Letters | Still so hard for a black African to get a job in Hong Kong
- A reader’s experience is that despite growing appreciation of the richness of the black experience, employers still appear to prefer black people from the West, rather than from Africa
Increasingly, many organisations seek the services of black Americans, black Canadians, black British or black people from other European countries. However, black Africans seem hardly employed in Hong Kong.
As an African, I have come to appreciate that many organisations here view Africa through the lens of the media – and that many employers still judge a book by its cover.
When a friend asked if I had applied for a faculty position with an organisation in Macau, I said yes and added that in Hong Kong “it seems I must learn the language at all costs to ever be employed in the numerous organisations I have applied to”.
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His concern for me was not, however, about the language or qualifications required for the job but rather, my African passport. To him, the problem seemed to be that I was a black African and not a black person of any of the sought-after nationalities. Even as Hong Kong faces an exodus of talent, my African blackness still seems to limit my opportunities.