Looking for a Job in Shanghai Part 2: Chinese-Japanese-American and Unemployed

“Wo bu hui shuo zhongwen,” means “I don’t speak Chinese.” It’s my most frequently used Chinese phrase. Chinese people are often shocked to learn that I don’t speak Mandarin. The idea that a person of Chinese background might not actually know how to speak it is absurd here in China. Most often, my sad little Chinese phrase elicits a laugh and some questioning. Every now and again though, the response is indignation and disbelief.

Upon further learning that I am actually half Chinese and half Japanese, some Chinese people begin to get a little suspicious. China and Japan don’t exactly have a history of positive relations, and many people of the older generation don’t have the best opinions of the Japanese. One man even shouted, “Impossible! It is impossible!”

For the most part, my background doesn’t significantly affect my everyday life here in Shanghai because people assume I’m a Chinese national. Sometimes it’s even an advantage: I get better prices and people don’t stare at me on the metro. But in terms of employment, I began to worry that potential employers might not hire me because of my background as I started to look for jobs.

I was also concerned that I don’t represent a typical American in the eyes of some Chinese people. While many foreigners in China are hired for their English language skills or their professional experience, some are also hired to be the western presence in the meeting room. Foreign employees are a status symbol for some Chinese companies and some go so far as to rent white foreigners. It’s impossible for me to be that white foreigner. I’m Asian. For one of the first times in my life, I viewed my ethnic background as a disadvantage.

As I began to receive my first invitations to interviews, I was hyper-sensitive to the way I was treated. Every Chinese interviewer greeted me in Mandarin, and at first I responded by awkwardly bumbling my way through an explanation of why I was unable to speak Chinese. I learned to preemptively speak English and greet them with a, “Hello, how are you?” as soon as they walked through the door.  I learned to make my inability to speak Chinese a self-deprecating joke, with Chinese interviewers and foreign interviewers alike. Humor was an easier approach than a long-winded explanation of where my mother came from and where my father came from.

It’s hard for me to say with any certainty whether my Asian appearance adversely affected my employment opportunities in Shanghai. However, I can say that I was asked about my racial background in almost every interview I attended. It colored (no pun intended!) every interaction I had with a potential employer.

There was one instance in particular in which I suspect my Asian appearance had a negative impression. I had a preliminary phone interview before going into the company’s office for a face-to-face interview. When I arrived, an HR person showed me into a meeting room. 10 minutes later, a receptionist came to tell me the interviewer no longer had time to meet with me. I later received an email telling me I was unsuitable for the position. There are a number of reasons why this might have happened. Maybe I was poorly dressed. Maybe  I committed some awful faux paus within those 10 minutes. Maybe they had just reviewed my resume and I really was unsuitable for the position. Or maybe it was because I was Asian.

I’ll never really know why I wasn’t interviewed. That my Asian appearance was even a possible factor in the company’s decision is something I haven’t quite wrapped my head around. Nonetheless, just as I’ve adjusted to being a Chinese-Japanese-American in Shanghai, I’ve also adjusted in the Shanghai job market.

Read more about how I found my job here:
What I DIDN’T Want
Interview Questions
Hired in Shanghai