Advice on UK to Singapore move

[Pripri11]

Hi,

A brief background I am 30 year old with 5 years IT Software project management experience I am currently on Maternity leave with our 7 month old daughter.

My husband & I have decided we need to be brave and want a life change. We have visited Singapore & would love to start a new life in Singapore.

My husband has no formal qualifications so likely he will be a house husband whilst I work. I have a BA & MA with good work experience but have no idea where to start my job search. Our preference is a job opportunity which will also incorporate our relocation costs/organising.

Honest/helpful suggestions are welcome on how to make our idea become reality.

Thanks in advance.

[Strong Eagle]

OK... I'll be the heavy and burst your balloon. It aint gonna happen. The only way it might happen is if you end up working for a MNC and manage to wangle an internal transfer.

Do you know against whom you are competing? Zillions from the subcontinent who not only don't care about relocation costs, they'll be glad to hand half their salary back under the table just to get a chance to come work in Singapore.

Professional IT talent is being moved out of Singapore. Increasingly, banks and other MNC's are hiring through 3rd party agencies on a contract/temp basis to avoid the liability of a permanent payroll. Even people in Singapore with decades on project management experience are finding themselves retrenched as the company "reorganizes", then replaces permanent talent with contract employees who make far less.

And speaking of money, long gone are the days of the generous expat package... relocation, trips home, housing assistance. Chances are very good that if you were able to actually secure employment it would be on a local package only... and you're talking S$5000 to S$8000... maybe.

Five years is a middling amount of experience. Unless you've got something fantastically stellar on your resume that's going to have employers salivating all over you, you may not even qualify for an employment pass in today's miasma of anti-foreigner sentiment. There are far too many locals with equivalent experience who want the job you think you want to get. And, they speak more languages and they help the government achieve full local employment... something that you can't do.

I realize this post is negative from beginning to end, and I am a realist. I left after 8 years... the IT landscape and eco-system was changing far too much such that it rendered my business model obsolete.

Again, look at global service providers and software houses. Get a job locally... or somewhere... then make your move to Singapore. You might also consider some place like Kuala Lumpur where dozens, if not hundreds, of IT related companies have made their home in the technology corridor. However, with the rampant corruption rising all the way to the top, coupled with increasingly extreme versions of Islam being tolerated or even encouraged by the Malaysian government, I'd be very hard pressed to make any kind of long term commitment to Malaysia.

[just_another_loser]

If i am correct internal transfer would still need to go through EP process and not sure if they are treated differently than a new job vacancy

[Pripri11]

Your message is greatly appreciated!!

[okonu]

Yep, your best bet is joining someone like Accenture in the UK, and performing well enough that when an opening comes up in Singapore, you can apply to transfer.

[Strong Eagle]

If i am correct internal transfer would still need to go through EP process and not sure if they are treated differently than a new job vacancy

It is true that an internal transfer also goes through the EP process. However, for any decent sized MNC it is highly unlikely that they will be turned down. Why? Because so long as they are hiring plenty of locals into the company there is no way MoM is going to piss off senior management by denying internal transfers.

[Strong Eagle]

Pripri11, If you are still following this thread, then I want to add a couple of additional comments, some positive, some negative, concerning your circumstances.

From the "never say never" perspective, if you really want to get to Singapore, then you have a ton of research in front of you. I judge that you will have an extremely difficult time simply coming to Singapore and starting a job hunt. Recruiters in Singapore, with few exceptions, are totally worthless, and you cannot count upon them to tell you the truth, or to adequately vet you in front of a potential employer. My experience has been they send everybody, including the dog, and then wait to see if one of them "sticks".

So... you begin by identifying a list of companies in Singapore that you might want to work for... Google searches and government records like Bizfile can give you the information you need. For every one of these companies you head to their global recruitment pages and see if there is anything in Singapore, or close by. You may be able to apply for Singapore jobs in this manner.

[Pripri11]

Thank you so much honesty with such a big decision ahead is what is needed! Let the job hunt commence...