I was very excited when I heard that I was one of the shortlisted candidates for a job promotion at work.
I had worked hard for the past few years and I was confident that I had the skills and experience to take on the new role.
A PRC Colleague got promoted instead
However, when the time came for the actual promotion process, I was disappointed to learn that I had lost out to one of my PRC colleagues.
The reason why I had lost the job promotion was due to my level of Mandarin. The job role required me to liaise with clients from China and I was unable to demonstrate my proficiency in Mandarin.
I was aware that I needed to have a good command of Mandarin to be successful in this role and I had been working on improving my language skills.
However, I had not expected the company to use this as a deciding factor in the promotion process.
The decision came as a shock to me. I had worked hard and I felt that my skills and experience should have been taken into consideration.
I had been with the company for a few years and had a good track record of successful projects.
I had also been working on improving my Mandarin and had taken the initiative to enrol in a Mandarin class.
However, it appeared that the company had decided to give the job promotion to the PRC colleague instead.
I was disappointed as I felt that my Mandarin skills shouldn’t have been the deciding factor, especially when I had been working hard to improve them.
Company likes those who are good in Mandarin
I have since learnt that the company has a policy of promoting employees to roles that require a good command of Mandarin.
I understand that this policy is in place to ensure that the company can effectively communicate with Chinese clients.
I can understand the rationale behind this policy, but I also feel that it is unfair to those who have been working hard to improve their Mandarin but who still fall short of the required proficiency.