OldschoolNewcomer wrote:...the reply is a bit of a "piss off you'll never make it"...
Your projections are welcome here. I really hope you do make it... I also believe that operating with a firm understanding of reality is essential to making it.
You've got three basic categories of firms that make application for work passes of all types. The first is local firms (and occasionally MNC's) that are seeking semi-skilled to skilled labor. Singaporeans don't want to do this kind of work, and they don't want to work for the wages offered. This is also an area of abuse... and a reason why the jobs board exists... local firms hoping to hire cheap imported talent instead of hiring a Singaporean... it has become much harder for them to do. This isn't going to be for you.
The second area are technical companies that body shop out people as contractors, mostly direct contract, but sometimes also part of a managed services package. Get skilled but cheap people from the sub-continent and rent them out. These people were being contracted into the MNC's, thereby saving permanent payroll costs, and giving great flexibility to the MNC's in the ability to hire and fire.
This segment was on fire for a while, until the government realized that it was short circuiting career paths for recent graduates. Instead of hiring, training, and promoting locals in long term roles, MNC's turned to body shops for cheap solutions. Only now, it seems that the government is much more carefully scrutinizing these applications... lots of posts on these boards from people who have waiting 3 months, 6 months or more for an EP that never comes. This isn't you, either... the body shops wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole.
That leaves segment 3... the MNC's. Walk into any MNC office and you'll see that it's populated with local people... and only handfuls of expats, relatively speaking. You may find specialists. You may find people on a career track being rotated in for a few years as they go up the corporate ladder. You may find senior managers who have the expertise to direct and grow major aspects of the company, for example, finance or logistics or IT.
It is these companies that have come under substantial pressure to stop hiring contractors from body shops. At the same time, it is these companies that hire lots of locals into professional jobs so the pressure has its limits. The MNC's must be allowed their freedom while the government promotes its "hire local" campaign.
And this makes you a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. You're not needed. In fact, you're a hindrance... hiring you as a graduate trainee makes one less position available for a local. You're going to be expensive to hire. You're going to expect to have your moving costs paid. It just doesn't happen.
SMS quoted you some numbers. Be aware that many of the non-white people on work passes in Singapore live in dormatories, or share many people to a room/house. They eat the cheapest food. They don't drink. They often come from a background in poverty and the conditions here are better than where they left.
Compare this to professional jobs, where even the government has decided that $6,000 per month is the low end of "reasonable" salaries. You can get buy on $6k... no car but a decent place and the ability to have a few beers. Above this, you can begin to live the life you are accustomed to.
By all means, follow your dreams... just make sure they are realistic or you'll be spinning your wheels.
