Adopting a more Anglo-sounding name
The reality is that for most migrants wanting to work in Australia, their hard-to-pronounce names can be one of many dead giveaways.
These job seekers immediately don’t pass the cultural fit test for many employers. That’s why they don’t get any phone calls or emails for interviews unless the employer is specifically looking for a migrant to fill that vacant position.
The evidence is indisputable
A 2017 University of Sydney study found that 13% of job applicants with Anglo-Saxon names were invited back to an interview, compared with just 4.8% of Chinese-named applicants. The study found that large employers with over 500 employees have discriminated against applicants with Asian names – Chinese, Indian or Pakistani.
It is not surprising (as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald) that a Chinese-named applicant would need to put in 68% more applications than an Anglo-named applicant to get the same number of calls back. A Middle Eastern-named applicant needed 64% more, an indigenous-named applicant 35% more and an Italian-named applicant 12% more.
Likewise, a Canadian study has found that people with names of Asian origin were 28% less likely to get an interview when they applied for a job.
Blending into the culture
Perhaps to minimise any bias, you may want to consider choosing a more Anglo-sounding name that would not compromise your identity at the early stage of your job hunting, especially when your name is hard to pronounce or uncommon in Australia.
Use this name in your resume or job interviews. Remembering that your name will become your brand, it also helps people to pronounce and remember your name.
For me, I dropped the use of my Chinese given names and used “Patrick” together with my family name. You may also use the first letter of your family name.
Migrants from Asia are different
Here is some contextual information that will give you an understanding of the Australian way. Some of the most notable differences revolved around the concepts of ‘individualism’ and ‘collectivism’.
Generally speaking (and there may be exceptions), people in the West like Australia and the US tend to be more individualist, while people from Asian countries like India, Japan or China tend to be more collectivist.
Employees in collectivist societies
Employers in collectivist societies may expect their employees to put in extra effort beyond their formal job roles and responsibilities to help other employees who may need assistance with their work.
Such behaviours may benefit the organisation and its goal attainment even when it may not be of direct benefit to an individual or form part of an employee’s formal job description. It’s all about group achievement.
The communal or community aspect of work-life is also reflected in their social lives.
Employees in individualistic societies
People in more individualistic Western societies tend to value personal success over group achievement. This, in turn, is also associated with the need for greater self-esteem and the pursuit of personal happiness.
Employment relationships in the West are generally constrained by the formal employment contracts emphasising quid pro quo relationships between the employer and the employee.
Job descriptions focused on individuals tend to characterise employment relationships in individualistic Western societies.
Therefore, organisations in Australia tend to hire specific qualified employees who may be best fit culturally to perform the job as specified in the job description. They are more likely to fulfil their part of the contractual obligations of their employment.
Unless specified in contractual terms and the description of the job, cooperation with other employees or putting in extra effort beyond the scope of the employment contract is neither expected nor rewarded or punished.
This will be the first mindset shift skilled migrants have to make.
The clash of work cultures – It’s not the fault of migrants!
In Anglo-Saxon cultures such as Australia, employees are expected to take their initiative and speak out. However, in Asian cultures, a lack of self-initiative is (or perceived as) a sign of respect paid to the manager. It is not a sign of incompetence.
Differences in working cultures can easily trip-up skilled migrants who are trying to find work in Australia.
Understanding these cultural differences can ensure that you don’t contravene the unwritten individualist rules of the Australian workplace culture. You can use it to your advantage if you know how to.
Cultural implications for the migrant job seeker
The different societal and work cultures can have a tremendous impact on how new migrants approach their job search.
Repurpose your resume for multiple job roles
As a ‘generalist’ across different job roles, what you will find is that you can do more than one Australian job title based on your previous overseas work experience.
The breadth and diversity of work experiences is the real hallmark of what migrant professionals in collectivist societies can positively bring into the Australian workplace.
The key is for you to break down or decompose these work experiences into discrete chunks and match it to the Australian job titles and descriptions.
A one-size-fits-all resume does not work in Australia
Keeping your one-size-fits-all version of your resume is a recipe for failure.
You must have more than one version of your resume when applying for different Australian job titles (as I did when I first moved to Australia). Listing all job tasks that you have ever done in your working life is a sure way of getting your resume rejected!
You must selectively show technical competence and in-depth knowledge and achievement related to each job title. You must take the time and effort to customise each cover letter and resume to the specific requirements of the advertised job!
This means that you must re-purpose your one-size-fits-all version of your resume into several different versions targeted for different job titles so that they specifically meet the job requirements of each job.
My original resume was ‘chopped’ or broken down into four different ‘sub-resumes’. These ‘sub-resumes’ were tailored to specific job description and title that I can do. For each ‘sub-resume’, I had to remove all irrelevant information and include only specific achievements suited to that job title.
This makes it difficult because after breaking down my experience, there is not much to write about the experience!
This is where your creativity comes in. Having a good command of English will help you ‘expand’ your ‘sub-resume’ into something that employers will want or looking for.
Jump onto Seek.com.au to gain an understanding of what is required for the various roles and job titles that you can apply for. Spend time customising your resumes for each of these roles. Fine-tune your resumes and cover letters as you go along.
Include tangible achievements related to that job title
As Australian employers tend to hire employees who are best fit to perform the job as specified in the job description, you must only include relevant work achievements that are specifically related to that job title.
Remember to show, not tell.
Do not list your duties and responsibilities!
By showing not telling what you have done and can do for your future employer, you are only listing measurable achievements like “increased sales volume by 10% within 6 months”.
Your achievements must be quantifiable to show your capability to succeed in the job. This will be your point of difference for you to compete with other job seekers, local and foreign.
Highlight your transferable skills
Skills are the new currency in the labour market. The pace of change requires workers to follow the direction of a skills-based, rather than the degree-based labour market.
The good thing is that migrants from collectivist societies tend to have a broad range of skills and experience across a range of disciplines within their field. For example, an advertising job seeker may have experience across the sector along with a good set of transferable business skills.
This is an opportunity for you to showcase your diversity and expertise over other job seekers to gain a competitive edge.
The challenge for all skilled migrants is to repurpose the range of skills as a point of difference for specific job roles in Australia. This requires creativity and lateral thinking.
Therefore, highlight all transferable skills in your repurposed sub-resumes. Link them to specific achievements that resulted from the use of these skills.