Losing one's profession

As a Literacy Volunteer, I tutor an Afghani refugee. A. was a physician before he had to flee his country, eventually ending up in the US. Now he has to start over again, at the bottom of the health-care ladder, and he's just completed a phlebotomy (drawing blood) certification course.

I helped him put together a resume and cover letters for four phlebotomy job-openings in the area. We went back and forth as to whether to mention his extensive health-care training and experience, but then we decided to start with the truth, see what bites that gets. and tweak things from there if we have to.

A. got an early bite from a large lab in town, whose human resources director called him. "So, you're a physician?" she said. A. said yes. She said something to the effect of, Why would a physician want to work as a phlebotomist?

A., having the immigrant's patience and optimism, answered the question much more diplomatically than I would have, even with all my native-speaker advantages. He said something like, the path to getting re-licensed as a physician in the US is very long (a redo of the 36-month residency and a bunch of nine-hour exams), and that he wants to stay in the health care field, get a chance to work with colleagues, practice his English, etc.

I would've gladly sacrificed all job-possibilities to tell the woman something like, "Duh, Lady! It's not as if he has a choice!" Or maybe, "Ever heard of the Taliban?"

So anyway, despite A.'s incredible restraint, the woman didn't call him back the next day, after having said she would. A. ran home early from his English class and waited by the phone, warding off telemarketers, all day. It's been a week now with no word, and no new bites.

My husband says the next step is to fudge the resume and cover letters to oust all mention of A.'s previous profession, because "doctor," "physician," "medical school," etc. are such loaded words. They can make people ignore the word "refugee," which we used in our cover letters, and think there's something wrong with the guy. And/or that a guy with so much knowledge will make his lab-technician co-workers nervous.

Whatever they think, I'd like to yell from all the rooftops into Human Resource Managers' windows, Let me tell you what refugee means. It means an applicant who's lost country, career, and language, if not family and friends. It means he/she needs money and acceptance NOW, and will work extremely hard for it. He/she will bring grit, gratitude, optimism, and the willingness to do any task into our workplace, making us do doubletakes at how blessed we are to be where and what we choose. Refugees give us a glimpse of how the pioneers saw our country, as a land of opportunity. So let's not let them down.

Comments

[David Giacalone]

Thank you for writing this and saying it so well.

My very first English for Speakers of Other Languages student was a refugee from a drug-and-violence torn South American country. Her husband had been a dentist and she a lawyer when they had to flee. When we met, they were both working long hours in the shipping department of a discount retail store (doing manual labor, not supervising). Having three children to raise meant they had to concentrate on food and board issues, not regaining their professions.

Seeing their courage, dignity and persistence made me honored to know them and to play a tiny part to help them toward goals that were both immediate and very long-term.

What worries me about Americans today is that so many of us are totally unable to appreciate the circumstances of refugees and other immigrants -- to see all that they bring and all that they go through. Thanks for shining a light.