New job requirements

I just returned from spending 4 months caring for my dying father in Texas. I quit a new job to be able to care for him and spend time with him before he died.
I got back in January. I have been working in the same business for over 22 years: Ophthalmology. I used to get job offers left and right.
Since January, I have seen jobs that REQUIRE the technician to be fluent in Spanish! I am not talking one or two jobs in the "Spanish speaking" parts of Chicago.....but just about EVERYWHERE!!! Then I read on the Drudge that "Big Sis" is contemplating making illegals LEGAL.....

What the heck is going on in this country I was born in? I see women in Hijabs, (like I was living in Saudi Arabia again!) and hardly ever hear English spoken any longer.....and now, despite my having 22/23 years experience in my field....I cannot get a job unless I am fluent in Spanish?

Anyone else out there finding they are getting discriminated against for NOT speaking a foreign language....or being over the age of 40....???

I grew up in El Paso...so I know all about bilingualism and illegal immigrants....but now I cannot get a job in CHICAGO because I don't speak Spanish?
And I know I'll be blasted for being "racist" or whatever..but what happened to new immigrants learning ENGLISH?

reply to post by Cornczech


for my last job

they did a polygraph

a psychological test

a neighborhood test

a drug test

a physical abilities test

a basic math and reading abilities test

and i passed all of them...

they turned me down because i had bad credit...


tell me about it

reply to post by Cornczech

Anyone else out there finding they are getting discriminated against for NOT speaking a foreign language...

Not really.

I have lived in Los Angeles for most of my adult life and I have never been disqualified from a position because I do not speak Spanish.

I have a hard time believing that Ophthalmology positions in your area all require you to speak Spanish.

Like this one

Or this one

Or this one

None of these positions describe knowing Spanish as a prerequisite. That being said, knowing another language always helps.

I see hijabi-like wear, but most turned out to be eastern european.

yea, eastern orthodox christians wear that sort of orthodox/nun cover, too.

As for Spanish, it's the #1 non-english American language.

and most of America used to be inhabited by amerindians, then parts to Mexico, then America.

wonder who will own America next, shortly? already seems like the vatican does, then israelis after that.

Anyways last I checks, English & Spanish are sort of neighbors - both in the europe, and the Americas.

reply to post by Openeye


Well....I don't speak Polish nor Italian....(I never saw that ad, by the way)..the one in retina...the manager of that clinic I am friends with...and she stated that they needed a SPANISH speaking tech...and Palos Heights is VERY far from where I live...I'm on the NORTH side of Chicago...

As I said, I know I will get blasted by people...and though I agree it is good to be bilingual....not too many Americans are......

thanks for replying...I just applied to the one in Norwood Park....never saw that one....

reply to post by k1k1to


I have seen those jobs too.....where one must pass a credit check.....pretty soon....not too many people are going to have perfect credit....

So....I guess this post turned out to be more of a rant....and at my age...I am concerned, in some ways, when I read that people think it is ok to be told one must...pass a credit check...speak a foreign language.....have a car...be under a certain age.....to get a job. Sorry you went through all of that hoop jumping to only be turned down over bad credit.....

reply to post by Cornczech


Was not trying to "blast" you, I just think you are overreacting.

By in large employers hire English speaking peoples, but it is becoming much more popular to hire bilingual/multilingual people.

I work in the tech industry and multilingual people are always preferred over just English speaking people, it is a very valuable skill. We live a multilingual multicultural society, it was designed to be that way.

I know I am having a very hard time trying to find work myself, I do feel my age is hampering me also. I am 48 btw

reply to post by Cornczech


I feel ya. I recently called a state government office for a copy of my birth certificate, in Texas. The recorded answer I got, asked me right off the bat, to press 1 if I wanted to continue to hear the recorded message in English.

Des

reply to post by Openeye


Yeah...I sometimes do over-react....I just get concerned when so many restrictions or "hoops to be jumped" are placed in ads....when only a few years ago there were few...I am mostly speaking about what I know...ophthalmology....(I am a technician.....not an optician....different set of skills...but good search based on what I posted!)...it used to be just...know ophthalmology, be dependable and be personable....or be certified....or have 5 years experience.....not...you have to speak Spanish....or own a car....or live within 5 miles of a practice....or....

ok...rant over....

By the way....your reply made sense and though I don't agree that America was meant to be multi national in the sense that there should be many different languages...( the different languages stopped the building of the Tower of Babel, after all) I DO agree with the "melting pot" that made America great...but most people eventually learned English.....or maybe I am just crabby because I went to the dentist today and need some major work...and I've no job to pay for it....Hmmmmmm

I think that the people who had these languages in school are now in a position within companies to make the language a requirement. People of a kind stick together. I think we have a major problem infiltrating our businesses where discrimination is occurring based on unnecessary knowledge. It may be beneficial to understand spanish if two spanish people are talking, keeping something secret but other than that I don't see a need. I own my own company and I can choose who works for me and how they communicate on the job so in my employ only English is used on the job. I'm not learning Spanish, I know English which is the main language of the country. Those who enter the country can learn our language if they want to live and work for me.

reply to post by Destinyone

you should have read my rant when I was in El Paso to get my Social Security card changed to my new married name....nobody spoke English at ALL....I went up to the front to complain...they said..."we called your number"...I said...yeah, in SPANISH.....I don't SPEAK Spanish...last I looked, Texas...even El Paso...is still in America...and most of us speak English....(or at least it USED to be that way...)

reply to post by Cornczech


"Estudia español, es muy facil".

reply to post by Cornczech


I think I remember that one, so funny

reply to post by Cornczech


To be honest, it is not about the country, but about the clients base.

Any company wants to keep their clients. I do not know about the competition in the field of ophthalmology, although I believe it could be intense based on how it looks like here.

By Wikipedia, in Chicago, 28% of people have Hispanic background. This 1/4 of the city. Potentially every 4th customer might be Spanish-speaking at home.

If there are any other enterprises in the field who offer the service in Spanish also, many Spanish-speaking people might go there instead. Losing a potential of 25% of customers is too much for any company and in a tough competition the language might be the key.

It is uncommon to require a second language in such conditions. We can bring an example with tourists cities. If it is known lots of tourists come in to a non-English nation, nearly every job requires English from its employees as somebody has to speak with tourists. Even in nations, where are lots of people from other nation, often second language is required just to win over clients from other ethnicities.

reply to post by Trueman


Yes...I should learn Spanish...it is fairly easy ...especially since I grew up in Texas...(My father and his family spoke Spanish because they all grew up whiter than white...in central and south America)..but my point is that it shouldn't be REQUIRED......

(when I was living in El Paso, I understood more Spanish than I do now....and my father and his brothers would speak Spanish when they didn't want my brother and I to know what they were saying...My brother took FRENCH..and I took Russian.....but I never became fluent...I couldn't even learn too much Polish after living there for a summer, (and having a Polish boyfriend at the time)

reply to post by Cornczech


I feel I shouldn't be forced to learn another language in order to get a job in the Country I was born in, and for my age group, the language my country used to represent and teach, was English.

Des

reply to post by Cabin


point taken.....and understood....

but...one must admit...during times of economic stress....like we're in now...it just seems...(yes, I used the word SEEMS), like more and more "restrictions" are being imposed to restrict who can and cannot obtain employment....and it's not just language, (though that was my rant topic), but also age discrimination....credit scores...background checks....psychological tests.....etc, etc.....

I am simply stating that 10 years ago I rarely saw these restrictions...requirements...

maybe my unemployment is freaking me out.....as I have not ever experienced this long of a period of unemployment before.....

Running for next POTUS ?

No job experience needed, just the ability to read teleprompters.

reply to post by Cornczech


One of the reasons for the more requirements might be the economics crisis.

There are many people searching for a job currently, probably many people in the field of yours. That creates a situation for the company where they can choose workers.

I can bring an example from here. Here is lots of unemployed people also, although there is also a deficiency of workers in the fields of IT and engineering.

Whenever I look at the job market, I see how many jobs, especially easier or more popular fields are constantly raising their requirements. I know even some book-store put a requirement of higher education in literature. There are so many literature students without a job, so they have the option to choose. Same is with sales: Nearly every even easier cashier job requires work-experience + speaking at least 2 languages, sometimes even 3.4. That is crazy in my opinion, although the companies have the right to choose among the large number of applicants.

On the other hand nearly any out-of-school engineering or IT-worker with a bachelor degree can easily get a higher-than-average salary job without nearly no requirements except paper as it is very hard to find workers in these areas.

I personally do not like the way some companies use the poor situation of some people in order to profiteer from it.Some place pay minimal which is nearly impossible to live from simply because there are desperate enough people who would work for it, even though it is too law. Rather this or nothing. Same goes for the requirements. As there are many people to choose from, they simply raise the standards, often even too much, although as there are people who are capable of it, they can do it. This is capitalism after all, based on the supply and need, whether we like it or not.