Singapore Expats

Hi all, I am from Hong Kong. Living and working in Singapore has always been my dream!

I have a bachelor degree and master degree in social science, obviously my background is not something very "professional" like engineering or accountancy. I have been working in the government and some other public bodies in Hong Kong, ranging from heritage conservation to healthcare policy. I am afraid I do not possess any special knowledge nor skill that local people do not have.

I have applied for various positions of public bodies of singapore via contact singapore job portal (which is supposed to be open to foreigners) but to no avail.

I feel quite hopeless and I wonder if any foreigner who has a similar background successfully found a job in singapore?

I am thinking if I should resign from my current job in hong kong and just come to Singapore first. I am not sure if it would be better than looking for jobs from distance... or the chance would still be very minimal even though I come to singapore first?

I would love to hear your advice and sharing!

Thanks!

Singapore govt jobs (at a decent level) are basically (unoffically) for Singaporeans....

Try attracting a recruiters interest via a good linked in profile.

Relatively speaking, you have higher chances finding a job while in Singapore than remotely. Many companies here prefer face to face interviews for every round.

This is true for other countries too. I was trying for jobs in New Zealand and I approached a few recruiters there and they do respond back, unlike the recruiters here who are just A$$ Hole$. But they ask you when are you coming to NZ and if you say you cannot arrive without an offer in hand they just politely point you to the silver fern visa that allows you to stay in NZ while looking for jobs.

Singapore unfortunately doesnt have any kind of visa that lets you come here and stay for a few months while looking out for a job. You just have to come on tourist visa and do the searching.

I am not sure how easy it is for you to get a job in your field in Singapore. All I can say is it is not impossible. So it depends on how much badly you want to live and work in Singapore and how much risk you are willing to take.

Wd40 wrote:Relatively speaking, you have higher chances finding a job while in Singapore than remotely.

Nope, not in SG. At least not with MNCs.

They're not to fond of foreigners here these days. Keep that in mind.

[quote="dorisitaI am afraid I do not possess any special knowledge nor skill that local people do not have.[/quote]

I'll be honest but it'll be blunt I'm afraid.

I cannot see anything from your post that suggests you can make it to and/or in Singapore.

No niche skills, no valuable experience or qualifications ... all you have is a dream, and that counts for nothing.

Just my 2c!

Thanks, JR8. I needn't comment any further.

JR8 and SMS, what do you guys think of the HR/Head Hunting/Recruitment profession or skills?

Is this skill something that locals dont have?

The last 3 months that I have been looking for jobs, I have come across atleast 20 or so recruiters and I would say that almost 90% of them are not locals, most are Indians, Filipinos and Caucasians.

My linked in recruiters contacts also same case.

So what do you have to say? In a ideal world what you guys say is true, i.e. only locals should get these jobs. But that is far from the reality

All the Ngs, Tans and Chuas are either busy working as real estate agents or driving taxis

Wd40 wrote: So what do you have to say? In a ideal world what you guys say is true, i.e. only locals should get these jobs. But that is far from the reality

All the Ngs, Tans and Chuas are either busy working as real estate agents or driving taxis

And that was the topic in one of those 'sh*t stirring sites' - almost all recruitment consultants are foreigners .. etc. etc ..

And the natives of course, fail to declare the loads of $ they make brokering deals .. I like it when i hear "this area is for expats like you .. " or "many of your countrymen love this place, in fact I sold 10 apartments last year .. " and my meter is going 10X how much % commission ??

and of course, I am pretty sure that the property agents and insurance agents 'specialising in expat insurance' are among the 2% who claim to be unemployed .. so they can avoid CPF / taxes !!

offshoreoildude wrote:Singapore govt jobs (at a decent level) are basically (unoffically) for Singaporeans....

beg to differ there .. more of the mid / higher level jobs are open to foreigners, then again depends on which public body.

I can say that for Nparks, NHB ..

The vast majority of recruitment agents/recruiters/consultants are still local. However, the ones who are the most successful are the non-locals therefore they are the ones whom you would either see, hear from, or contact you. They are also the ones, if at all, who will actually TRY to act as professionals (unless they have been here too long and are also infected with the local virus/version of a recruiter). Unfortunately, those foreign born ones DO tend to try to hire/push their own to the clients, rather than the right person for the job. That is what tends to take away what little professionalism they did have.

Wd40 wrote:JR8 and SMS, what do you guys think of the HR/Head Hunting/Recruitment profession or skills?

Is this skill something that locals dont have?

The last 3 months that I have been looking for jobs, I have come across atleast 20 or so recruiters and I would say that almost 90% of them are not locals, most are Indians, Filipinos and Caucasians.

My linked in recruiters contacts also same case.

So what do you have to say? In a ideal world what you guys say is true, i.e. only locals should get these jobs. But that is far from the reality

All the Ngs, Tans and Chuas are either busy working as real estate agents or driving taxis

It's not an area I have much knowledge of. However from what I have seen it is rather like being an estate agent/realtor, just you're selling people. I understand remuneration is largely commission driven so it seems to attract the same kind of drive and personality too.

As an estate agent I've heard the trick is to talk to customer and divine what they really want, and this is often very different from what they say they want. I used to date an agent back-home long long ago, and would sometimes spend Saturday mornings hanging out at their shop, and helping with IT stuff. You'd have a customer come in...

Agent: Good morning, how can we help you today?
Customer: Oh I'd like to register with you, I'm looking for a flat.
Agent: Certainly, have a seat and I'll take down some details. Now are you looking to buy or rent?
Customer: Oh, buy.
Agent: Ok, great. And what sort of budget are you looking at?
Customer: Oh, up to £800k I think.
Agent: And have you any area in mind?
Customer: Well west London really.
[Sound of teeth being pulled, and me silently pondering how someone could have access to that much money and yet be so utterly clueless on what they intend to spend it on].

Finally after 10-15 minutes the agent would have force-ably extracted that they want a flat with a garden (as they say have 2 dogs). In a period house (i.e old, not modern). They need 2+ bedrooms. Rather like a specific grid of streets as some friends live nearby. Near transport is a plus as he works 10hr days.

And so on and son on.

I see a connection. Head-hunting is at least in part diving what people really want + what people are qualified to get.

Thank you for all the suggestions and sharing!

Not to say a "non-professional" like me, it is the same difficult for my boyfriend who's aeronautical engineer, currently working in Germany, to look for a job in sg. He has been looking for sg jobs from distance for over a year, both directly and indirectly through online recruiters... unfortunately we have never heard any good news, not even an opportunity for phone interview.

ecureilx is probably true that more of the mid/higher level jobs are open to foreigners... unfortunately both my boyfriend and I are not very senior, so it's really hard. In the case for my boyfriend, we also found that the professional requirements required by many sg companies differ from the european credential system... which also make things harder.

An alternative which we have thought of is coming to sg to take a study programme or something first... it may allow us to get more contacts and explore more opportunties... but then... budget, $$, risk...

Anyway, we should keep trying while not being too optimistic... good things do not come easy!

Thanks everybody.

dorisita wrote:Not to say a "non-professional" like me, it is the same difficult for my boyfriend who's aeronautical engineer, currently working in Germany, to look for a job in sg. He has been looking for sg jobs from distance for over a year, both directly and indirectly through online recruiters... unfortunately we have never heard any good news, not even an opportunity for phone interview. .....

Ah .. ha .. Aeronautical you say ? Such jobs rarely get advertised on the 'net' and go through specialised recruitment consultants mostly .. not the Hayes and Robert Walters and Addeccos ..

He should tap his network ..

unless he is a low level guy then recruiters will place him .. mid and upper level - it mostly goes via the network ..

Singapore aero jobs are limited but if you have the correct CV, I don't see any problem finding a job. Rolls Royce have just build the new plant here but displacing yourself from EU to SG is a big move. Lower pay and lower benefits.

If you still keen on staying in Singapore, it would be good to get some feedback from HK ppl who migrated here. I have happy HK friends here and not so happy ones too!. A short holiday trip to one of them would be good too!

I would like to contribut some to this topic, since what you are supposed to do is what exactly I have done. (I moved to Singapore after my graduation in Germany).

First of all, I totally agree that you wouldl have less change to get interview invitation (in most cases face-to-face talk, unless your position is very high level but phone interview only probably restricted to initial interview, the face-to-face talk is probabaly unavoidable before you get offer) while you are not in Singapore, you have to consider to take the risk of travelling to Singapore in person and spend 1-2 months for sending resume, going for interviews and accepting offers. (for big companies, it may take longer because of interview of more rounds). To save time, my advise is to send out your CV 1 week ahead of your departure, since HR need some time to review your CV and arrange interview.

I came to Singapore under EPEC scheme by Contact Singapore in 2007 and got 1 year LVP for job seeking. I had wanted to advise you of this scheme. But I just check on Contact Singapore official website and found out this scheme was discontinued since 1 Dec 2011. Very pity!

Btw, job in goverment is mostly for Singaporean, execept some research jobs which may recruite foreign doctorates or masters).

Good luck and hopefully anyone can contribute more.

dorisita wrote:Hi all, I am from Hong Kong. Living and working in Singapore has always been my dream!

I have a bachelor degree and master degree in social science, obviously my background is not something very "professional" like engineering or accountancy. I have been working in the government and some other public bodies in Hong Kong, ranging from heritage conservation to healthcare policy. I am afraid I do not possess any special knowledge nor skill that local people do not have.

I have applied for various positions of public bodies of singapore via contact singapore job portal (which is supposed to be open to foreigners) but to no avail.

I feel quite hopeless and I wonder if any foreigner who has a similar background successfully found a job in singapore?

I am thinking if I should resign from my current job in hong kong and just come to Singapore first. I am not sure if it would be better than looking for jobs from distance... or the chance would still be very minimal even though I come to singapore first?

I would love to hear your advice and sharing!

Thanks!