How do you avoid getting “pigeon-holed” as an Asian American? (e.g. due to your “cultural background”) \u00a0– Anonymous<\/p>\n
Dear Anonymous,<\/p>\n
Asian Americans are commonly stereotyped as geeky, good in science\/math, quiet and pliant.\u00a0 Consequently, Asian Americans might be \u201cpigeon-holed\u201d to low level technical staff jobs with little chance of advancing into management.\u00a0 Assuming that a low level technical staff job is not your aspiration, how can you prevent this possible outcome?<\/p>\n
To avoid getting \u201cpigeon-holed\u201d, you must take proactive control of your career.\u00a0 You want to get yourself noticed for your capabilities and personality rather than the stereotype.\u00a0 The difficult first step is to figure out your end-of-career target.\u00a0 Ideally, you want to identify the position you \u201cultimately\u201d want and the \u201cstep positions\u201d needed to get there.\u00a0 If you cannot identify the \u201cultimate\u201d job then at the minimum, you want to identify the types of experiences you want and what you like and don\u2019t like.\u00a0 If you can clearly see where you want to go and where you don\u2019t want to go, you will be able to push back against your supervisor if you are being pigeon holed.<\/p>\n
To help you identify your career preference, take an honest look at yourself on your strengths and weaknesses.\u00a0 Look around within and without the company on what\u2019s available and discover what you like and dislike.\u00a0 Make a habit of networking with your friends and associates.\u00a0 Find out what they do, what they like and why.\u00a0 Decide what you can do well and what you can\u2019t and match them against your ambition.\u00a0 Are they consistent?\u00a0 This effort is hard work but absolutely must be done.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t do this self examination, you might find yourself drifting into the pigeon holes.<\/p>\n
You must be the primary advocate for your career and actively manage it.\u00a0 Share your plan with your supervisor.\u00a0 Assuming you do your job well and can handle a stretch, don\u2019t be afraid to request different assignments and challenges. \u00a0\u00a0This is not a time to be shy.\u00a0 If despite your best efforts, you find yourself drifting into a stereotypical pigeon hole, then maybe it is time to leave for another company,<\/p>\n
For my career I wanted to get into supply\/logistics and trading management.\u00a0 Over time I discovered what job functional area I liked and didn\u2019t like.\u00a0 This knowledge allowed me to advocate for certain target positions.\u00a0 With a personal career framework in place, I evaluated the jobs that were offered to me during the course of my career, some of which I declined.\u00a0 To be sure, most people have careers they couldn\u2019t have predicted when they started.\u00a0 I certainly didn\u2019t and that was part of the adventure.<\/p>\n
Wee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How do you avoid getting “pigeon-holed” as an Asian American? (e.g. due to your “cultural background”) \u00a0– Anonymous Dear Anonymous, Asian Americans are commonly stereotyped as geeky, good in science\/math, quiet and pliant.\u00a0 Consequently, Asian Americans might be \u201cpigeon-holed\u201d to low level technical staff jobs with little chance of advancing into management.\u00a0 Assuming that a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asian-culture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n