Tricky situation.

[Wd40]

I have been laid off and next weekend is my last day. I knew this right from the beginning of the year. My game plan was to try and get a job in Singapore until my last working day here and if I don't get anything, then go to Bangalore and search.

In the last 4 odd months I have attended interviews with atleast 8 different companies, which is great in a market like Singapore, but unfortunately nothing has converted into an offer, which is really devastating for me, if I didn't get any interviews then its a different thing. My mindset now is leaning a lot towards going to India and I have found some encouragement in terms of more urgency by employers there and more eagerness to hire me.

I had attended couple of interviews in Singapore, 1 was 2 weeks ago and another this week and the employers here are in absolutely no hurry to hire. The 1st employer just scheduled the 2nd round next Wednesday. Now my dilemma is as per my plan I wanted to leave Singapore next Saturday. I have notified my landlord and they are busy searching tenants and I will most likely lose the deposit, which is fine with me. I am wondering whether I should extend my stay here or just go to Bangalore and let the companies, that I am interviewing( 2 of them currently) , know about my situation and then tell them that I am going to Bangalore and if they make up their mind and want to offer me, I will come back?

[taxico]

sorry to hear about that.

do you know of any friends (or friend of friends) that are available to take over your tenancy?

i don't see any harm in NOT telling the two singapore companies anything that is none of their business (i mean, if an offer was made and you accept it, it should be a given that you will have to come back, no?).

if a friend will let you use their mailbox or if the offer can be made electronically (and singapore pre-paid cell phones roam in india too, i think) it shouldn't matter too much where you are...

whatever the case, good luck! you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Wd40]

Thanks Taxico for responding.

I have been trying to look for tenants, but the market seems bad especially for a 3 bedroom HDB priced at 2.5k. But, my landlady is reasonable person, she will most likely return my deposit after covering for any gap in tenancy and the prorated amount of the residual tenancy agent fee that she paid( 6months out of 1 year contract. She paid 1/2 month rent as agent fee). Since I am leaving in the middle of the month(I have paid the rent only until 17th of this month), its hard to find a tenant immediately and best case there will be a gap of 2 weeks and my deposit is only 1 month so I doubt I will get back much, but I am fine with that, it doesn't bother me.

My dilemma really is should I continue to stay here or let the companies know that I am going to Bangalore and then take the risk of them not considering me anymore, because I am not in Singapore. What should I tell them? They will find out that my letter from current company has my end date as 16th May, so they will know that there is a gap and I will need to explain.

[PNGMK]

"I'm on holiday / visiting my folks back in India - I'll be back on XXYYMM ready to start".

Why do you complicate things? Oh yeah.... you're indian.

[Wd40]

I have never been in this situation of losing a job and attending interviews. I have always left jobs on my own and in those cases, I have never sounded desperate with my prospective employers. In my current situation, I don't even know how to handle this. So far, I have tried my best to tell my interviewers that I am keen but not desperate. But once my last date with my current company is over, I am afraid, I will have to tell them that I am not employed, I am not sure how companies in Singapore will view this.

If I go to India, its very easy, I just tell them I wanted to come back home and so I quit and I came and the job market there is still relative better and they prefer people who are immediately available. In Singapore, companies take their own sweet time to hire and in many case the roles just die and they don't hire anyone.

The only companies that want to hire immediately are really short term contracts. I got calls for like 1.5 months contract and 3 months contract and the salary was like less than perm something like 6k. I was like WTF! are there so many desperate people in Singapore looking for jobs? In places like Australia or London contract jobs pay better than perm so its ok to take them and still mostly the contracts are rolling contracts but Singapore really shocks me.

I feel the low unemployment rate is just a hog wash. There are lots of absolutely desperate people looking for jobs in Singapore.

[Wd40]

Thanks PNGMK, I didn't see your response before making my previous comment.

So you suggest, don't tell anything just attend the next round and then go to India as per plans? Thanks, that's what I am leaning towards, to do. I am sorry, I am not good at taking decisions or making choices.

[aster]

Just out of curiosity - not that it applies to me in any way - can employees here make changes to their EP on their own, bypassing their employer? Namely can they convert their current EP into a PEP ("personalised employment pass")?

If so it might be a good idea for those who feel their job here might be coming to an end and would like to be prepared for exploring further avenues to continue working in Singapore. A PEP is not tied to a single employer so in theory it should make matters somewhat easier.

[Wd40]

Sorry, I didn't mention before, I have a PEP, which is technically valid only until end of this year, because my salary isn't going to cross 144k a year.

[Strong Eagle]

WD40 - If you have a PEP, then you have six months from your last date of employment to find new work. Aside from having enough savings, what's the rush?

Also, I don't think it is desperate or pushy to state one's circumstances in the third person, something to this effect.

"As you know I am on an employment pass which will expire per government regulations. If you have an interest in me, I would request that you expedite the hiring process."

[Beeroclock]

"I'm on holiday / visiting my folks back in India - I'll be back on XXYYMM ready to start".

. +1. This sounds good to me. Try not to sound desperate, it's rarely an endearing quality and like you said they will move in their own sweet time regardless... Good luck wd40! Stay positive and have faith you will find a way through it!

[JR8]

Good luck WD40, it's a hell of a situation to be in.

First time here I got given a months notice to ship out, and that was right before a long-planned trip to Bali and Australia.

I intensively scanned the market, found nothing. Went home to my employer, took a Joe-job there for a year (the only one they had available), but then with my broader than average skillset (as a result of my SG posting), they posted me off to the US. So it was initially a real b*tch, that in the longer term came pretty good. So if you can try and keep positive, do so.

If you're on a PEP perhaps you have more flexibility? If you feel getting nibbles on your hook, but no bites, might it be worthwhile decamping to somewhere like Bali/Lombok? Taking interviews by phone and once a month coming up for a few days for any positive sounding interviews? If after maybe 3 month either be hired or call it quits? Don't know, just a thought.

Best of luck!

[Wd40]

WD40 - If you have a PEP, then you have six months from your last date of employment to find new work. Aside from having enough savings, what's the rush?

Also, I don't think it is desperate or pushy to state one's circumstances in the third person, something to this effect.

"As you know I am on an employment pass which will expire per government regulations. If you have an interest in me, I would request that you expedite the hiring process."

Hi SE,

Thanks for your response. I think my IT skills is worth shit in this Singapore market. So I don't have much hopes. I have been getting interviews but they haven't clicked while I was having a job. The moment I am in the stage where I am out of job, automatically my prospects become even weaker and also I cant handle the roller coaster of emotions of being happy and hopeful when I get an interview call and then disappointed when I they don't get back to me.

Also this doesn't look like a one off or a temporary thing. I see in future IT salaries going lower and lower and lots of desperate people in the market. I am earning 8.3k a month and none of the jobs I have applied can offer me that much, at best 6.5-7k and if that is not demotivating enough, any gap means I will never recover that lost salary. I have good savings, but the reason I have good savings because I have been frugal and risk averse and that very trait will not let me stay in Singapore jobless for even a day, without anything lined up. Atleast my skills have some decent value in India and I should be able to lead a stress free life there.

Also the fact that I didn't get PR and employment passes approval is going to get tougher in the future and I really have made 0 ties in this country and have been living lite, with 0 assets here, have sold my bike, no mobile contracts, I have always had prepaid, my internet/cable 2 year contract is over, we have bought no furniture and used whatever the landlord gave, always fearing that the day we are forced to leave, we should be able to leave with minimal losses. So it was kind of like we were already over prepared for this situation and now the choice to go from here is much much more compelling than staying back.

[yogaloungeforever]

WD40 I hesitated in writing a post to your thread and that's coz I had bad experiences with your own kind and hence just don't like them (the ones esp fr your country) but WTH I thought, it would also benefit other forumers other than yourself.

like you i am also on the PEP. however in my case (and really at times I seriously think I should write a book on this part of my life because i had a really interesting journey during this last 1 year) i had hiccups of jobs in between during the entire time on the pass. am still looking as of today however my patience is slowly paying off. i disagree with that part where you mentioned about employers being not comfortable with you being long-term unemployed. you have never been unemployed before and hence i figure that's why you feel so jittery about it. but you realised when you are unemployed you learn a lot - most important stamina. i attended an interview recently and the interviewer commented that despite nearly 6 mths of unemployment (actually it was more than that coz I survived 1 mth in 1 other job which did not worked out and hence was back on the market the following month. so technically i was unemployed for nearly 9 mths) I don't come across as desperate. i learned to control these emotions. it is depressing at times but you have to learn to tame them. I do agree with yourself on your part of Singapore employers taking their sweet time coz I have come across 2 myself and man, they really took their sweet time. Sometime i wonder if they do it just to see how desperate you are or they really are not in a rush. you have always known that Singapore is never the IT hub. it will never be. US and UK is the place to be for IT peeps. Singapore all along has been the support system. when i was in the bank for a while i knew jobs like mine in this industry will go bust someday and i figure best to get out of it at that time. it's best you decide now to go back to India and maybe come back to Singapore in the future if and when it gets better. if you do decide to stay and take the risk on the 6 mths grace period on the PEP i'd suggest you use this time to reflect on your life, work and whatever needs reflecting now that you have plenty of time i did and during this time a lot of interesting events have taken place and i am glad they took place because these things don't just happen for no good reason.

Lastly i agree with you the unemployment rate in this country is distorted. if you have been surfing jobstreet lately you will notice a new feature they have just implemented. this feature allows you to see how many people applied for that job and what are their expected salaries. i applied for one highly technical job calling for at least 10 years experience recently and was surprised the most senior applicant (about 18 years) was only asking for $5k.

[Wd40]

Thanks Yoga, really nicely written and I feel humbled. I wish you good luck.

[Beeroclock]

The only companies that want to hire immediately are really short term contracts. I got calls for like 1.5 months contract and 3 months contract and the salary was like less than perm something like 6k. I was like WTF! are there so many desperate people in Singapore looking for jobs?

Why don't you consider these to buy time and try jag one of these interviews. I know the salary is a slap but it's only very short term and will give you a bit longer to try your luck here, if you decide that is worth doing