I have a Non American/Canadian Last name....

What’s the point of changing an Asian sounding first name if the last name still remains Asian?
 
I don’t think there’s anything wrong saying that you’re a native speaker of English on your resume. It’s not like everyone successful in the world of finance was born speaking English. Maybe there are certain parts of this country that have some antiquated idea of protectionism in the workplace, but many financial institutions encourage diversity and there’s nothing wrong with either admitting that English wasn’t your first language, or pre-emptively rectifying any notions that you’re not a fluent speaker of English.
 
shite man. where do you live, we can go to a bar and get drunk on canadian beer and in one hour, you’ll know everything there is to know about hockey and you’ll be able to play it off like you’ve played for 19 years like myself.
although, i do like the maple syrup and seal clubbing thing. you could attach a story about how you own a syrup business in the deep woods of northern quebec.. and so on. the story could include your victory in the fight with a polar bear too.
 
lol@ Matt.
I live in Toronto. That is why I never thought about placing the whole “english mother tongue” on my resume before because we are the most ethnically diverse city in the world, but then I saw this article on Yahoo Canada about immigrants finding it tougher to find work, then I looked at my last name from a canadian’s perspective and then wondered if I should add that i was born and raised in Toronto:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080718/national/immigrant_employment_1
 
yeah i understand the concern but and i can’t truly be in your shoes because my last name is the same as (hint: the largest takeover ever), but i wouldn’t feel right changing my name, i wouldn’t feel like i’m being true to myself. i’d rather tell a little fib that is completely harmless. on my last resume, i said that i still play the saxophone (to play off the idea that people who play music are smarter than those who don’t) and it wasn’t that bad of lie as i did play sax for 5 years when i was much younger. the stuff that makes you stand out or associate with your interviewer/future boss is what gets you the job - its making that connection and making him/her feel like they can put responsibility in your hands. and if you’re looking for a hockey lesson, i live in KW, hehe. so to reply to the post you were going to make… yes i think putting interests/activities is very important.
 
Numi, in Korean, “Lee” is not actually pronounced with an L sound. It’s just the closest approximation. In Korean, it’s pronounced just like if you were to say the letter E.
So if you actually see a Korean person with the last name Lee, Yee, or Yi (or some other close variation), they are all the same name (E).
numi Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Definitely mention what your mother tongue/native
> language is. It’s unfortunate that HR has the
> proclivity to dismiss your resume based on your
> last name, but assuming that you don’t plan on
> changing your last name to “Smith” or “Johnson,”
> make sure you do a heck of a job on your resume as
> well.
>
> On another note, does anyone know why “Lee” is a
> surname that occurs so frequently across multiple
> ethnicities? In professional baseball alone, there
> are players whose last names are “Lee” that are
> Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Black, Hispanic,
> English, or just plain ol’ American. I’m sure
> there are other nationalities that I can’t think
> of at the moment.
 
Interesting topher. I didn’t know that. What about “Rhee”? Is that the same surname as all the others you mentioned? And are all of these the same characters, or are there different characters for the Korean names that might otherwise sound phonetically identical in English romanization?
 
there are tons of very sucessful people with unsual or non anglo saxon names …look up this guy - Abhijit Chakrabortti .. If your resume is well written I would not worry too much about it especially in Toronto . If you were in the boonies somewhere maybe it would matter .
If you can speak/write well ( even with an accent ) that is all that is relevant . I was looking at a resume of a friend ( non finance job ) and this was a line on his resume
” Great at looking after tuff situations ” and this guy is white canadian born and bred .
 
yes numi that is correct. rhee is also the same lol
my korean isn’t great but i believe there are 2 variations. one with more of the r sound and the other without. the website below shows the variations and may even show how the variations are spelled in korean but my work computer doesn’t show it so I’m not sure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_surnames
 
Just put something that “proves” you were born and raised in Canada if you think this is a problem:
“Seeking position in ER/IB/etc. in my hometown of Toronto”
Find a way to say something like that.
 
topher Wrote:
——————————————————-
> yes numi that is correct. rhee is also the same
> lol
>
> my korean isn’t great but i believe there are 2
> variations. one with more of the r sound and the
> other without. the website below shows the
> variations and may even show how the variations
> are spelled in korean but my work computer doesn’t
> show it so I’m not sure.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_surnames
ah, interesting. looks like either way, the lee/rhee/yi surname is far and away the most common korean surname.
btw, i don’t read korean, but hyori lee is hot.
 
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