An Australianised Asian

A New Challenge

After managing the administration area of the Learning & Development department for a year, I was ready for a new challenge. I wanted to do something more IT related. The perfect opportunity came along when one of the company’s IT Trainer was promoted. My manager asked me if I was interested in the role. I told him that it would be a great challenge however I didn’t have a Certificate of Training and Assessment which is a requirement for the role. They told me that they would pay for me to complete the course and when I got my certificate, they would interview me for the role. I completed the course and was eventually promoted as the IT Trainer.

First Assignment

My first assignment as an IT Trainer was to go to Brisbane for three weeks and train State Managers, Branch Managers and Administrators on how to use a new application. I would fly there with the managers from Melbourne at 6am, go straight to the training site to set up and start training. I was nervous but excited at the same time. When we arrived at the training site, I started setting up the computers, there were 15 altogether as I had to train 15 people a day. People started arriving and I did not introduce myself because I was busily trying to set everything up so we could begin the session. Some of them decided to help me. They started to chat amongst themselves and one asked “When is the trainer arriving? I heard she is from Melbourne”.

Waiting for the Trainer

When everything was set up, I went to get a cup of coffee then went back into the training room. I went to sit at the front of the room, at the Trainer’s chair, and said in a loud voice “Ok everyone, let’s begin the training session. Please take a seat and sign the attendance sheet which will be passed around shortly”. One of the managers, who was not from Melbourne, said “We’re still waiting for the trainer”. I smiled and said “No, we are not, I am your trainer. My name is Jelvie Grech”. There were a few shocked expressions around the room however the session started and before long, we were done for the first day and went back to our hotel for drinks.

An Australian Sounding Assistant

After checking my emails in my hotel room, I went downstairs to the bar. I sat with the people I trained that day and they were talking about the session. I realised that I was the youngest person in the group, I was 23 at the time and everyone else would have been in their 40s or 50s. I was also the only Asian. Everyone else was Anglo-Australian. But I was used to that. I was also the only Asian in my department at the time. One of the managers I trained turned around and said to me “I was really worried that I wouldn’t understand your accent when I found out you were our trainer, but you actually sound Australian”. I laughed. Then another said “You look so young, we thought you were an assistant, just helping out”. I told them that it was interesting how these assumptions were made.

Who I Really Am

The same comments were made about me everywhere I went as a trainer. They were worried that I would have an accent that would be difficult to understand, or that I would not understand English, or that I was really too young to be training people who were older than me. However, after making trainees feel comfortable, they treated me as one of their own. They looked past their assumptions and realised that not all Asian looking individuals are the same. Some were born in Australia, some grew up in Australia. Some actually have accents that are not difficult to understand. They also realised that just because I was younger than them, it didn’t mean that I was not capable of doing my job. It would have been easy to feel intimidated and to be offended by all these assumptions but I chose to let it go. I found that if I got offended and let it get to me, people would not get a chance to get to know who I really am and their assumptions and perceptions would never change.