Ep304: Building Walls against Immigrants: Systemic Barriers to Employment, with Xin Yi Yap

Changing Lenses: Diversify Your Perspectives

When you’re job hunting, does it sometimes feel like you’re trying to breach an impenetrable fortress? Recruiters and hiring managers talk about attracting top talent, but when it comes down to it, they act more like an immigration department trying to keep undesirable people out, than warmly welcoming people in.

And if we’re going to compare recruiting to an immigration process, the best person to do that is someone who’s going through both. Meet Xin Yi Yap, the special guest on this episode. She is a Singaporean who moved to the U.S. to go to university, and now that she’s graduated, she needs to work in a qualifying job in order to stay in the country.

You don’t have to be a foreign student or visa worker to relate to Xin Yi’s story. If you’ve ever been rejected by an employer because you didn’t fit their profile; or if you’ve ever been passed over for a job you KNOW you can do because of your accent or other irrelevant excuse – then you’ve experienced what I call the Gated Community Effect.

This is the second of 4 LinkedIn Lives that I’m re-sharing as podcast episodes. If you’d prefer to watch the full video recording of the whole Live episode, you’ll find it on my website at www.changinglenses.ca/trainingvideos.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How U.S. immigration is like the Hunger Games
• Stereotypes and microaggressions against international students and employees
• The fallacy of “stealing jobs” from citizens
• Why we need to decolonize self-confidence
• How employers can recruit more equitably
• Inspiring advice for international students and job seekers today

If you know someone else who’s going through the Gated Community Effect, please forward this episode to them so they can feel supported. You can share straight from wherever you’re listening to this podcast right now, or from my website, www.changinglenses.ca/podcast.

Thank you, JEDI friends!

Link to episode transcript here.
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Guest Bio and References/Links

About Xin Yi Yap:

Xin Yi (She/Her) is an IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Social Justice) practitioner, certified Diversity & Belonging Facilitator, and analyst. Hailing from Southeast Asia, Xin Yi looks at IDEAS issues through an intersectional and international lens. She understands that systems of oppression manifests differently throughout the world, and is thus able to facilitate conversations of change with folks from different backgrounds.

Xin Yi has also worked with multinational organizations on a multitude of ways to cultivate equity, inclusion, and belonging for all, from IDEAS workshops to strategy implementation.

Find Xin Yi Yap on:

Website: https://www.xincereyiyours.space/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xin-yi-yap/

References in this episode:

Poem by Rupi Kaur from her book Home Body: https://www.stylist.co.uk/books/rupi-kaur-home-body/450832