Singapore Expats

tricky situation - resigning from a job

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ecureilx
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Post by ecureilx » Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:09 am

and what everybody, including me, forgot is that, for Singaporeans, it is recommended to have a 'break' between jobs :)

Though in my years here, I never had the luxury, 9 out of 10 former colleagues and friends of mine do that ritual .. :)

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nakatago
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Post by nakatago » Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:15 am

poodlek wrote:I don't really see what the problem is here, other than you were trying to schedule a vacation between jobs and it didn't work out. One month notice seems like it would be a professional courtesy, even if it weren't written into your contract. My husband's contract stipulates a 6 month notice period... :-|

I say suck it up and wait to relax until you're at least a few months into your new job when you're eligible for vacation time.
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the lynx
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Post by the lynx » Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:29 am

In the very first place, you should have thought ahead, played your cards and agreed for your new job to begin AFTER your intended break. Luckily you are a Singaporean so whether you take a break or not, you do not have to worry about the mentioned EP part once you reach Singapore.

Yes, if you are willing to pay and your soon-to-be employer agrees to it (and it is also stipulated so in the contract), good for you.

But if that employer is like what you describe, do not attempt to burn the bridges further unless you are prepared to jump into different fields after that.

1. Suck it up and do that one month if he doesn't want to accept that one-month salary. You have to either negotiate with the new firm successfully for that or kiss it goodbye and start your search over.

2. Suck it up, do that one month and kiss your break goodbye if you don't wanna lose the second job.

I was in similar position. Unwise management, predicted ship to sink, industry reputation to salvage, mental health to recuperate (hence the break), and 4-month termination notice period and that 4-month salary in lieu is not worth it.

So I sucked it up for 4 months, took a 3-month break, went on backpacking, and looked for job AFTER that. Sounds like a gamble but hey, you have the upper hand as Singaporean (I had to drift in between two different work passes to pull that off).

Pros: No bridge burn, reputation in industry intact, got recharged :)

Cons: A little gamble on that next ship because I was literally jobless when I started looking for one. But it worth all the pros above because I took steps to plan ahead and cushioned up the potential risks.

Hope things go well with you. Good luck.

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:57 pm

ecureilx wrote:and what everybody, including me, forgot is that, for Singaporeans, it is recommended to have a 'break' between jobs :)

Though in my years here, I never had the luxury, 9 out of 10 former colleagues and friends of mine do that ritual .. :)
Sometimes you gotta watch the breaks, I took a break before I got this position. Damn break lasted 15 months! :o

Sometimes it can backfire big time!
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

revhappy
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Post by revhappy » Mon, 13 Feb 2012 1:16 pm

I have changed 5-6 companies. I have always joined the next company with just the weekend as the break. During my 1st jump, leave alone taking a break. There was actually an overlap of 1 month, i.e. I was working at both the companies :lol:

Why I did it? 1 month more and I could complete 1 yr and get my bonus so didnt want to miss it and at the same time I didnt want to lose the opportunity the new job was offering.

How I did it? I had a very understanding TL at the current company and told her honestly that I dont want to miss the bonus and the extra month salary. So we agreed that I would work weekends in the current company and weekdays at the new company. My new company didnt care about relieving letter from previous employer.

That was about 9 years ago. Now looking back I am thinking how stupid I was and the money I made from that excercise is now peanuts compared to my total networth. :)

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boffenl
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Post by boffenl » Tue, 14 Feb 2012 1:49 pm

Random query: as a PR our employer is NOT empowered to garnish wages for taxes, correct? I thought companies could only do that for EP's??

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Tue, 14 Feb 2012 2:16 pm

Nope. I get garnishee letters from IRAS all the time. Doesn't matter if you are WP, EP, PEP, PR or citizen. Most of the ones I get are for our citizen staffs. Normally though, they've already left our employ.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

olivia242
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Post by olivia242 » Wed, 15 Feb 2012 3:29 pm

I'm in general agreement with most of the other posters here. I think you should be grateful that you have the luxury of a position that you can go to without having to have a gap in your employment.

Others, myself included, are on longer breaks and for my case, not of my own decision so really, forget having a 3 week holiday with your feet up, doing nothing and be thankful that you have a job to go to.

Also, Singapore is a very small place and people bump into each other all the time and you don't want to leave a bad taste. I would have loved to have thanked my last boss for wrecking my career but I have to hold my tongue, suck it up because it is indeed a very small world.

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