It’s been a couple of years since I last needed to search for a job, but I still clearly remember how it chipped away at my confidence.
Day after day, you send out endless resumes and application letters, researching each company in depth, then doing it all again while waiting for the phone to ring. And that’s before you even get an interview…
I can’t imagine how hard it must be for someone to go through this process in a new country, using a language that isn’t their mother tongue.
Emily’s father Minh Huynh knows exactly what that process is like – and the email he received from one HR manager is now making the internet boil.
No matter what the requirements are for a job, nobody deserves to be treated like this.
Emily Huynh’s father Minh is from Vietnam, and was recently trying to find work. He applied to a job for which he had relevant experience. However, when Emily saw the email he received back, she went straight to social media.
The job called for a certain level of English from potential employees. Nothing wrong with that, right? But the response that HR Manager Bruce Peterson sent to Emily’s dad is completely out of line, and left his daughter rightfully upset.
“Non-English speakers have it hard,” she wrote on a Twitter post sharing the email. “My dad just got rejected from this job offer and the email stated ‘Let me tell you now, if you no speak English I will send you home.'”
https://twitter.com/staleboba/status/955657681582223360
“My dad told me that he isn’t that ‘hurt’ by it, but there’s a big stigma around Asian immigrant parents that deal with this all the time. They brush it off because they don’t understand the depth of the situation,” Emily tells Next Shark, but points out that the issue is too far reaching to just be brushed off.
“People always use micro aggressions with or without knowing they do which is a big concern when it comes to the treatment of future citizens. I’m just disgusted.”
But luckily, there were many users who rushed to her dad’s defense, with many even offering help with legal action, and alternative job offers.
Eventually, the backlash reached the head of the company, and the HR manager was fired. The company also reached out to Emily and her father with an apology.
https://twitter.com/staleboba/status/956001904739274752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnextshark.com%2Fvietnamese-dad-apology%2F
I am so glad that so many people were ready to support and offer help to Emily and her father. We all come from different places and have different stories, but in the end, we all just want to provide for ourselves and our families.
Share this story if you believe that everybody deserves to be treated with respect, no matter where they come from!
