Singapore Expats

Hi everyone!

I'm Paul, a 37 years old French guy living in Toronto, Canada for the last 8 years (so dual citizen now).
All my career has been in procurement/sourcing and I'm now a senior IT sourcing manager in the banking industry in Toronto. To summarize: Master degree in a French business school + 10 years experience in procurement/sourcing.
I'm very interested to move in Singapore but I was wandering what type of salary I can expect there?

Anyone with procurement background who can help me to get some idea?

Thanks in advance for your precious help!

titpaul wrote: ↑

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 2:55 am

Hi everyone!

I'm Paul, a 37 years old French guy living in Toronto, Canada for the last 8 years (so dual citizen now).
All my career has been in procurement/sourcing and I'm now a senior IT sourcing manager in the banking industry in Toronto. To summarize: Master degree in a French business school + 10 years experience in procurement/sourcing.
I'm very interested to move in Singapore but I was wandering what type of salary I can expect there?

Anyone with procurement background who can help me to get some idea?

Thanks in advance for your precious help!

Paul,

You should rethink your career plans. Even in the best of times, procuring employment in Singapore as a cold call foreigner is very difficult. With the pandemic restrictions in place, you can move your chances to somewhere closer to impossible.

Even in the best of times, 90 percent of all employment passes granted are given to multi-nationals who are bringing in their own corporate employees from other countries. Very few people come in cold, search for a job, and get hired by a company. The exceptions might be a very highly specialized niche, or an MNC hasn't been able to steal another company's EP employee.

The reasons are many.

1. If you don't work out, the company has the problem of repatriating you if they decide to terminate you.
2. Singapore companies are under strong pressure to hire local, and even MNC's are having the screws tightened about bringing in corporate staff from other countries. You're at the bottom of the list of "hirable" candidates.
3. You probably have an expectation of paid relocation costs. Unless you're a senior level, "expat" perks have dropped way off for a move to Singapore.
4. You'll be a hassle to interview and more of a hassle to reference check. Sure, there's zoom, but who is going to pay for the costs of a face to face interview?
5. Timing is much more difficult... because you have to close up shop, get moved, find a new place, then start your job. Why do that when Alfred down the street can give notice and change jobs.
6. You don't know anything about Asia... or have a network... or speak Chinese... or anything about procurement in Asia. In short, no matter how senior you are elsewhere, you are a newbie in Singapore and not desirable.

I'm not saying that it is impossible, just close to impossible. If you want to live and work in Singapore, go to work for an MNC with Singapore offices and ask to be transferred. It's the best way.

Thanks Myasis for your honest answer.

Just to be clear:
- I don't plan to move just now. I'll wait for the pandemic to leave.
- I don't plan to move to Singapore THEN find a job. I'll apply from Canada (here and in USA, all the interviews have been done virtually for the last year. I was expecting that to be possible to apply in Singapore).

That being said, the feedback you provide about the Singapore job market is quite pessimistic for people with my profile...

Does anyone confirm that? Or anyone with a different experience about immigrating in Singapore?

I have to concur with MD's prognosis.

I tend to agree that it is difficult to find jobs in Singapore currently from overseas. But it is not impossible. You can take a look at corporate career websites of banks that are in Singapore such as DBS, UOB, OCBC, Citibank, SCB, UOB, CS and see if there are opportunities that you would fit in. You can apply through their websites. You can also start to try to search for executive search companies based in Singapore and link with them maybe in Linkedin. Some outside hires are through these executive search firms.

bro75 wrote: ↑

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 3:01 pm

I tend to agree that it is difficult to find jobs in Singapore currently from overseas. But it is not impossible. You can take a look at corporate career websites of banks that are in Singapore such as DBS, UOB, OCBC, Citibank, SCB, UOB, CS and see if there are opportunities that you would fit in. You can apply through their websites. You can also start to try to search for executive search companies based in Singapore and link with them maybe in Linkedin. Some outside hires are through these executive search firms.

bro75 is exactly right. Make a list of all companies in Singapore, then take a look at the jobs being offered.

Here's one from Dell Singapore...

https://jobs.dell.com/job/singapore/sen ... 5/18801230

It's a procurement position... a senior position... right up your alley... with a desirable requirement of a masters degree.

I'd like for you to prove me wrong. Win this job!