“Both British and international (research) evidence suggests that ethnic minorities are discriminated against in hiring decisions irrespective of country in which they were born or received their education” says the University of Oxford based, The Migration Observatory. This discrimination could be due to conscious and more frequently than victims care to know ‘unconscious‘ biases. But my remit today is to tell you exactly how to overcome the biases and break the glass ceiling whether the bias is conscious, unconsious or non-existent.
1. Network upwards- always!
My wife, who is an engineer felt for a number of years that she had been overlooked for promotion a number of times. Sometimes she got the impression that a boss was surprised by the fact that she wanted to be promoted, probably thought she was happy with her current role. She began to actively seek for other ways to advance her career, she found out there was a network of women in management within the organisation, she joined in, got mentors, attended some growth and development seminars. Just before she gave up, she heard of a networking meeting in the organisation in a department that was not hers but she had applied for a role at, and by the nature of it, most attendees were above her pay grade, but she had learned the principle of networking upwards in her search. She got there like the misfit at the party, but surprisingly met a couple of people she had been involved in work with before on cross functional teams. As she engaged with people over networking, she introduced herself and a manager said, ‘that name, did you by any chance submit an application for one of the new roles in our department’ she said ‘yes’ and a conversation ensued, 3 months later she got the move which was a promotion step up from where she was.
“…ethnic minorities are discriminated against in hiring decisions irrespective of country in which they were born or received their education“
Most supervisors/managers take pride in being your last port of call and blocking access to the people superior to them. You must reject that, and find access beyond your immediate manager. Of course, do not use the access to supplant your manager; the purpose of the access is that those senior managers have visibility of your personality and skills. Martin Luther King famously wished for a world in which his kids, us, are “not be judged by the colour of their skin but the content of their character”, how will your bosses know the content of your character if you do not engage directly with them? Dr King’s dream expects that your character is positive, so go show it! If it is not positive for any reason, you need to work on it first.
2. Be better skilled than everyone
Please note that the word I used is skilled not ‘be better educated’. This is important as African and Asian base cultures place a premium on education, but the western culture places more premium on skills and this can be quite confusing for migrants in the workplace.
how will your bosses know the content of your character if you do not engage directly with them?
I remember working for a company that had a global footprint but was owned by a parent company earlier in my career. There was an opening in a specialty middle management role for the baby company, when the advert for the role came out as an internal advert a lot of people started discussing about applying for the role. However I was way ahead the most qualified and experienced for that role, it matched my speciality and work experience prior to joining that particular company. However I did not put my application in until a day before the applications closed, because I take my time with writing applications. A manager came to me to tell me that the boss, who was overseas then had asked why she had not yet seen my application!
When you are the most prepared, skilled and qualified, it takes a lot for you to be overlooked and therefore you must stay the most skilled, prepared and qualified at all stages of the opportunities you seek. By the way, I got the role.
the boss had asked why she had not yet seen my application
3. Embrace the culture, reject the stereotype- stay professional
It is a different general and work culture from what you are used to, it is convenient to keep making comparisons with what it is like in you home country, except that this is NOT your home country. “When you are in Rome behave like the Romans”. As much as possible socialise, attend work events, keep work friends of all hue. Once you form and stick only to a convenient clique of ethnic minorities co-workers, you all have reduced your chances of going up, because if you do not engage and socialise routinely with all the people you intend to manage, why will any one think you will be a good manager.
When you get the exposure to those functions, please deliver it with excellence
The Independent, in 2017 reported, some of the stereotyping that black and ethnic minority teachers experience in the workplace, such as being consistently made mentors for BME Kids (because apparently, they better understand the culture), being given the classes for kids with the most challenging behaviour- both stereotype based selections. While they might be recognised for success on these secondary tasks, it never gives them the visibility or the space to take on the management related challenges that will demonstrate such a teacher’s readiness for advancement into say a deputy head or head role. If you find yourself being consistently stereotyped into some roles or tasks that are not directly linked to your advancement goals, reject it in the most professional manner that you can, be happy to explain that your reason is to avoid being stereotyped and there is more to your skill set; be ready to politely give examples of higher level functions (not roles) you can perform. When you get the exposure to those functions, please deliver it with excellence cause you are not just making a way for yourself you are paving the way for others.
I hope you found this piece useful, if you want something that more practically moves you forward in your career, here is a FREE access to my short online course ‘Take your life and Career one step up’
Yemi Shodipo 