Job Prospects for South Asians

[hrsaeed]

Hi,

Want to know specially from senior members what are the job prospects in the fields of management, marketing and sales from people coming from south asian region.

I've heard that it is very difficult since most of these jobs go to the residents and/or people coming from european economic zone.

[Frontier Mole]

It really does not come down to where you are from. It is more a matter of your skills, abilities, qualifications, experience and above all in marketing & sales your spoken communication skills.

I differentiate between non UK educated & UK educated. Simply because even if your country of origin is English speaking the differences in language usage can be quite marked. UK to USA - two countries split by a common language

What lets many non UK educated people down is their English language skills. I manage a number of non UK educated nationals from across the world, my biggest issue is the use of language. I am in a service industry so getting the right tone and perception across is important. The number of complaints I get from telephone conversations with the non UK educated staff is far far higher than UK educated. I think "missing the point" is the most often quoted complaint, which normally is a straight forward reference to not picking up on the real issues from telephone conversations. The ability to seperate out the actual issue from all the other points put over seems more difficult to grasp. I also find certain cultural traits come through, talking over others while they are speaking is one of the things that is a BIG issue. The UK is one place in the world where this is a big no no, try telling that to Italian or Spanish staff!

What do others think?

[martha]

I have to agree with Frontier Mole, regarding the English language. It is vitally important that all persons coming to the UK can speak fluently enough to be understood by the Brits.

I find those that speak over others converstations ill mannered, though often it is not meant to offend. But British people do get fed up with it. Doesnt cost anything to be good mannered. Perhaps the government should introduce a British etiquette course for immigrants? It would solve an awful lot of problems when dealing with the public at large. I expect to get some daft replies to this suggestion, as some might suggest I'm being dearly beloved. Not at all. I did much the same thing years back before moving to South America. It's common sense to a degree.

[rockhall]

I couldn't help reading this thread and I would like to say that I am from one of the Caribbean Islands where we speak good english, I studied and worked in the UK and my major problem was communicating with some persons. I did not have any problems with the brits but other nationals the english was a barrier even at University in Newcastle it was very frustrating when we had to do group work.

In London when I ordered a hamburgerrrrrrrrrr I would get a "hurkdog" not even a hot dog, and I had to repeat myself several times when trying to get information at public places. So I would definitely agree with Frontier Mole with english being one of the requirements for migrating to the UK. I am happy that the Home Office has included my country on the list of english speaking countries for tier 1 HSMP.

When it comes to manners, I saw alot of that in Newcastle I was very impressed and learned too, we lined up for the bus but in London my God I did not see that at all, people just rushed into each other. I waited on the side till the drama was over.

[SKUK]

Saeed, it won't be far fetched to say, here in Britain, employers do like someone to be local with excellent spoken English particularly for client facing roles like sales/marketing/mgmt/hr.

But that is not to say someone from south asia won't be given a chance. But you will be scrutinised more for your communication/soft skills as opposed to a purely techie role.

[yewhongwei79]

Totally agree with SKUK. If you are involved in HR/Sales/Marketing, relatively you will face higher difficulty to get a job in UK compared to technical jobs, simply because employers would prefer somebody with local accent, unless dealing with international business (ie: China, India ...)