difficulties staying in a job for long in singapore (too much politics)

[`adambed]

hey folks,

i am trying to get some advice here. i am an intelligent person but i guess i was 'poltiically naive'. i am a singaporean pr and have been here since i was 12 and served ns etc.

i am in my early 30s and i have never been able to stay in an sg job for long. my list of jobs in singapore are as below.

1) recruiter job. i worked like 3 mths in this job and the two partners went at each other's throat and i got fired. this was fair as i sucked as a recruiter and did 0 sales. i would have quit myself. later i learnt one of them was kicked out by the nastier one. imagine being kicked out of a 50/50 partnership.

2) executive job. i started off quite well. a colleague tried to get me fired because she didnt like my look (i didnt realise it as i never did offend her deliberately) and started to badmouth me to my manager saying 'i suck at my work' but my sprean manager was good and she backed me up and life was good for about 8 months. sadly later my sprean manager got abruptly fired herself when her own boss changed and the replacement was an a-hole and very bad at managing and planning stuff properly. everyone in the team saw what was coming and left except me. i hung on for a few more months and then basically was forced out. i would say i was good at my job.

3) another executive job. basically i walked into a trap for this one. and the politics in this one was very bad so basically every year almost everyone in the team left except the group of 3-4 of crazy sporean women including the manager inside were who driving everyone else out one by one. they would gang up to accuse their targets of things the person didnt do and kept applying pressure unti the target quit. i think i lasted also for like 6 months for this before they forced me to resign. i would say i was good at my job.

i also worked back home in australia for about 4 years in a non corporate job (healthcare setting but very low paid and without prospects) where i frankly didnt face any politics except perhaps one person but i just avoided her like the plague and was fine, which was perhaps why i was 'politically naive' coming back to sg. financially i got lucky with some property etc so i have a few hundred grand so i am not that financially desperate.

i am wondering now if i should continue to stay in sg and work or leave. working in sg gets me a much higher salary and savings rate than back home where i live in a very small city that is dead and has no jobs basically. but i dont see how i can last in the crazy workplaces here. also due to some personal reasons (gf/parents), i would very strongly prefer to be in sg.

i feel like it is 50/50 and even if i do end up surviving for a year the next year some nutcase may come in and i will lose my job again. in australia, i dont remember feeling this way, or perhaps it was also due to the nature of my job which is not very competitive.

[Wd40]

I thought Australia salaries are higher. You can see the median and mean wages or networth of people in Australia, it is better than Singapore.

[smoulder]

I thought Australia salaries are higher. You can see the median and mean wages or networth of people in Australia, it is better than Singapore.

Taxes are also higher in Aus. But I think he's comparing non corporate jobs in a small town with corporate jobs in Singapore. So an apples to oranges comparison.

[`adambed]

I thought Australia salaries are higher. You can see the median and mean wages or networth of people in Australia, it is better than Singapore.

err no, i live in a small city with very few jobs.

putting that aside, do you guys feel that sg is indeed more political and there seems to be a lot of firings and politics?

in all the sg companies i worked in i keep seeing so many ppl getting fired or pushed out via politics

[smoulder]

I thought Australia salaries are higher. You can see the median and mean wages or networth of people in Australia, it is better than Singapore.

err no, i live in a small city with very few jobs.

putting that aside, do you guys feel that sg is indeed more political and there seems to be a lot of firings and politics?

in all the sg companies i worked in i keep seeing so many ppl getting fired or pushed out via politics

It's different from other countries for sure. But what you describe sounds really extreme. Which industry is this?

[`adambed]

I thought Australia salaries are higher. You can see the median and mean wages or networth of people in Australia, it is better than Singapore.

err no, i live in a small city with very few jobs.

putting that aside, do you guys feel that sg is indeed more political and there seems to be a lot of firings and politics?

in all the sg companies i worked in i keep seeing so many ppl getting fired or pushed out via politics

It's different from other countries for sure. But what you describe sounds really extreme. Which industry is this?

I work in one of the four main business functions (hr, sales and marketing, accounting, it). And this has been my experience from the smallest companies to the largest ones.

Maybe it's just bad luck or I didn't choose propey I guess

[PNGMK]

Politics / Racism is a huge problem in small SME's here. Even in MNC's.

[bro75]

I do not have the breadth of experience in many SG companies, but from what I have experienced and heard, most multinational companies whose workplace culture is imported have better workplace environments. There are also MNCs with a local culture , those that have been here long enough with local management.

[Wd40]

It just makes no sense for an Aussie to work in Singapore, unless you are a high end expat. OP is competing with locals at the low skill level. These jobs, I am pretty sure you are better off in Australia. Australia has way better income equality than Singapore.

Regarding politics, I think this is everywhere. There are pluses and minuses. If you are very competent, you don't need politics. But if you are incompetent politics actually helps you. You need to know who to impress and be in the good books of. On this aspect, I think SG, you will do well if you know how to play well.

Australia from what I have seen is cost of labour is very very high. You get paid top notch dollar, but then you need to prove your mettle. My bank has branch in Australia and they cannot even afford full time guys, I find it funny, they ask consultants to come and work for like 2 days a week, as if they produce some magic in 2 days. Here in SG, people work the whole week and stay overtime also sometimes.

So both countries are vastly different. To me Australia is a bit like UK, high billing rates you need to have high accountability or else you won't survive, but you get paid very very well for it.

Singapore on the other hand is a bit like India, no value for people, you get dime a dozen.

If I had Aussie PR and if I was good, I would work in Australia. If I am no good then I work in SG.

[`adambed]

Spore pays higher for almost every job for white collar degree holders. Especially after tax.

Australia pays more for blue collar workers but I am not blue collar.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Based on what you have told us thus far, maybe you should think about blue collar. I gave up a white collar job after a decade and was in a very nice position in my nations capital (Washington DC). Resigned on my 29 birthday and decided to to what "I" wanted to do. Took up a trade and after 7 years in the trade, was offered a position here in Singapore. That was in 1982 in the Oil & Gas Exploration industry. Will have been here 4 decades this coming June. Oh, gave up my blue collar job in 1994 and when back into a white collar profession until I retired @ 71.5 years. I called it reverse engineering.

[`adambed]

A carpenter or plumber may be paid like 100k in the big cities of Australia.

But I can't drive around sawing tables or digging faeces all day.

It's just I am not made for blue collar work.

[Myasis Dragon]

A carpenter or plumber may be paid like 100k in the big cities of Australia.

But I can't drive around sawing tables or digging faeces all day.

It's just I am not made for blue collar work.

Sounds like you're not made for any kind of work.

After all, you've failed at "executive jobs", you seem to get to cross purposes with all of your bosses, and by your derogatory comments about others (a-holes, crazy, nutcase), you seem to think that the problem lies with other people and not yourself.

My advice? Take a long look at yourself to find out why you get fired, why "politics" is such a big deal to you, and why you seem to rub people the wrong way.

[Wd40]

A carpenter or plumber may be paid like 100k in the big cities of Australia.

But I can't drive around sawing tables or digging faeces all day.

It's just I am not made for blue collar work.

Not every executive job. There are many executive jobs here that are paid low. Only certain industries like banking and finance etc that too MNCs pay well. You are a 2nd gen PR and not on EP, so I am assuming you are competing with locals at the very low end and you didn't get a break into the big leagues of companies which have full of expats. If you tell us the nationality of you colleagues and boss, we could guess what kind of companies you worked in.


Bank teller salary in SG
https://www.payscale.com/research/SG/Jo ... ler/Salary

Bank teller salary in Sydney
https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Jo ... df1/Sydney

DBA salary in SG
https://www.payscale.com/research/SG/Jo ... /Singapore

DBA salary in Sydney
https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Jo ... BA)/Salary

I know many people who were working in SG and then went on an applied for Australia PR or went to study in Australia with the intention to immigrate there.

But I am yet to see someone who quit his/her job in Australia to come and work in Singapore.

The only Australians I know who are working in Singapore are high end expats who makes upwards of 200k. I would be surprised to see Australians who make less than 100k and work in Singapore.

[smoulder]

A carpenter or plumber may be paid like 100k in the big cities of Australia.

But I can't drive around sawing tables or digging faeces all day.

It's just I am not made for blue collar work.

Sounds like you're not made for any kind of work.

After all, you've failed at "executive jobs", you seem to get to cross purposes with all of your bosses, and by your derogatory comments about others (a-holes, crazy, nutcase), you seem to think that the problem lies with other people and not yourself.

My advice? Take a long look at yourself to find out why you get fired, why "politics" is such a big deal to you, and why you seem to rub people the wrong way.

This probably summarizes the issue.