Talent Business Partner | Empowering the World of Work with Top Talents | Sharing My Journey to Make a Difference in People's Lives
My boss only wants a Mandarin speaker. But, but, but - can a Malay or Indian do the job? This is my conversation with some of my clients before signing them up. It might sound a bit sensitive but this is the reality of recruitment in Malaysia. We live in a multiracial country with diverse skillsets and limiting the search to a specific race restricts our talent pool. As Mr. Arulkumar Singaraveloo aptly put it: “Unless your business genuinely requires a Mandarin-speaking candidate, do consider others who also possess the skill. Otherwise, you will be searching for the perfect candidate from a limited pool and may end up with employees who can't meet your expectations.” Ironically, when I was the Global Head of HR with an advertising firm, I hired software developers from China and only spoke to them in English. Use simpler communication and you will win the game. As we approach 2025, let’s improve our hiring practices and continue empowering the world of work with top talents. #GDSpeaks #malaysiahrforum #techstreet #humanresources #recruitment #talentacquisition #hiring #jobsearch #jobseekers #careers
One of the Hiring Manager insisted that I only hire Customer Service who can speak Chinese dialect. ‘She needs to interact with contractors. So Chinese language is required’. I was speechless. My next question to the Hiring Manager.. when the contractors bid for govt contracts and speak to the authorities.. what language do they use? I’m okey if the requirement is really necesary, but discrimination is something that I could never tolerate. Regardless of the race or language (unfortunately I’ve seen enough 😔). It’s sensitive issues but awareness is really necessary on this subject.
Like it or not, everybody knows that's just a thinly veiled excuse to favour one race over all others. But the reality is, there are many Malaysian Chinese who don't speak Mandarin, and Malaysian Malays and Indians who do speak Mandarin... So I guess it's shame on them?... 🤔
Well said, I think it's only in Malaysia. My Regional Director who is from Hong Kong, also doesn't speak Mandarin when communicating with our Mandarin-speaking colleagues. I love his mindset: 'It's not about the language. Even if someone can speak Mandarin, it doesn't guarantee they can perform their job well. Language is just a bonus if they have it'
why not as long they be able to communicate in Mandarin
Language Diversity Hiring should be exactly about language capabilities. It shouldn't spill over to any other limitations. In hiring, we have to be open and clear about business needs and justifications. Communication must state requirements without it sounding biased.
Good topic to highlight however as short and simple it is A MERE EXCUSE.
Now ,what always cracks me up is,they will be working for a global MNC with a clear DEI policy,yet the M'sian hiring manager will insists on Mandarin!
I have never seen job ads hiring indian or malay speaking. It's always Mandarin or Cantonese speaking when the job doesn't need to be handling these 2 languages. It's just the calture here in Malaysia which needs to change.
Test Management | Digital Transformation | Community Builder | Speaker
2moI used to be in a situation where there is a change in vendor team for my project. To my surprise the new vendor team barely speaks in English. Even for the team to ask question in written form takes so long. Good thing is they have a vendor lead who is bilingual, who speaks proper English and Mandarin. Yet it causes friction during B2B business meetings when each time this lead had to translate back and fro between English and Mandarin. It creates frustation on both ends than fulfiling the meeting agenda. It was not an effective meeting at all, each time. I had the struggles to follow up on open items because when written meeting notes requires more clarification, and the vendor lead has limited context than the software developer or myself, yet the vendor lead was under the pressure to digest on the fly and summarise the action item, so my end and developer's end can resume our work. Lots of time had been wasted to cater for "live translation work" and on a daily basis due to language barrier, which should have been tackled from the get go before replacing the vendor.