Every year, tens of thousands of people from all over the world decide to start a new life in our little waffle-smelling, beer-fueled country. They are looking for better opportunities, following someone they love, escaping unsafe conditions or just coincidentally brought here. Every migration story is different and these movements have brought a tremendous amount of benefits to our country! Coming in contact with other cultures, we learn about new perspectives and mentalities, our lives become richer and our communities mix and match in the most surprising, endearing and funny ways.
Migration is also very beneficial for our job market, not just because diversity makes our days more interesting but also because it makes us more competitive in the global world, enriching our work force with people who speak many languages, understand a variety of cultures and markets and bring skills we don't always have. This cultural exchange is an incredible opportunity, yet many people nowadays see it as a threat - just look at the election results.
Many immigrant workers and jobseekers report being treated unfairly in the process of making a stable life for themselves: between the language barrier, the lack of equivalence for some school degrees or just plain stigmatisation, they encounter many obstacles that are often invisible for Belgian nationals.
In this blogpost, two of our volunteers write about what they went through looking for a job in Flanders.
"Whatever you were in your own country: here, you're nothing."
My name is Fakhteh, I'm from Iran and I moved to Ghent about a year ago with my husband, who was hired as a researcher by a Belgian university, and our daughter. We have been doing well, gradually finding our marks - especially our daughter who is learning Dutch at lightspeed!
Shortly after we moved, I went to VDAB, where I introduced myself, talked about my experience as a data scientist, explained what I was looking for and accepted to submit my CV to the employers' database. The more opportunities, the sooner I'll find the right job... or so I thought.
I had barely stepped outside of the VDAB building when my cell phone rang. Was opportunity calling, already?
This is pretty much how it went:
🧑🏼💻 Hello! Are you looking for a job?
💁🏽♀️ Yes, I am! I moved to Belgium recently.
🧑🏼💻 We have cleaning and nursing work for you. What do you think?
🙅🏽♀️ Thanks, but this is not really the kind of job I'm looking for.
🧑🏼💻 If you don't accept, you have to go back to your country!
🤷🏽♀️ I will return. No problem!
I hung up the phone; I was shocked. I received three or four phone calls and text messages with the same type of job. Why are these people even calling me? They know their job vacancies don't match my competences, they have access to my CV. When my phone rang again, I got so annoyed that I wanted to ignore it, but I thought: "You know what, Fakhteh? It might be a good opportunity!".
👩🏻💻 Hello, are you looking for a job?
🙎🏽♀️ Yes!
👩🏻💻 We are calling from company So-and-so. We have all kinds of cleaning work, baby and elderly care and services!
🤷🏽♀️ Thanks, but these are not really my specialty.
👩🏻💻 What is your specialty?
💁🏽♀️ I have a PhD in mathematics. I was a university professor and I have been a data scientist for eight years in Iran.
👩🏻💻 Good for you, but you should know: it's not easy to find work. Whatever you were in your own country, that was there; here, you're nothing.
🙍🏽♀️ ...Okay. Goodbye.
Don't get me wrong: I have no problem with cleaning, service or nursing work. Work is work, and every effort is honorable. But I believe we are all worthy and we should all get the chance to do work that we actually like. The way my preferences, my experience and my hard work were dismissed by all these people and institutions, just like that, was dehumanising. It was as if, by the simple process of migrating, I had been reduced to a lesser version of who I once was, someone who shouldn't be entitled to choices and opportunities. How is it possible to look into a person's eyes, hear a person's voice and not see what makes us all human - millions of years of inherited love, memories and hope? This experience really demotivated me to put myself out there; I didn't want to be treated badly anymore.
Recently though, we were faced with an immigrant's hardest challenge: my husband's contract suddenly ended, which meant our permission to stay in Belgium was compromised. We had to act fast: if one of us didn't find a job asap, we would have to go back to Iran and uproot our family again. I had no other choice than to actively apply again, carrying the apprehensions I had after my previous misadventures. Luckily, encouraged by people who believed in me, I ended up finding a job as a business intelligence analyst, at a reputable Belgian company that recognised and valued my expertise and saw the human in me. I started a month ago, which means when the school year ends at the end of the week, my daughter can say "see you soon" to her friends. My husband's contract was extended after all, so I guess there definitely are some happy endings - at least until the next obstacle.
My takeaway: Don't let anyone tell you who you are and make you doubt your worth!
"But you don't even speak Dutch!"
I am Alejandra. I was born in Colombia, but we moved to Spain when I was little, so I also identify as a Spaniard. I speak Spanish, French, English and Catalan fluently, and I have a B1 level of Dutch. I studied Biotechnology in Spain, then came to do an Erasmus in Ghent. After that, I pursued a masters degree and a PhD in stem cells in Paris. Then I came back to Belgium to work as a post-doctorate fellow, which lasted 3 years. After that, I needed to look for a job, so I went to VDAB. Ideally, I was eyeing a job as a research scientist or in the pharmaceutical industry, something like quality control, maybe? During my interview, they asked if I would agree to share my phone number and CV to recruiting offices; obviously, I said yes! I wanted to maximise my chances.
However, soon after that, I started getting job offers that weren't related at all with my profile - or to any profile, really. They were not qualified jobs. One day, a recruiter called me:
🧑🏼💻 Hello there, you're looking for a job, is that correct?
💁🏻♀️ Yes, it is!
🧑🏼💻 Would you be interested in a job packing products?
🤷🏻♀️ It's not really related to my field of work or expertise...
🧑🏼💻 Uhm, okay; what are you looking for, then?
💁🏻♀️ I'm looking for a job as a researcher, maybe something in quality control!
🧑🏼💻 And you have qualifications for that?
🤦🏻♀️ Yes...yes, I do. It's all on my CV.
🧑🏼💻 Well, okay, but you don't even speak Dutch!
I don't recall giving anyone permission to call me on the phone just to treat me badly, especially in a moment where I already feel so vulnerable, being a jobseeker and a foreigner. I would expect that VDAB, as a public institution, would at least make sure that the people whose CVs they share with recruiters should be treated according to decent standards of respect in their communication.
Then again, my face-to-face with VDAB didn't exactly go much better. On the phone, they promised me I would have an appointment with someone who speaks English. When I arrived and was greeted in Dutch by my consultant, I kindly asked if she would mind speaking English but she refused, saying this could be a good opportunity to practice my Dutch. I told her the most important thing to me right now was to make sure I would understand everything she was explaining; she said that if I really needed her to, she could translate a couple things on her smartphone.
Sometimes, I doubt whether my feelings are valid: am I overreacting? Ultimately, all I'm asking for is respect and empathy. I know I'm an immigrant, I know I don't speak Dutch, but does that mean I don't deserve to be treated with common decency? Why would anyone assume that I'm not qualified? Why would anyone force me to have an important interview in a language I don't feel comfortable in yet? If they had told me on the phone that the interview had to take place in Dutch, I could have asked my husband, who speaks Dutch, to come with me.
These bad experiences have really marked me, but I'm glad I kept my head up and I ended up finding a job in the Defense laboratories in Brussels - something I'm qualified for and excited about. I can't help thinking about all the other immigrants, especially women; those who may not have a support system like I do or the confidence that I have, and get intimidated into making choices that make them unfulfilled.
Belgium: we need to do better
We need to treat immigrants with more respect and empathy, regardless what we think they have to give us. No matter what someone's skin colour, language or education level is, they don't deserve to be looked down on, dismissed or treated like a commodity.
Western countries like to pride themselves for their progressive, open-minded cultures, rooted in mutual respect and freedom. Yet, the way we treat anyone who looks or speaks differently doesn't reflect these values at all. Our people, representatives and institutions, should do their best to provide a welcoming, helpful experience to newcomers and allow them to make their spot among us.