Dear AAPAAN, If there is one critical thing you know now to advance your career that you did not know in college, which would have been beneficial, what is it? Anonymous Dear Anonymous, What a forward-looking question, and what a difficult one to answer! The unfortunate, short answer is: it depends. To elaborate: the answer […]
I’m preparing to interview and have heard that it’s important to fit into a company’s culture. How could I figure out what is a company’s culture and how do I compare different companies? Signed M Dear M This is a very advanced question for a young graduate to think about. Usually the young grad is only […]
Dear AAPAAN My family discourages me from having so many Asian friends. However, since coming to college I am basically only friends with Asians. Is this a bad thing? But also, how can I put myself into other communities? Anonymous Dear Anonymous I don’t think it’s a bad thing. My phrase for this is “You do […]
Dear AAPAAN, How can I balance school while working part-time and get enough sleep when the stress continues to build up inside of me? – Michael Michael sent us a personal video on this topic which you can view below: Dear Michael, When I was in college, I thought one of the secrets […]
Dear Anonymous, This depends on your personal and your kid’s preferences and values. Honestly speaking, there’s no right or wrong answer. On top of personal and family preferences, every culture has its good values and not-so-good values. I will take the best essence from each culture and raise my family/kids. First, let’s talk about personal […]
I’m an Asian-American. Do I have to work harder to get ahead? Anonymous Dear Anonymous Unfortunately, the simple answer is very likely yes. This answer applies to women and other non-white minorities as well. So if you’re an Asian-American woman, you’ll probably find it is harder still. There had been a number of academic studies to demonstrate why […]
Dear Anonymous We all know networking is very important, the common phrase – “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” I would go one step further, it’s also – “Who knows you”, that is, if someone is thinking about hiring someone, or a new opportunity, or a speaking engagement – will they think of you? They key to networking […]
Dear AAPAAN: I am involved in an office romance. Some of my friends warn me that mixing work and romance will be trouble. What’s your perspective? Anonymous Dear Anonymous Your friends are giving you good advice. Romance alone is challenging enough and when you mix in office and work issues you have a heightened risk for major […]
Dear AAPAAN: I been trying out online dating looking to meet a compatible person (could be Asian-American, or any other ethnicity). Not going well so far. Any hints on how best to go about this? Signed Anonymous Dear Anonymous, The Dear AAPAAN panelists have been out of the dating scene for a quite a while and we […]
How do you avoid getting “pigeon-holed” as an Asian American? (e.g. due to your “cultural background”) – Anonymous Dear Anonymous, Asian Americans are commonly stereotyped as geeky, good in science/math, quiet and pliant. Consequently, Asian Americans might be “pigeon-holed” to low level technical staff jobs with little chance of advancing into management. Assuming that a […]