachizungu) and everything black was not (zachikuda) inevitably when you grow up in such an environment it makes it harder to break free of such stereotypes when you enter the world of work!

Reply
the godmother link
11/4/2012 12:56:38 am

This is a topic which is very close to my heart.. and have been meaning to address and will do so at a later stage from adifferent angel on our blog. I shall speak purely from my personal experience in persuing a career as a solicitor in this country.

First of all you are so right... the article was trully imbalanced. Yes I believe racism exists when it comes to employment, if it did not they would not be equality and diversity laws being passed as well as training in the work place. This alone is an acknowledgement of its existence.

I have heard of stories at job centers where if the staff cannot pronounce a person's name they put the CV in the bin. I have called agencies and they have been so excited about my creditentials and have had he phone put down on me once they heard my name.

I have been fighting against it since university. And the older I got the bigger the fight. It did not matter how well I dressed, how well I spoke, how educated I was - none of this seemed to matter. I have had comments about this in so many different ways its shocking. The rude condenceding remarks about why I did not get a job, a promotion or an interview do become extremely frustrating .

There are certain organisations that employ people to fill in their ethnic minority quota. And it does beg the question, had all these equality laws not come into place would people still be in the positions they are in? Do not get me wrong, this is not to day that the people in their positions do not deserve to there, but it does make you wonder.

I have heard of people that have got masters degrees and they are cleaning the streets, because they cannot find jobs to match their qualifications and they would rather be doing something. I cant make excuses for every black teenager out there but I do know during my reaseach, the ones I spoke to felt resentful and angry at the system that had already doomed to fail before they even began. (when i say doomed to fail, I mean in terms of reports on statistics of young black men, not amouting to anything, expected to behave badly, being stopped in the streets by police).

As well as colour being an issue at times.. there is also the element of who you know especially the magic circle firms and in African countries

As I said I have a lot to say about this topic but I am going to leave it here for now I believe so long as you know the attitutes out there you just need to keep pushing and as you grow you become stronger ....giving up is stopping to believe in yourself and you cannot afford to do this. Yes in some cases it is because you is black but no amount of rejections are worth you throwing the towel in....

Reply
Just A link
11/4/2012 06:18:46 am

Firstly I love the title of this blog. I have to say I have not experienced job rejections due to the colour of my skin but I have definitely experienced other things. Such as looks of uncertainty and doubt if one is really capable.
Racism in the UK exists but nobody talks about it.
This is a topic that can be discussed in great length. I enjoyed reading the blog and the comments.

Reply
Ms. Katsonga
11/4/2012 08:38:44 pm

Thanks for all the great comments guys.

@Ms. B: what is it about Malalwians and zachizungu being better than zachikuda? Eeeish, I wish people would stop doing that already!!

@ The Godmother: I really look forward to reading your post on the issue. You have lots of interesting thoughts...

@Just A: interesting you mention the point of receiving the looks of uncertainty. Tia has experienced this in the US of A and I too experienced it in New York of all places. A few times when I stopped someone for directions in mid-town Manhattan they had this look of "should I run"? Fortunately, they did not.

Reply
Tina
14/4/2012 08:17:16 am

Wow, this piece reminds me of a conversation I had with a few friends about a similar topic....in conclusion we agreed that; in as much as racism is still there its worse when those racial stereotypes are actually proved to be right, e.g uneducated, uncivilized not to mention baby mama dramas.....the list is endless So I totally agree with you we need to do our part in order to prove them wrong, lets work on being the best we can be and use these challenges as stepping stones.....

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Ms. Katsonga
16/4/2012 06:15:15 am

Thanks Tina. It is also true that poor education of poor people a large portion of which are black leads to poor skills. However with so much free info on the net it democratises access to knowledge. The developer of my fat creep app says many on his team taught themselves using tutorials on YouTube especially Standord University's clips.

Reply
TKP
15/4/2012 09:22:23 am

I am really liking these comments.. Great discussion!. As for me. I don't feel like I have anything to say that could fit in this space and make my whole point. What I would urge you to do is order on amazon the book "Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? And other conversations about race".. the beginning talks a lot about 'systematic racism' and the rest is just an amazing read that I think everyone could benefit from.

Reply
Ms. Katsonga
16/4/2012 06:16:25 am

Book noted. Thanks

Reply
Muti
15/4/2012 03:15:40 pm

A mutual friend (whose identity I wont mention for the sake of privacy) was flat out told, by a prospective employer in the UK, that they dont hire black/Asian people. No doubt racism is alive and thriving.

However, I am a fervent believer of meritocracy. I endorse your advice. Though we cannot, for now, legislate or guilt-trip racism out of existence (not to say we shouldn't stand up to it); we should always hold ourselves to a higher standard.

Reply
Ms. Katsonga
16/4/2012 06:17:33 am

Are you for real? Did they say why?

Reply



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