Yahoo! New Zealand Business, On Thursday 1 September 2011, 11:34 NZST
Frustrated Asian students have organised a conference that aims to teach 'ignorant' Kiwi employers that giving Asia-savvy workers a shot will help them grow their business.
Auckland University student Jennifer Donnelly, the organising manger behind the conference, said the world was shifting its focus towards Asia and New Zealand businesses could benefit from employing Asians.
"Time and again, we hear of how graduates from the university struggle to find employment just for being Asian," Donnelly told the NZ Herald.
An Asia New Zealand survey which tracks Asian business grads from NZ found that being seen as a foreigner was a main barrier that limited job opportunities. Nearly 75 percent of those surveyed agreed that "employers in New Zealand are reluctant to hire international graduates".
One of the respondents to the survey said the country's migrant policy revealed a superficial desire for engagement marked by discrimination and narrow self-interest.
"New Zealand still has a bias against foreigners. It attracts foreigners to replace skills shortages not looking at the unique advantages of the new people coming," the survey respondent said.
PhD student Henry Shi told the Herald NZ businesses don't understand that Asians do business through 'guanxi' or relationships.
"Sometimes, establishing relationships can be the factor that makes or breaks business deals in a market like China, but New Zealand businesses still view the Asian way of doing business with suspicion," Shi said.
A spokeswomen for the New Zealand Asia institute agreed there was a wide gap between employers in NZ and Asian graduates on how business is done in Asia.
"Businesses who go in blind and on their own into the Chinese market risk losing a lot of money," Kimberly Wu told the Herald.
Charles Chow, who will speak at the Asia-savvy conference tomorrow, said the rising power of Asian economies was a wake up call for slow-to-act NZ employers to get more Asian workers on their payrolls.
"Asia-savvy graduates will be in demand, if not in New Zealand, then most definitely in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul, where many global multinational corporations are based," Chow said.作者: 浪客剑心 时间: 2011-9-1 14:55:13
