Thinking of moving to Singapore to look for work. NEED HELP

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bichoo
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Thinking of moving to Singapore to look for work. NEED HELP

Post by bichoo » Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:46 am

I need some advice about my plan i'm thinkin about.

I'm thinkin about coming down to Singapore to look for work in the IT/ Software Industry. I just finished my masters in computer science and have had about 2 years work experience. I'm in Canada and I was in Singapore last year for travel and i love the place and want to try to find work there. It's pretty hard to look for work from here and probably easier if I was there. It's not a permanent move but to try the place out for 6-12 months and see what happens.

There are 2 main concerns I have before taking this step:

1.) Any cheap places to stay while i look for work? hostel perhaps? Approximate cost? $400-$500/month sound right for accomodation?

2.) What do you think about the whole concept of just showing up to Singapore with a suitecase and look for work, considering my computer science background?

Any suggestions, advice, help would be great.
thanks in advance

HotWire

Post by HotWire » Thu, 16 Jun 2005 11:44 am

bichoo, the IT scene is hardly rosy right now. The only ones spending any money on IT right now is the govt and some banks. The IT job market meanwhile is flooded with locals who lost their jobs in the aftermath of the devastating recession of 2003. You may be able to find something but I'd say you're gonna be taking a massive pay cut.

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k1w1
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Post by k1w1 » Thu, 16 Jun 2005 8:55 pm

You will be very hard pressed to find accomodation in that price range - especially centrally located, which is probably what you will want to get to interviews easily etc.

You might be able to share an apartment for that much. There are ad's sometimes on this board for flatmates - could ty that.

How are you planning to start your job hunt? If you are going to start looking through papers, it might be a good idea to see if you can get a copy of the newspaper and go from there: try airports, libraries and embassies. If you are planning to cold-call, that's obviously different!

I don't know anything about your industry, sorry.

Good luck, anyway.

mwt

Post by mwt » Fri, 17 Jun 2005 12:13 am

Hi all,
I'm planning to come singapore soon.. I'm already working for company which opens the branch office in singapore (not long ago)...so, my company will do the employment pass for me..but currently i'm in AUS and I'm not Australian.I'm orginally from the country (Myanmar) where i will need a visa to enter singapore..I need to come there soon and it's seem to be that my EP won't be approved yet at that time..so, i'm thinking of applying Social Visitor Seeking Employment In Singpore Visa to enter singapore and wait for my EP...Do you think I could be able to do that...Is it possibly to switch from that socail visit visa to EP (if I get approved) without leaving the country?

it is a bit of urgent and Any help will be greatly appreciated..

sorry if I repeated again..
but it's a bit urgent..

Guest

Post by Guest » Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:49 am

There are lots of hostels in Singapore and there regualar rates are about $20 a night. Maybe for long-term stay you can negotiate a cheaper rate.

Guest

Re: Thinking of moving to Singapore to look for work. NEED H

Post by Guest » Fri, 17 Jun 2005 11:29 am

bichoo wrote:I need some advice about my plan i'm thinkin about.

I'm thinkin about coming down to Singapore to look for work in the IT/ Software Industry. I just finished my masters in computer science and have had about 2 years work experience. I'm in Canada and I was in Singapore last year for travel and i love the place and want to try to find work there. It's pretty hard to look for work from here and probably easier if I was there. It's not a permanent move but to try the place out for 6-12 months and see what happens.

There are 2 main concerns I have before taking this step:

1.) Any cheap places to stay while i look for work? hostel perhaps? Approximate cost? $400-$500/month sound right for accomodation?

2.) What do you think about the whole concept of just showing up to Singapore with a suitecase and look for work, considering my computer science background?

Any suggestions, advice, help would be great.
thanks in advance
Why don't you share acomodation or rent a room in the backpackers' inn?

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k1w1
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Post by k1w1 » Fri, 17 Jun 2005 7:30 pm

mwt wrote:Hi all,
I'm planning to come singapore soon.. I'm already working for company which opens the branch office in singapore (not long ago)...so, my company will do the employment pass for me..but currently i'm in AUS and I'm not Australian.I'm orginally from the country (Myanmar) where i will need a visa to enter singapore..I need to come there soon and it's seem to be that my EP won't be approved yet at that time..so, i'm thinking of applying Social Visitor Seeking Employment In Singpore Visa to enter singapore and wait for my EP...Do you think I could be able to do that...Is it possibly to switch from that socail visit visa to EP (if I get approved) without leaving the country?

it is a bit of urgent and Any help will be greatly appreciated..

sorry if I repeated again..
but it's a bit urgent..


Yes, that's possible. Just remember you are not supposed to work on a Social visit pass, and if it expires before your EP is in your passport, you have to get it renewed (I missed this point, and was heftily fined - ouch!)

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