Career News 24/7: The Cynical Girl: There Are No Mexicans Trying To Steal Your Job

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The Cynical Girl: There Are No Mexicans Trying To Steal Your Job

There Are No Mexicans Trying To Steal Your Job

Posted: 11 Oct 2011 03:45 AM PDT

I have a cousin who is 100% convinced that illegal immigrants are streaming over the border and trying to steal his $50,000/year job.

I wish that were true.

I wish we had a whole host of Mexicans who were flooding into America with IT, social media, and marketing skills. I wish we had illegal Mexicans who could build boolean search strings and analyze marketing surveys. And I really wish I could find some illegal Mexican coders and developers. That would be awesome.

Unfortunately, I had to tell my family member that his job is in jeopardy because of shady corporate practices and a desire to improve productivity and reduce labor expenses. Hiring and employing someone is risky and expensive. Most companies are in the business of maximizing profits and reducing risk. Labor doesn’t make sense — Mexican or not.

I know a thing or two about this subject. I have been hiring people since 1995. I have hired workers in almost all fifty states and in the global marketplace, too. I have hired many kinds of employees — from factory workers to landscape crews to cafeteria janitors to flight attendants to corporate chumps to executives.

I’ve never given a job to an illegal immigrant. Period.
I have never ignored immigration status.
And I have never opted to hire a cheaper Mexican with sketchy immigration papers over a qualified (& more expensive) white guy who can prove that he is American.

That illegal Mexican who wants your job? He does not exist.

He’s a straw man. A myth. A figment of your imagination.

Now there are illegal Mexican immigrants who are hired to fill jobs in this country. You know what kind of work they do? They harvest grapes. They pick blueberries. They work in the apple orchards of Michigan and the non-union construction sites in St. Louis. They clean office buildings in Seattle and wash windows on commercial real estate properties that are managed by outsourced service providers in Tampa.

From California to Illinois to South Carolina, there are illegal immigrants who clean your homes. They bus your tables. They load trucks at the industrial business park on the other side of your town.

But there is no Mexican trying to steal your 9-5 corporate day job.

And there is no Mexican vying to do your TPS reports.

I can say with 100% certainty that there is no Mexican who hops over the border, braves the desert heat, and wants to do a weekly 1:1 meeting with your boss.

You should be so lucky.

I want you to stop being angry with illegal immigrants. You’re not dumb. You’re not a tool. Start being angry with racist mouthpieces who want you to fear another human being instead of fearing the indentured servitude that is the corporate American workforce.

Stop being afraid. Pay attention to reality. Wake up. And quit blaming illegal immigrants for our crappy economy and stale job market. You look like a fool. I’m embarrassed for you — and so are the Mexicans.