Spouse Working // Ease of changing jobs

[kman97]

Hi guys,

We are looking to relocate to Singapore and have a few questions. I have looked and explored the message boards quite a lot, as its quite painful if new members simply ask the questions without some research. However, I think these questions have not been fully answered earlier!

So here goes.
My wife works in the banking industry, and If i move, will she need to struggle for a job. For instance is it usual for spouses to find work or do they have to downgrade their level or spend months wiating for some openings?

Secondly, how easy is it change jobs... are there any restrictions or fallout of leaving a company?

Thats all for now... but gotta say this is a great site for all newbies

Cheers

[yoongkheong]

Hi,

It depends on the qualification and experience and the post your wife is holding. There should be no problem for her to get a job if she is a professional. Jobs are increasing as the Integrated Resort is currently on the way.

It is very common for spouses to find work outside because of the high living costs here. Most friends I met have both working parents. And they need not downgrade their level or spend months waiting.

Sexual bias in the job market here is not common. If your wife has the qualification, she won't need to spend months waiting, but that also depends on what jobs she is willing to take up or is looking for.

Job-hopping is very usual in Singapore too. If you leave a company, most probably the next employer will ask for the reasons for the action. But if you job-hopped, that should not be a problem as long as it is not on a contract basis.

Hope it helped you.

[sundaymorningstaple]

My wife works in the banking industry, and If i move, will she need to struggle for a job. For instance is it usual for spouses to find work or do they have to downgrade their level or spend months wiating for some openings?

Secondly, how easy is it change jobs... are there any restrictions or fallout of leaving a company?

Thats all for now... but gotta say this is a great site for all newbies

Cheers

Several things come to mind reading your post.

First of all, is the lack of indication of her level of education. Unless she has a degree AND a specialization (or a senior management level) it is doubtful that she will find work rapidly - contrary to what the student who posted previously has said - he obviously hasn't even entered the workforce yet. If she does have the qualifications or specialization and it cannot be easily found locally then and only then will she have a reasonable chance. (you will already have noticed the number of posts recently on rejected employment pass frustrations).

Secondly, you have not indicated where you are coming from (home of record). You appear to be currently located in the UAE so I am guessing that you are either British, Indian or Philippino (How wide a net is that?)

If she's British and not holding a degree it may be a bit hard (again, depends also on her expectations). As for Indians and other Regional types the salary ranges are somewhat lower (sorry - but a fact of life) but still she would probably need a degree as it's easy to fill banking positions with Locals with good qualifications. In order to gain an employment pass she would have to be able to demonstrate that she has talents not easily filled or in short supply here. Therefore, her wait may be rather lengthy (it's better to be prepared than sorry).

Thirdly, if you all are from a western country then she will find that there are LOTS of expatriate women lounging around pools & doing charity work because they cannot find suitable jobs here as they have to compete with the locals who work for a lot less and are given priority over foreigners wherever possible (as it should be - the island had finite resources and per capita space so they have to take care of their own first wherever & whenever possible.

When you leave your sponsoring company, you will be given a 2 week visitor visa after which time you will have to leave the country and either go home or or do a couple days in a neighbouring country and then return (but you will only get away with that a few times) If you obtain PR then you do not have this problem - I won't go into PR at this time.

I'll leave you with a couple of links:

Ministry of Manpower - Employment Passes

Immigration (ICA)

You can click the profile button in this post to see more info where I am coming from.

sms

[ksiciliano]

Having been in the same situation as your wife when my partner was relocated here last year my advice to you is don't assume it will be easy to find a job as i remained in singapore hunting for a job for 3 months and had no luck so had to go home again. Very frustrating!

I also find it is much better to find a job with a UK company if you are coming from the UK as the pay will be better and it is more likely that they can get your employment pass approved, if they employ a lot of expats they tend to know what the MoM are looking for. This is what i did in the end and returned a few months later.

I also know a lot of couples here and either one or the other is struggling to find work it is not an easy place to find a job, or get approved for a job.

If you need any other advice on anything here in singapore i would be happy to help.

[kman97]

Thanks for the perspective. I did think it was a lot easier to get a job in Singapore. Guess should have put some details on me
We are Indian, my wife is a Branch Manager in a bank, she is an MBA so she has qualifications (5 year experience)
Basically we are doing quite well here, and the Sing offer is around $9000 a month, so we are checking to see whether its worth it.
If my wife works, it might be. assume she can get around 6K?