From: Eric Kessler [Email him]

Regarding your reader's letter about being rejected for not speaking Chinese, a number of years ago I applied for a position with a company and interviewed with a Mexican assistant-manager. At the end of the interview, he told me that I was very qualified, but that, as many of the clients were from Taiwan, they were looking for someone who spoke Mandarin Chinese.

Since I used to live in Taiwan and could speak Chinese, I wrote a thank-you note in Chinese to the manager, who was a Chinese woman. I called her a few days later, and she told me that I was overqualified for the position.

See previous letters from Eric Kessler.