Jobs in Singapore

maxfor · Post by **maxfor** » Sat, 08 Jan 2011 11:55 pm

What do you think about of the architectural job market in the Singapore? Is it up or down for 2011?

deity_me · Post by **deity_me** » Mon, 17 Jan 2011 9:42 am

How's the IT job market in Singapore looking for 2011?
I'm into BI/Data Warehousing

Also what's the difference between a North American resume and a Singaporean CV?

Also is having your picture with the Resume/CV the norm in Singapore?

Thanks

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:19 am

deity_me wrote:
Also what's the difference between a North American resume and a Singaporean CV?

Everything that is illegal to ask for on a North American CV is mandatory on a Singapore CV including photo (as if that has anything to do with what's behind the pretty/ugly face). Race, Religion, number of children, gender, age, golf handicap, whether you are planning on getting pregnant and anything else that they want.

deity_me · Post by **deity_me** » Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:40 pm

Should I be putting those information in my Resume/CV or do I wait for them to ask me and then answer?

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Mon, 17 Jan 2011 1:19 pm

Include them on the initial CV. But not the golf handicap - just kidding about that one.

Don't include the pregnancy one either, but if you are female, be prepared for the question in a interview though.

deity_me · Post by **deity_me** » Tue, 18 Jan 2011 8:58 am

So you have a link to a sample resume/CV I can look at to see where and how to present those personal information?

My Google searches are pretty much showing me North American results even though I typed Singapore on the search

Thanks

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:03 am

Put them in the same place you place any other personal data, like SSN or PP# or email address, etc., etc. (preferably at the end of the CV)

Everybody has their own style of CV. I am not a proponent of using canned CV formats as this hampers the reader from gaining some measure of personal insight to the applicant. (But I am also not an Asian) I hate resume services as when you interview the individual one normally finds that what is written has been embellished to a point that the CV oversells the person and in the interview a few questions will bring the truth to the fore, much to the dismay of the applicant.

As long as the cover letter has a good hook, and the opening of the CV continues to bait the reader, you are in good shape. The idea is to immediately get the reader's attention with something that will make the reader want to look at the CV to gain more information. The opening of the CV itself also needs to continue to bait the reader. You can put all the other stuff at the back end of the CV. While it's important to the Asian HR Exec/Manager, it's more important to get them to be interested in what you are selling. That can go a long way to overcoming something on the personal front that they may not really like. If you put it all up front, you can be prejudged and they might not even read the CV. Hope you got my drift.

deity_me · Post by **deity_me** » Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:16 pm

Okay thanks for the wonderful insights

I was always told that a cover letter was really important but experience tells me otherwise.

My more successful cover letters usually go along the lines of
"I spent as much time writing this as you are willing to read it.
Please see attached resume if still interested"

I guess I will attempt to write a more formal cover letter.

So when the job posting says please forward a your resume to email address, is there an unwritten expectation of an accompanying cover letter?

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Tue, 18 Jan 2011 1:26 pm

I can only speak from a personal POV on this. My preference is to see the cover letter in two places, the body of the email message AND as a separate file along with an attached file of the CV itself. Again, getting me to open the attached CV is the key purpose of the covering letter. If you can get me curious as I look at the cover letter/email message, there is a good chance that I will open the attached file. When the CV file opens then the applicant needs to set the hook with the opening of the CV to keep my interest.

The reason for also attaching a separate cover letter file, from my perspective is that often the emails are opened by underlings who then download and printout hard copies for the HR Manager/Executive to review (I tend to use the hard copies to also make notes on). If that happens they will normally print out all both files which then gives the reader of the hard copies the same chance to get hooked. The reason I don't include the cover letter in the same file as the CV is that if the reader of the online file has read your cover letter in the body of the email, then he doesn't want to see it again when he opens up the CV. Of course, not all will have the same preferences, but what to do?

observer · Post by **observer** » Fri, 21 Jan 2011 9:58 am

For me, first thing I look for is the cover letter, not the CV. Too many cookie cutter CVs around. 1 Cover Letter in the email, 1 CV attached.
In the cover letter, I look for personality first, English proficiency second and effort third.

prbd · Post by **prbd** » Thu, 24 Mar 2011 9:53 am

Whats the employment market like for Singapore? Is it easy to get a job?

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:08 am

prbd wrote:Whats the employment market like for Singapore? Is it easy to get a job?

You just lost all your credibility here, that's for sure. Here you are, flogging a recruitment agency and don't have enough research sense to spend some time reading threads from the site you are spamming. What job seeker, in their right mind would engage a company like that? Pretty pathetic I must say.

shereelarafi · Post by **shereelarafi** » Fri, 20 May 2011 2:21 pm

This isn't a job board. Use monster, jobsdb, jobstreet, et.al for your job search or place an ad in the classifieds section of this site - moderator

Syndee101 · Post by **Syndee101** » Tue, 24 May 2011 2:12 pm

Hi guys,

I have just moved to Singapore 2 months ago from Australia and it seems like I have the same problem as alot of the foreigners here. I have sent out probably more than 100 applications now and have seen many recruiters but can't get a concrete interview with a company yet. I'm in accounting and there are so many jobs but even the MNC's are hesitant to hire a foreigner.

For those who have the same problem mentioned in this forum months ago, have you guys found jobs yet and how long did it take for it happen?
Do you have any tips for me to make it less painful for me? lol

I'm not sure how long I should be hanging in there for and of course money to survive will eventually be an issue even if I dont want to give up.

Cheers,
S

Post by **Strong Eagle** » Tue, 24 May 2011 2:17 pm

Syndee101 wrote:Hi guys,

I have just moved to Singapore 2 months ago from Australia and it seems like I have the same problem as alot of the foreigners here. I have sent out probably more than 100 applications now and have seen many recruiters but can't get a concrete interview with a company yet. I'm in accounting and there are so many jobs but even the MNC's are hesitant to hire a foreigner.

For those who have the same problem mentioned in this forum months ago, have you guys found jobs yet and how long did it take for it happen?
Do you have any tips for me to make it less painful for me? lol

I'm not sure how long I should be hanging in there for and of course money to survive will eventually be an issue even if I dont want to give up.

Cheers,
S

Try the CRCE, a service of the American Association of Singapore.

http://www.aasingapore.com/crce/

Not affiliated except that I am a former AAS board member and think this is an excellent program.

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