Getting research job in public sector

[expat104]

Hi, my wife is a PhD graduate from UCLA. No full time working experience but plenty of internship and research experiences.

What is the possibility of her getting a job in Singapore such as the universities? She is an African-American, does this lower her chance of getting a decent job here? I see that most foreign research fellows are either Asian-American or Chinese.

I have read through about the Dependent Pass (LOC) and she should not have any problem obtaining an EP herself. However, our concern is that the career prospect for her would be better in the States as compared to here, is this true?

Thank you.

[Strong Eagle]

I just posted this response to a similar query. The problem is not being African-American, the problem is being an expat. Perhaps research position are different.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=130824&p=811037#p811037

[Wong_Jnr]

What is the possibility of her getting a job in Singapore such as the universities? She is an African-American, does this lower her chance of getting a decent job here? I see that most foreign research fellows are either Asian-American or Chinese.

Really depends on her field. I've got a friend who's European on an EP and works as a research fellow at NUS.
She should perhaps network with those she's worked with before as I'm sure they'll know somebody based out here and make a referral.
It's all about who you know and less about what you know in Asia...

[BBCDoc]

I’ve worked in Medical/Life Sci industry for >8 years here after doing 4 years postdoc at Johns Hopkins.

I had a few Friends who worked in the academic environment here. There’s many good researchers worth their salt, but many others are in place through being singaporean and playing political games.

As a foreigner, expect to face significant biases; Singaporeans will be favoured, regardless of talent. If you work for a PI with no political clout or fighting spirit, it will suck.

As Long as you do not have lofty ambitions, then you will do fine as a type of drone worker in academic research.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[expat104]

Thank you to all for the inputs!

I’ve worked in Medical/Life Sci industry for >8 years here after doing 4 years postdoc at Johns Hopkins.

I had a few Friends who worked in the academic environment here. There’s many good researchers worth their salt, but many others are in place through being singaporean and playing political games.

As a foreigner, expect to face significant biases; Singaporeans will be favoured, regardless of talent. If you work for a PI with no political clout or fighting spirit, it will suck.

As Long as you do not have lofty ambitions, then you will do fine as a type of drone worker in academic research.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We intend to stay here for 2-3 years only as i have been working here for the past year.

Her field of study doesn’t seems to be in demand here. I saw a few posts that fresh PhD are generally offered around $4.6k.

She is ambitious and have strong interest in making a change, with larger network in the US. So I am thinking it might be better for her to continue her work there for a better career prospect.

[PNGMK]

There's no point doing research in Singapore IMO. It's tainted because of the lack of systemic integrity in the country (from the top down I might add) and associated hard core peer review that backs up research (it's a little nepotistic). There has been a little bit of this leaking out to the press but in reality research here is just a boondoggle and not taken seriously except in a few essential fields (i.e. military). In fact doing research here may actually be a risk to her professional reputation if the fallout continues as anyone seeing "Singapore" on her resume in the future may just round file her resume without further consideration.

[Global Player]

Interesting read, thanks for sharing.

How is working as foreigner for other government owned companies like SMRT, NTUC? Is their working environment and compensation comparable to MNC's? (asking for Director level and above).