Fresh grad, no work exp, in need of advice!

[vesch]

Hi everyone,

I'm completely new to this wonderful forum, so if there already is a thread like this one and I haven't found it, I'm sorry and could you point me in the right direction?

I have a difficult dilemma, and I don't really know how to solve it. I need some advice because it seems pretty hopeless at the moment.

The thing is, my boyfriend is Singaporean, I myself am European and we met while studying abroad. I'll be graduating college (undergraduate) in June and he has a year left on his degree in Singapore. Thus, it make sense that I'd be relocating to Singapore ideally this summer. But, I just have random unpaid internships and volunteer experience in any relevant field to my degree, not the kind of work experience the MoM seems to be looking for these days (according to this forum, at least). I've been looking around this forum and it seems that my employment prospects in Singapore are pretty bad.

(I'm majoring in Sociology, and have intern/volunteer experience in teaching intercultural communication, facilitating intergroup dialogues on social justice, planning and managing events/meetings, support... that kind of thing)

Q1:
Are internships just as difficult to find as jobs? (It would be a short-term solution, but better than nothing.)

Q2:
I'm considering looking for jobs in neighbour countries/relatively close countries and perhaps commuting back and forth to see him. We're doing a 14 time zone LDR at the moment and I'm sure even a LDR from e.g. Thailand would feel better than what we're doing now! Does anyone know of any neighbouring countries with more liberal immigration/work permit regulations? (It seems like a long shot to me, but it's worth asking at least...)

Q3:
Any other ideas?! Honestly, anything would help right now, the future seems pretty bleak at the moment...

[x9200]

Social sciences are not my area but generally an internship should be more easily to be approved (if found) than a "real" job (meaning work-pass). You have to have a paid internship though as you have to have some means to pay for yourself while in here.

Probably the best chances for both of you would be to wait till he is graduated and then look for jobs, both of you, somewhere else - again, not my expertise area, but your education background/profile does not look like anything that would make a difference to the local job market - the locals can do it and there are many of them around.

Another idea is you enrolling to a local school/uni and study something with some better local job perspective. If you have money to do it.

Yet another one (short term): do you qualify for a Work Holiday Pass?
http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/ ... fault.aspx

Sorry, but yes, it looks pretty bad.

[brian_singapore]

Work holiday pass was my first through as well. Myself and many friends made good use of these a long time ago (but not in Singapore).

Do you need to work while your here? You should have no problem getting a 30 day tourist visa which can be extended up to 90 days after arrival with the help of a Citizen and/or PR.

Extended Visa (with ability to work (I *think*)) is a flat fee that depends on your length of stay. Your degree might work to your advantage with an NGO there. Or teaching English (there or any number of other countries in Asia). I have no idea if teaching English in MY is possible or not, but that's about as close as it gets to Singapore.

[vesch]

Thanks for your replies!

Work holiday could possibly work. Sweden, where I'm from, does not qualify, but conveniently I'm currently on exchange at the University of Texas, and the US does qualify. Unfortunately, the work holiday application asks for both "awarding institution" and "currently attending institution", and while I'm currently attending an American institution, my awarding institution is a Swedish university. Also it requires you to be a resident of the US, and while I'm a resident in the sense that I'm living here, I'm on a student visa which officially classifies me as a "visitor", not a "permanent resident". It really depends on if my awarding institution needs to be American (probably) and if "resident" refers to officially classified as a resident (probably) or if simply having an American address is ok.

As for teaching English in e.g. Malaysia, I've read that work permits in Malaysia are generally not approved for people under 27 (!), and I'm 24. Plus, I've also read that it can be difficult to find teaching jobs for people from countries where English is not the official language. While I think my English is pretty good, it's not my first language and my passport is Swedish so there's no way around that. I've looked up Indonesia and a few other countries too, and generally there are different variations of the same problem.

So if anyone has any other information on work holiday or teaching English in SE Asia, you're very welcome to disprove me!! Haha!! (Or any other ideas for that matter!)

Thanks again for your replies!

[Strong Eagle]

Teach English in Thailand... lots of people have done this for limited periods of time.

[the lynx]

Teach English in Thailand... lots of people have done this for limited periods of time.

And Vietnam.