Singapore Expats

This is probably asked before but what is it like now? post CNY 2015 that is.

We are Singaporeans living in overseas and every so often we ask ourselves would we like to return? We've managed to establish good (not great) jobs here and life is good but just thinking on the elements of family in Asia.

If returning, we'd need jobs. Mid-level corporate jobs. When we left a few years ago, we were losing our jobs to incoming cheaper labour and declining economy at that time. Are things still the same or has it changed for the better?

If you could give true honest observations/experiences that'll be great.

Katongirl wrote:This is probably asked before but what is it like now? post CNY 2015 that is.

We are Singaporeans living in overseas and every so often we ask ourselves would we like to return? We've managed to establish good (not great) jobs here and life is good but just thinking on the elements of family in Asia.

If returning, we'd need jobs. Mid-level corporate jobs. When we left a few years ago, we were losing our jobs to incoming cheaper labour and declining economy at that time. Are things still the same or has it changed for the better?

If you could give true honest observations/experiences that'll be great.

Good chance even if you aren't qualified, as long as you are a Singaporean and know how to whine and moan. Companies are being forced to hire substandard local help (not saying that you are, but what is currently happening here) to replace foreigners who are being shunted out of the country by reduced quota restrictions, higher levies, stricter criteria, etc. The fact that a lot of the locals are not suitable seems to be irrelevant to the MOM/PAP as they are more afraid of losing more votes in the next GE. So, returning Singaporeans with good international exposure will have easy pickings if you come back. Economy is still declining because of the new policies so manpower is short. Singapore has always had full employment (less than 2% is considered full as the 2% is considered structural unemployment) and now employers are being forced to put substandard local people into PMET positions as there are only X number of locals qualified to be management staff. You cannot make silk purses out of sow's ears and not every Singaporean can "manage" people. You cannot have all chiefs and no braves. So, the prognosis is very good for returning Citizens.

I'd say go for it. The ball is in your court and Citizens with several years of Int'l experience can expect to be paid reasonably well, albeit, whether or not it would be equivalent to what you were receiving in the west I don't know.

As Singaporeans you can also check out potential opportunities at https://www.jobsbank.gov.sg/

As SMS said, as Singaporeans with overseas experience, your prognosis for getting a job fast is pretty good.

One of my observations is that recruiters in Singapore tend to ignore candidates who are "unemployed".

How can we maintain the "employed" status if we leave our post overseas to return to Singapore?

Thanks all!
Interesting. I'll 'express my interest' via my Linkedin profile then. I'm in a niche area so jobs are few and far in between but when there is an opening I would often be shortlisted.

My ideal would be to work as a contractor and part-time everything/work from anywhere. I c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ refuse to go back to the MRT grind. This is probably not how the typical workforce in Singapore works but is there a possibility?

Wouldn't drop everything here and move back to begin job search - too expensive.

MRT grind?

Primrose Hill wrote:MRT grind?

Yeah, seriously. Take Circle and Downtown lines, they're pretty empty. Especially as a Katong Girl, you'll be 3 stops away from the Dakota stop. I get from Katong/Joo Chiat to Telok Ayer in about 25 minutes every day. Pleasant as can be.

Being a naturalized Singaporean myself I can't agree that the prospects are very good. It depends on the industry.

Did a 5 year stint at Big Blue, work at an MNC now, have several large projects under my belt (Currently managing a 10million USD project as a project manager), but I am not receiving a single call when I apply for Jobs. I don't have PMP/PRINCE certifications but I do have a Master Degree from NUS in Software Project management and a Bachelors in Computer Science from NUS as well. Not sure what I am doing wrong (I'm applying through the Jobsbank, have put my resume on Monster/Jobstreet/Jobsdb/you name it).

I even received my company's penultimate prize in the form of an Award for best employee in Group and brushed up my resume umpteen times. I must admit, my networking is not that great though

AndrewV wrote: I must admit, my networking is not that great though

Linked In is your friend. It can make a huge difference to your career prospects if you use it the way it's intended. (I suck at networking too but I've found that LI makes a pretty good substitute.)

And tonight there is a oil and gas networking night at NLB

Addadude wrote:

AndrewV wrote: I must admit, my networking is not that great though

Linked In is your friend. It can make a huge difference to your career prospects if you use it the way it's intended. (I suck at networking too but I've found that LI makes a pretty good substitute.)

I've read the thread on LinkedIn tips, apart from signing up for the professional service, I've done pretty much all of it. Maybe the IT management field is just over saturated or maybe i'm lacking something which I am not sure what

any tips will be appreciated..

ecureilx wrote:And tonight there is a oil and gas networking night at NLB

Hey? Tell me more.

AndrewV wrote: any tips will be appreciated..

Are you employed now ?

NLB?

ecureilx wrote:

AndrewV wrote: any tips will be appreciated..

Are you employed now ?

Yes, but severely underpaid for the responsibility I am holding (in my humble opinion)