Hi Ottawa Nerd,

Did you ever see 'Houseboat' and 'It happened one night'?

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Originally posted by BlueLobster

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Originally posted by investpro

Hi BL,

Perhaps you would be kind enough for the edification and enlightment of myself, and I am sure for several others on this forum, let us in on what this something else they're looking at?

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In this case, I meant basic communication skills (read "English" ). I don't know too many companies that would hire someone with the English skills of the OP. I know mine would not!

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My apologies for hijacking the thread

Hi TK,

Thanks for all the points.

Liked the one about the mush

Practically everyone I have interviewed for a job always had unpolished shoes.

I will have to say some came to the interview smelling of Indian spices and others of Chinese food and some of Italian origin (no BS) stinking of garlic.
Interesting thing is that the other person with me always objected to the Indian spices and Chinese food smell but didn't complain about the garlic.
Must've been used to that over the years.
Not one of the people we hired as processors during RRSP season had any soft skills- all were South Asian, East European, Filipinos, Chinese etc- the concept was alien to them.

As several in that company commented-'heck half of TO can't speak English anyway, so why the emphasis on proper English? '

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Originally posted by investpro

OK.

However, I have since 1980s partaken, in some way or other in the US and Canada, in hiring people with dubious English skills, both spoken and written, notably for processing purposes. The last person I hired was at $16 per hour three years ago. Her English skills weren't so hot ( whether she was or not- is in the eyes or ____ of the beholder)
Besides that, many people today are still hired despite their poor English skills. I interact daily with people in the mutual fund and insurance industry whose written English skills leave a lot to be desired, including supervisors.
Where colour is concerned, it is definitely an issue. I remember in the last company I was working at in Canada, it boiled down to promoting an Indian lady whose English was excellent and had a strong working ethic and an Eastern European lady whose English sucked, and still sucks, but to her credit had a strong work ethic. Whether you want to believe it or not, the Eastern European lady won out because of her skin colour.
I am only citing here the last experiences I had, but I can go back all the way to 1982 and from then on cite tons of examples where people with questionable English skills were hired and where people of a lighter skin colour were prefered over that of a dark-skinned person, South Asian or otherwise.
And the Canadian experience bit- you can bet that's very heavy here.

My experience once again, but I am sure , rammed up against the wall, it will reflect the experience of the majority of new immigrants.
There are those who despite all this, excel.
Hats off to them!

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Originally posted by investpro

As several in that company commented-'heck half of TO can't speak English anyway, so why the emphasis on proper English? '

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Are you there?

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Originally posted by BlueLobster

"Keep on trucking!!"

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