African

Yesterday I was having a chat with a friend who has been job hunting recently. As you all know, I went through the process earlier this year and it is one of the most tiring, degrading, self-esteem- and soul-destroying processes that a person can go through. This is particularly the case in South Africa thanks to employment equity.

You see, when you apply for a job, whether it is advertised as an employment equity position or not, you will be asked whether you fit any of the following criteria:

Now I have more than a slight issue with these criteria. If they are going to be asking what race you are, surely they should have all races available rather than singling out four of them? Would it not be better to have a simple box where you can write in whether you are male or female rather than including it in a table? But the issue that specifically bugs me (and bugged my friend) is the “African” option.

Now, I may be Caucasian, but I was born in Africa, have been raised in Africa and have lived in Africa for 22 out of the 23 years of my life. My parents are African, both of them born in Zimbabwe, so I am, without a doubt in my mind, African. Not in the way that they are referring to, of course, but when it comes to a form like this, what is wrong with my indicating that I am both female and African? There is no option of Caucasian, and if there had been, perhaps I would have selected that I was a Caucasian African, but why should my race stop me from being a part of the country, a part of the continent that I was born and raised in? I am African, South African specifically, and it has always been something that I’m proud of.  And yet, when it comes to forms like this, being African is an exclusive criterion. And yes, I know that African refers to a race rather than a nationality, but should it? Why is it that only people with darker skin than Caucasian, Coloured, Chinese and Indian people can be referred to as African? I have the same issue with the term African-American, where people who may not have set foot in Africa in their life are described as being African merely due to the colour of their skin. Of course, I realise that there are people who are proud of their heritage and there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. By all means, feel connected to Africa as the place of your origin if that’s what you want to feel. But, at the same time, not every dark-skinned person in America feels that way, I’m sure. And, at the same time, what gives them more right to take on the title of African than I have?

Really, what my issue boils down to is this: the classifications of race. If you look up the definition of Caucasian, you will find a number of definitions ranging from “Of or relating to one of the traditional divisions of humankind, covering a broad group of peoples from Europe, western Asia, and parts of India and North Africa” to “Of or relating to a group of languages spoken in the region of the Caucasus, of which thirty-eight are known, many not committed to writing. The most widely spoken is Georgian, of the small South Caucasian family, not related to the three North Caucasian families.” Why is it that I should be referred to as Caucasian when I feel that none of these definitions fits me. Yes, my ancestors were Irish and British, but I do not associate myself as being Irish (well, I have an Irish passport, but it is not what I refer to myself as when asked) or British. I am South African. I am African, though my skin colour does not match the criterion. Why should a person be referred to as African if they have never set foot or associated themself with Africa? Why should a person be Indian or Chinese if they have not been to India or China and have no interest in going there? I understand that heritage is important, but is it important enough to allow for exclusion on the basis of no more than race? 

What if I had been born in India, fair skin and all. Could I not then have said that I was Indian? Could I have come to South Africa, applied for a job and ticked the box that indicates that I am Indian, or would I have received a phone call asking for clarification and, 15 minutes later, received a rejection letter on the grounds that I do not fit the criteria?

I am sorry if anyone is offended by this post. It really was not my intention to offend. It was just my time to vent and rant. It is over.

Job hunting

Applying for a job is a soul-destroying process. I have not been at it for particularly long, but it does not take long to learn this fact. With every fax that you send off, every week of silence that passes, every rejection e-mail or phonecall (if they even bother with one), you can feel yourself starting to get weaker, more tired, dying a little on the inside. As the days, weeks and sometimes months pass, self-doubt starts to set in, and things can only really get worse from there. Once you lose your self-confidence, there is really no hope. During this process, I couldn't help thinking to myself - this shouldn't be happening to me. I am educated. I spent four years getting a university education, and for what? And so, today I thought I would talk about a subject that is weighing on my mind: What is worth more - education or experience.

Personally, I think that experience has become more valuable than education. A person can spend four years studying or they can spend ten years studying, and that will not necessarily make them any more comfortable in a working environment. Studying is not the same as working. When you study, you are being safe. Your environment is controlled. You are not thrown to the masses and expected to fend for yourselves. Your life revolves around lenient deadlines and if you miss a deadline, your career path is not at stake - you will certainly be penalised, but you will not lose your job.

Once you are thrown into the real world, you start to realise what a pleasure university was. You still have deadlines to meet, but they are not necessarily set out from the get-go and they are certainly far shorter than they were in university days. I fondly remember the days of week-long deadlines for essays or articles, and then consider the articles that I wrote while working at Grocott's Mail (a relatively calm and controlled environment in itself compared to most newsrooms) where articles often had to be written, researched and published all in the same day. And Grocott's Mail only comes out twice a week. Imagine the deadlines that would be given working on a daily paper like the Times or the Cape Argus. That is when you really start to realise just how cushy you had it before. And now imagine missing one of those deadlines. Imagine not handing in the article that you were assigned delving into the dealings of the President. Imagine mispelling a name in an article of real importance that is read by hundreds if not thousands of people. A mistake like that would result in more than just a reduced mark. A mistake like that could lead to your having to start the job hunting process from the start once more.

In an example like this and in the journalism world in general, I can completely understand how experience pays more than education does. Journalists need to be able to work fast and efficiently, and while part of their education often revolves around teaching them to do that, a large part of it also involves the study of media history and such things that will never really play a part in the day-to-day field. So, you may have studied for ten years and may walk into a newspaper spouting the value of objective reporting and quoting any number of theorists backing your opinion, but that will not help you to go out into the world in the slightest.

The trouble comes in when it is difficult to gain that experience. Something that I noticed when looking at all the job advertisements out there is that everyone is looking for someone experienced. There is no place for a person just out of university to fit in. Requirements tend to include a minimum of a degree and two or three years experience in the field or eight years experience if you have no degree. Where on earth am I supposed to get this experience when there are no entry level jobs available? Sure, I worked in a cake shop on and off for five years of my life. Sure, I spent a year teaching English in Korea. But where does all of that fit into the grander scheme of things. More specifically, where does that kind of experience fit in when I don't want to be managing a store or teaching.

I find myself adjusting my CV to make my experiences fit with the jobs that I am applying to. This leads to the following kinds of descriptions finding their way in:

Academic Administration:

During my time as a Guest English Teacher and during my time at Just Delicious, I was required to deal with students and customers as well as other staff members in a friendly manner and assist them in any way that I could including answering any queries that they might have. As a Guest English Teacher I also became familiar with an office environment and with the use of office equipment such as photocopiers and scanners. At Just Delicious, a main aspect of the job was cleaning, tidying and generally keeping the shop ordered, the stock supplied and a general atmosphere maintained. Though the job did not involve cataloguing specifically, I was charged with keeping things in a very particular order to keep the owner happy and I succeeded in this effort without complaint.

I have to try and make the minimal tasks that I was charged with seem like the most important things in the world. Suddenly spending five minutes cleaning up the shop at the end of the day becomes synonymous with cataloguing student records. But what else can I do when there is no entry level job that would allow me to gain that specific experience in any case?

Anyway, enough of my ranting for now. What this blog post essentially boils down to is that when you are job hunting, your education suddenly becomes almost completely irrelevant, and my question for today is: Do you agree, and what job hunting experiences have you had?

PS. I was recently informed that it is just about impossible to comment on my posts. I have tried to fix this. If it is still the case, please let me know so that I can try harder. If you are trying to comment and it isn't working, feel free to send an e-mail to laislinns@gmail.com.