Posted on 02/16/2005 12:13:58 PM PST by MisterRepublican
Home Depot wants to put more Hispanics in orange aprons through a hiring partnership it will unveil today.
The Atlanta-based chain plans to work with several Hispanic groups to boost both hiring and its appeal to a market segment whose buying power reached $750 billion last year.
Hispanic purchasing power will reach an estimated $1 trillion by 2008, the Hispanic Association of Corporate Responsibility says.
Hispanics are poised to be the next generation of home buyers, said Jeffrey Humphreys, a University of Georgia economist.
"Home Depot's efforts will pay big dividends in the future" as the retailer fights with Lowe's and smaller rivals to capture that business, Humphreys said.
The National Council of La Reza, the ASPIRA Association, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and SER-Jobs for Progress will help Home Depot attract and recruit full- and part-time workers across the country. Daniel Borges, an eight-year Home Depot employee from Venezuela, said the program is a great idea since about 30 percent of shoppers are Hispanic at the Doraville store where he works.
"Customers shop where they feel welcome and comfortable and get the products and information they need," said Borges, who sported a badge saying "Yo hablo Espanol" — I speak Spanish.
"I have many regular customers who have told me they are comfortable coming to this store because they know we have bilingual associates."
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
They all look alike to me.
Home Depot could recruit at WalMart. The last time I visited the local WalMart, I didn't hear one employee or customer who spoke English.
You got that right. The problem is the schools are having trouble funding the teachers to teach the Hispanic children English. We're going to have to fit this into the budget.
sw
Because assimilation doesn't happen in a day. Nor does learning a new language.
Those romanticized immigrants, the first generation that landed in New York from Europe in the 1800's, probably didn't learn English well at all. That's why you had neighborhoods that were German or Italian or Dutch. The kids learned English as they grew up, but the native language was spoken in most of those homes.
The older generation learned enough English to shop at the grocery, but that's about it.
Would I love for all immigrants to speak perfect English when they arrive? Of course. Hell, I'd be happy if the hip-hop generation of Americans spoke perfect English. The fact of the matter is that it takes time. In the mean time, these folks need to fix their plumbing and get some shingles for their roof, so they need somone at Home Depot that speaks their language.
This "trend" is nothing new.
I was refused many jobs I was qualified for when I lived in California because I didn't speak Spanish. I was told "if you want to work here, you should learn to speak Spanish." (This was 25 years ago)
I replied: "No. If I went to Mexico looking for work, I would expect to speak Spanish. But Not in the US."
I could have learned it - but that made me so angry that I refuse to out of principle - or stubbornness. Or both?
Read later.
Reminds me of when IBM had to buy stickers with "Basura" (or what ever the proper word is) on them because the cleaning crew couldn't figure out that the piles of trash in the hallway (all marked with "TRASH") were trash. How hard is it to learn "trash" when that's your job. How hard is it to learn "hammer", "nails", "lumber", "concrete", "paint"...?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/725312/posts
IBM has been trying the same sort of strategy, going after "minority" business. Here's a bit from IBM's VP of Diversity, Ted Childs.
In addition, IBM has a program that partners its executives with current or prospective customers from similar backgrounds. For instance, black IBM executives, in
addition to their regular duties, call on black business contacts, Hispanics call on Hispanics.
"I have a couple of accounts," Mr. Childs said. "I made my first call last year ... a brother-to-brother call." It's a strategy that has gone over well with the customers,
he said.
"We're going to see more companies owned by women or by ethnic minorities. If we get to them in their infancy and grow with them, that's how we'll grow," Mr.
Childs said.
"It's about opportunity, the opportunity for IBM to compete."
I sure hope Home Depot is checking their Green cards or it's off to Loews for me.
What happened to hiring employees, just regular folks.
Couldn't this move by Home depot be considered a Racist, Discriminating move?
Sigh...
English. Soon to become the New World's Latin.
#10
Oh, here we go again...............
There are many jobs in Mexico and around the world that one could not get without being able to speak English. Tourist related jobs, tech jobs, govt employees, transportation jobs, banking, air traffic controllers, etc...
What does "Oh, here we go again" mean? Or are you not able to express your arguments any clearer?
Just as lawbreaking Americans and law abiding Americans all look alike to me. But I still don't like Americans who knowingly violate the law.
"But all the anti-immigrants see are "illegals" ruining our culture and threatening our sovereignty."
Do a search here on FR. There are many studies done that document the monetary COST of illegals exceeds their supposed "benefit" to our society / economy.
Then why don't I see you posting articles and comments critical of people who violate OSHA laws, Civil Rights laws, gun laws, tax laws, EPA laws; ADA laws, etc...
No one's fooled.
No there are not. There are only a bunch of articles repeating the same mischairicterations of discredited studies comparing the amount that some imaginary group they have arbitrarily decided are illegal pay in taxes (estimated) verses the amount of government spending they arbitrarily assign to them.
But that same logic applies to all Americans except the upper 20% who, along with corporations pay 90% of the taxes.
Those arguments are typical of the house of cards upon which the anti-immigrants have built their platform.
When the immigration reform legislation comes up for consideration in the next couple years and the debate moves from fringe groups to the main public arena the anti-immigrants trying to use the same inane arguments that work on the one-percenters are going to be ridiculed into resorting to the same type name calling that they are resorting to on FR.
No doubt the usual suspect(s) will be on this thread supporting La Raza.
El bingo....we tiene un ganador!!!
"anti-immigrants "
Don't bother. I stopped reading there.
nice try though.
Why not try this though?
"Anti- ILLEGAL immigrants".
You might re-build some of your cred here on FR.
: ) That gave me a warm fuzzy feeling!
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