For Shanghai Jobs, Only ‘Normal Size’ Need Apply

I really appreciate the extent to which American laws make it difficult for employers to eliminate candidates based on factors that are irrelevant to the job.<p>In 2012, I considered applying for a fellowship in Israel. The application form required you to say whether you had consulted a mental health professional in the last two years and to list any medications you were currently taking and for what purpose.<p>In the United States, it is completely illegal to put questions like this on a job application form (and for very good reason). You are allowed to ask these types of questions after you&#x27;ve made an offer and even then you have to demonstrate that the person cannot do the job in order to rescind the offer.<p>I asked the organization why they collected this information, and they told me it was for the safety of the participants and that they &quot;couldn&#x27;t in good conscience&quot; not ask these questions. I didn&#x27;t apply for the fellowship.

A couple years ago, I spent a year as an English teacher in Guangxi Province, China. Hiring on the basis of physical or racial characteristics was very blatant in that area and industry. It&#x27;s difficult for non-white laowai to get ESL positions, because many training centers choose not to hire those who don&#x27;t &quot;look like a native English speaker&quot; -- either because the school administrators believe this, or they think it&#x27;ll drive away parents&#x2F;customers who think their child isn&#x27;t getting a &quot;real education&quot; from a &quot;real English-speaking foreigner.&quot;<p>It was a new and very uncomfortable feeling to be so blatantly valued (and used in marketing) for being little more than a white-faced billboard by the school&#x2F;business I was working at.

The same thing happens in all of Asia. In Japan, you have to apply with a picture on your resume, and hiring managers will ask married women if they intend to get pregnant, because they won&#x27;t hire them. I&#x27;m sure it&#x27;s similar across other countries. My friend, who is white, and his wife who is Japanese moved to Japan and after 9 months came back to the US because the conditions were so bad compared to the US. Not only do they work you to the bone, the pay is incredibly low and you are subject to blatant sexism and racism.

Not surprise to read this. The Chinese culture is a very racially discriminatory culture. Not only are suitable candidates for jobs selected based upon physical attributes and racial backgrounds, social interactions are also racially based, I am talking simple things like having sharing a table at a crowded eating place.<p>Even within the Chinese, they are separated into Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka etc, each with their own cultural character.<p>Thankfully, the younger generations are starting to change this mindset as the world gets smaller via the internet and fast air travel. However, with hiring practices such as that mentioned in the post, it will may take a couple of generations before we see a significant change.

I remember seeing Chinese job postings on Indeed.com that included not only physical measurements for a receptionist position, but also attractiveness requirements. It totally surprised us (we were in the US), but I guess it&#x27;s a cultural thing? Then I realized that 60 years ago, US job postings probably had the same kinds of requirements.

<i>&quot;... Here is more detail on a widespread phenomenon in China dubbed “carrot job ads,” for the notion that each job can be filled by only one, very specific, person, just as each carrot fills just one hole in a garden: ...&quot;</i><p>Isn&#x27;t this the way software&#x2F;hi-tech companies hire in the west?

I&#x27;ve been trying to think for a while of a comment that explains or even defends this from a cultural perspective but there&#x27;s nothing. while this probably doesn&#x27;t reflect public policy or the aspirations of the Chinese people, it&#x27;s just another of those signs that for all the trains&#x2F;sports stadiums&#x2F;airports being built, Chinese society is still sometimes the kid of idiocracy we would associate with the UK a hundred years ago. it&#x27;s a shame.

There were reports over a decade ago of people successfully challenging such requirements through the legal system<p><a href="http://www.economist.com/node/1011419" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.economist.com&#x2F;node&#x2F;1011419</a><p>is one, there were others but it doesn&#x27;t seem to have brought about significant change.

Aren&#x27;t some jobs legitimately asking for certain traits in their workers? Just as actors and models are in fact sometimes hired by their looks, why is it wrong to ask that when the specifics of the job depend on it.<p>Just to clarify; I&#x27;m not trying to defend unreasonable job conditions.

Ugh, don&#x27;t even know where to begin with all the things wrong here

I wish we had this in America, for certain jobs. For example, Police Officers. Male police officers should be required to be at least six feet tall.<p>Don&#x27;t need no short cops.<p>(Let the downvoting commence!)