finding a job in Singapore

[seanieh66]

^^^^^^

What kind of projects?

Oh you were asking me?

IT Government projects, mostly criminal justice and health sector based.

[sofke]

Hi Meteor,

Sorry I havent been on the forum for a really long time!
To answer your questions:
- first of all, I dont know why people think I'm a man, but I'm a woman
- secondly, I found that the problem was that, even if I sent out a lot of resumes/cover letters, I did not get answers from companies (except for one), so I immediately changed my tactics. I "know" (friends via via via...) some people here, and I gave my resume to one person who works at an MNC. He then gave my resume to a manager who was looking for someone in his team with my profile, et voila, I got a job interview. If you can, try to avoid HR, but send you resume directly to a manager who is hiring. Some days after the interview, I got a call that I got the job, and that they would apply for an Employment Pass for me (at that time, I was on a Dependants Pass). A week later, the Letter of Consent was approved so I could start working and pick up my Employment Pass a week after that.

Good luck to you, I'm sure that if you use the right tactics and have a positive attitude, a job offer will come along!

[serve_the_servants]

One of my friends holds the same story.

She tried to find a job for 1 month, had several interviews and disappointments (first interview, say they like you and then the question, are you PR?).

After 35 days, she landed a job at an American company. Not a great salary, but she is in. That company hired 150 people at the same time. MOM gave her a HIGHER pass than the company applied for.

Economy is waking up. I go to Singapore on an EPEC later, hold two Masters (IT and Business Administration) from a top 50 university worldwide and have 3 years of experience.

I am not worried at all. Just use more tactics than monster and jobstreet.

[serve_the_servants]

There are more roads to Rome. To get this forum not to mono-toned with the PR / Singaporean thing, just get real. Here some stuff which happened even during recession.

As I am asking for job tactics all around here to friends and family who works here, here is some that I get back and I do not frequently read on this forum:


- Have a decent European / US network, Singaporeans do not have that but Singaporean companies DO need it. You will make a difference outside the education / experience area.
- know how to write a Resume in the Singapore way. Format is important in Singapore (I heard from SMC during my LPR that most of the applications for LPR / PR are rejected because of fill-out errors and forgotten documents instead of eligibility problems).
- Let you be recommended inside the company, they love that in Singapore.
- Try to get in touch with foreign managers inside a company (what I heard from them is that they like good foreigners more because many (NOT ALL for those ones who reply on this) Singaporeans are lazy, complaining, don't want to work outside office hours and have a bad attitude)
- Try start-up companies, In Woodlands for example, many new tech start-ups pop-up. They like foreigners and will switch to a more local workforce once the business matures.
- Use country clubs (e.g. UK club US club, Dutch club) which are loaded with directors and managers from your country. Go and have a drink, just contact them directly in a pleasant way (It brought me my job before!). After that you apply and say you talked with the manager / boss. No HR manager will block your road in vertical atmospheres.
- Try to avoid HR managers which see themselves as gatekeepers instead of talent managers. Get in contact with the manager in need, just as Sofke said.
- Use your Linkedin profile and get involved in the professional community group. Loads of interesting people there.
- follow up interviews with an evaluation call or letter. It can make a professional impression since hardly anybody does it.
- apply on the site of the employer and apply there instead of a jobsite. You are in their database and before running to an expensive jobsite, they try to fetch this database first when they have a job offer available.

There are many more out of the box methods, just believe in it

This all is not academic HR, but it worked for many foreigners (10+) I know in Singapore. only 2 of them got here by using a jobsite.

Ok moderators, slash me.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Why should a moderator slash you? Far as I'm concerned, you are doing just fine with the exception of one point you mentioned which is far enough off it actually brought on a chuckle as I couldn't believe you actually believe it yourself.

- Try to get in touch with foreign managers inside a company (what I heard from them is that they like good foreigners more because many (NOT ALL for those ones who reply on this) Singaporeans are lazy, complaining, don't want to work outside office hours and have a bad attitude)

I'd agree on lazy, complaining and attitude for a lot of them, but frankly, working outside of office hours they excel at. Matter of fact, they work heaps more hours than the average office worker in other countries with the exception of maybe Japan. Of course, I have to admit, how much actual work they do is another story as most are marking time, hoping the Managers see how many hours they put in. Asian bosses/superiors like to see their employees putting in the hours (this is why flexi-hours is having a hard time taking off here). Western bosses like myself, tend to wonder, if they put in that many hours, they are either overloaded with work (doubtful) or extremely inefficient (also doubtful), Until you realize that they are just trying to impress you. Mine learn very quickly that I wonder about job performance if they have to stay after normal hours every day.

I'd be interested in a couple of facts though. How many foreigners do you know here. (Lot's I'm sure - not questioning that at all). And what percentage are the 10+ you mentioned that went "out of the box" as you say (I hate buzz words), to the total. Let's see, you gave us 10 "other" methods to use and 10 successes. It would appear to me that, yeah, there are other methods of finding a job here provided they have the necessary qualifications and skillsets in the first place. I'd be curious to find out, from those 10, how many got those positions since September. What we don't know is how many actually got the position directly because of that reason. I'm seriously interested as I am trying to find out a correlation between EP levels & MOM acceptance rates. We still see P1's getting a reasonable number of approvals, but P2's seem to be mixed and the rest getting stomped on with great regularity. They all help though, I agree 100%, and sadly, you are wrong, it is all academic HR. Like all else, HR is constantly evolving as well.

[serve_the_servants]

Hi SMS,

You are right, from the 14 people I know, some of them are biased (10+ years international director experience in many high-end countries for example). Some participated in international projects and decided they wanted to stay here after they did a project in Singapore for a large US Telecommunications company.

But still, many came here without anything. I must admit that all are well qualified (at least bachelor) and came before the recession. During that time, they almost picked you up in a limosine after arriving at Changi if you were a foreigner they told me.

But still, 3 of them did it during the recession.

[sundaymorningstaple]

they almost picked you up in a limosine after arriving at Changi if you were a foreigner they told me..

At one time here, pretty close, I'll admit!

[richie303]

they almost picked you up in a limosine after arriving at Changi if you were a foreigner they told me..

At one time here, pretty close, I'll admit!

I would settle for having to walk!

I had an offer of one position which I turned down as the money seemed low to me ($4.5K a month for a IT PM role) and I almost wish I'd snapped it up!

I had a colleague of mine take a role at $24K pcm during the recession but since have realised that living in SG is more than possible on 4.5K (although I'd prefer $6K) for my family (me, wifey and 2 kids) dependent on schooling and property. kids are 2 and 4.

I got that offer based on a collague of mine in SG passing my CV to a company in SG and recommending me.

One piece of information that they gave me is a salary chart which may be useful to some people. -Salary Information Asia Clicky-

[seanieh66]

richie303

Thanks for the salary grade chart, very useful.

Sean

[richie303]

You're very welcome Sean, I have certainly found it's good to benchmark my ideals on whilst looking in SG, so I hope it proves to be a useful tool to you in the same respect!

[sundaymorningstaple]

good to benchmark my ideals on whilst looking in SG,

The problem with almost all of those surveys though is that they are mostly just that, "Ideals" but usually not grounded in reality. However, I reckon it good to shoot high and miss than never pull the trigger.

[irvine]

Was at Isetan yesterday and overheard a wife asking the husband to pay for the perfume with credit card because they're broke already.

Something is wrong somewhere.

[serve_the_servants]

In the charts I see that IT jobs are well payed here (for my position, IT-architect, 120k - 180k) depending on your experience (8+ years).

Strange enough, in other posts on this forum I read that IT jobs in Singapore are underrated and frequently seen as manufacturing jobs with 'low' salaries.

One of the 2 statements has to be wrong.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Frankly, both are correct. The bulk of IT jobs here are low paying. A very few "ideal" positions at the upper reaches of the food chain are well paying but the "Project Life Cycles" under you belt have to be substantial and wide ranging and quantifiable. That or very niche oriented disciplines that have almost no exposure here yet. This is why, here in Singapore, you have to be careful of what you read on published polls, guidelines, and other assorted media as they do their best here to hide the raw truth (both commercial & governmental), and prefer to ONLY show you the gloss. This is primarily why I said the "ideal" in my earlier post needs to be tinged with a good helping of reality.

[richie303]

SMS, It's good to hear some of your views, having been a lurker on the forum for over a year now I have often taken a good amount of information from you and found everything I have searched for and read with your hand in, to be down to earth and realistic.

As an onlooker to Singapore (only currently, soon to change with any luck) even with the ties I have in SG, all the research and visits I've made and knowing colleagues and friends in the country, it is so easy to see SG as a haven, but there are a few things that are important for me to consider.

1. What does SG owe me? across the other side of the world it is getting on fine without me, if I place myself in this more humble position I fin I aim my sights at a more realistic level.

2. What can I offer SG, well, same as I offer UK, however, UK doesn't seem to appreciate it, I find I am surrounded by freeloaders jumping on the back of my hardwork, which is frustrating.

I see SG as a safe place with good educational systems both private and local to bring my kids up with opportunities for them to be truly bi-lingual and have an outdoor lifestyle that I cannot offer the same here!

Every lining has a cloud of course and as such this doesn't come for free! It's obvious you have to work hard and embrace the local values and rules. These are values I think anyone planning to get over to SG should consider! The economy seems to be improving and the jobs becoming less sparse, so it's beginning to get a good time to get over I think (SMS will undoubtedly correct me if wrong)

I have started rambling and this is why I was a lurker for a year and not a poster