Am I the only one that when I see this in an employment ad it bothers? Maybe I am being a bit sensitve but for me that is a bit dscriminatory. I use to not like it when I read Bilingual preferred but at least with this one I knew that they would lean toward someone who knows Spanish and English so odds are I shouldn't apply. But coming out and just saying it to me is going a bit far. I know that some could say this could be considered another skill that the individual has. When we apply for a job we are told the skills that are required for the job, so maybe I am being bit sensitve about that statement in an ad. Its just that there was a time when it was stated to be preferred not required.
You'd love living in Brownsville, Texas. In Brownsville, employment ads that ask for applicants to be bilingual mean that they must speak Spanish, with English apparently optional. It is not in the least unusual to walk into a store, or even a bank, and get a teller who does not speak or understand English. City council meetings often begin in English, then switch to Spanish after a few minutes. In the late 1980s, someone filed a lawsuit against a bank that had advertised a job as requiring applicants to be bilingual, then hired someone who spoke only Spanish. The complainant spoke English and German, and the ad didn't specify which languages they were looking for. That part of might have been assumed but the fact that they hired someone who spoke only Spanish was an interesting fact. I don't know how it ever turned out though, because the newspapers never followed up on it as far as I was aware. The chances of finding someone who speaks English in a business in Matamoros, Mexico were far higher than in Brownsville, Texas.
Sadly, our culture of yesteryear is doomed. We made insufficient political effort to protect what we had and it is now too late to remedy. Spanish may one day become the only official language in the US, but that is really the least objectionable part of the package. There is nothing wrong with Spanish; it's just that we did not grow up speaking it. Far more disturbing is the rapidly increasing emergence of third world features in our land. I remember the furore, many years ago, when President Nixon berated a journalist, saying: :There are no slums in America!" Of course, he was wrong. The first slums had already arrived; he was just unaware of it. Drastic change has become reality. We elected the government that allowed it to happen, so there is no defense and no escape. Since the same thing is happening to every Western country around the world, even emigrating only delays the inevitable. This destruction of culture does not only affect people of European origin. In our shrinking world everyone is affected, even the Chinese who appear to be the next dominant race, are facing radical cultural change. We really have no choice but to adapt, or move to a smaller town where change will tale longer to manifest itself. Should the clock be turned back? I don't know if it should and perhaps more to the point, I don't know how. Today's youngsters do not know how things were when we were young. They have their own ideas and perhaps it is high time that they totally take over, because our older generation only trashed what we had and now hand the mess to them. If posterity does not smile on us, that is our just desserts. Caesar would have said: "Quo vadis?" Perhaps we should say: "A dónde vas?"
When you are wanting a job that deals with the public, there are a lot more stipulations than working in an office. If a good portion of business speaks Spanish then they need to speak Spanish, too. If the majority of business is kids who are buying video games they'll probably want you to be familiar with video games. They don't want Don Juan working in a bridal shop or a catholic school teacher working in a porn shop. They arent going to want a republican doing any job that requires a soul. They probably dont want to hire a blind girl to teach at a school for the deaf. Different jobs require different sets of skills. They won't hire someone who doesn't speak Spanish? They probably won't hire someone who doesn't take a shower, either. Burger King made my husband shave his face. How many people who are illiterate do you suppose gets a job at a library?
When I moved from the east coast to the west coast the job I had on the west coast was available but I did not qualify for the same job I was leaving in the same industry because the person needed to be bilingual, English and Spanish or English and Cantonese, I speak English and French. I was very upset. Most jobs now do require the applicant to speak two languages east or west coast.
Since I'm bilingual I don't have any trouble with this, but I have found discriminatory other requirements, as needing to be married in order to be hired. Someone told me that this requirement is to ensure you are a "committed person" when we can see marital status has nothing to do when a person is unwilling to take any responsibility or commitment in his or her persona life, much less engaging with job demands.
This is the first time I've heard of that job requirement - to be married. Over here, being single when you are less than 30 years old is an advantage particularly for women, a most likely avoidance of the maternity leave. But reaching 30 years old, being married is an advantage although not required. I have several colleagues who are 50 and above, remaining single. Maybe the culture dictates on those requirements.
Yes, this could be the reason behind such requirement. However, avoidance of maternity was also another job requirement for years, but actually such avoidance is considered discriminatory by law, and employers enforcing no-pregnancy requirement or firing a pregnant woman are heavily sanctioned.
I don't see how that can be legal. Its not surprising, though. With the right wording I guess anything can happen.
It's pretty hard for someone to prove why they weren't hired for a job and, in this country at least, it would be unwise for an employer to give a reason, particularly if it was discriminatory. However, when you think of it, whenever you are making a choice between two or more people, you are being discriminatory, and the problems come into play only when an employer discriminates against a protected class of applicant. When I taught EMS classes, nearly half of every class consisted of women, yet no local ambulance company employed more than one or two female medics, except as dispatchers or office personnel, yet they certainly wouldn't advertise for male applicants only.
I was turned down for a job at an answering service. I knew all the guys there. The boss man told my buddies that he wouldn't hire me because women always bring drama, lol. I didn't pursue it, but he's lucky that didn't get back to the wrong person!