Singapore Expats

Hello everyone .. Whats is the best time period when one should start looking for job opportunities in singapore (particularly in the field of IT & software )..as in usually companies have their annual budgets , so number of openings are more during the start of this and hiring freezes once we get close to the end of annual budget

Maybe after the 2016 General Election. Before then, you buys your ticket and you takes your chances.

Chances are very slim unless you are extremely well paid and have a rare discipline that the government just happens to need at that particular moment and no local has the needed skillset and/or experience.

Good Luck.

best time is today, well, that is unless you want to sit scratching your arse all year in a hope the "market"may get "better"

I think the 1st 3 months and the last 3 months of the year are the worst time to look for a job in Singapore. The best time is from Mar/Apr until Sep/Oct

Wd40 wrote:I think the 1st 3 months and the last 3 months of the year are the worst time to look for a job in Singapore. The best time is from Mar/Apr until Sep/Oct

I agree, sort of. Everyone waits until end of January for their 13th month "bonus", then hands in 30 day notice. You will find greatest number of new hires ready to start Mar 1 or Apr 1 thereabouts, with a falling but still reasonably large number of new hires in May, maybe June.

After that, things drop off. Employees don't think so much about leaving because of the bonus on the distant horizon, and by mid year, companies budgets are pretty much spoken for.

I agree with the previous posters that the first half of the year, when budgets refresh and bonuses are paid, is probably slightly more active.

But in my experience it's not a dramatic spike:

Besides the Christmas/New Years, and Chinese New Year's break, there's quite active hiring in Singapore year round.

Also don't forget that a lot of companies - at least in my experience - don't really pay bonuses. (Or in my current employer's case, the bonus is not a decision factor )

some companies have gone real creative .. 13th Month in December, and Bonus comes in March / April, leaving the guy in a limbo if he should switch or hang on .. and by then, vacancies have dried up

nutnut wrote:best time is today, well, that is unless you want to sit scratching your arse all year in a hope the "market"may get "better"

Actually, this is the best answer.

I was out of job back in 2011 because my ex company closed down and I started looking for job immediately, day and night.

Good thing perseverance paid off and I'm with my current employer now.

During my job search for the last 6 and 1/2 months, I didnt get anything decent. Although there were interviews with terrible companies, they didnt get converted to offers.

Last month I started interview with what I would call a dream job and I am hoping to get offered in couple of weeks time. Meanwhile, another company that I also interviewed, which looked great then, not so great now in comparison to this other dream job, have just offered me. So this is the first really good offer that I have got and at if I was given this offer last month, I would have given an arm and a leg to take it. But now I have to wait for this dream job and have decided to give a pass to the other offer.

Its so painful and nerve wreaking, but such is life in Singapore's limited well of opportunities.

Wd40 wrote:During my job search for the last 6 and 1/2 months, I didnt get anything decent. Although there were interviews with terrible companies, they didnt get converted to offers.

Last month I started interview with what I would call a dream job and I am hoping to get offered in couple of weeks time. Meanwhile, another company that I also interviewed, which looked great then, not so great now in comparison to this other dream job, have just offered me. So this is the first really good offer that I have got and at if I was given this offer last month, I would have given an arm and a leg to take it. But now I have to wait for this dream job and have decided to give a pass to the other offer.

Its so painful and nerve wreaking, but such is life in Singapore's limited well of opportunities.

Not sure if I come off as being ignorant but my husband has been in the same situation twice.

Every time I advised him to take up whichever company that offered first. Sometimes it's about fate I was right, cuz he didn't hear from the "dream job" in the end.

abc123xyz,

I tend to agree with you. That's why they are called 'dream jobs' isn't it? Pipe dream only.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:abc123xyz,

I tend to agree with you. That's why they are called 'dream jobs' isn't it? Pipe dream only.

Yeap. After all, jobs are just jobs. There is honeymoon stage, there is also pissed and pack stage.

If you have already lost your job, then its "easier"(not easy) to take up the 1st offer made.

But if you are working and you know somewhere 6 months to 1 year down the line, you will lose your job(again nothing is certain), then it becomes a bit tricky.

Its extremely difficult to take a downward move in your career, voluntarily. Especially since my MNC bank has a decent severance package that will cover 3-4 months of unemployment easily. The tendancy is to hang on and pushing your luck.

Again, if you have no savings and cannot stay unemployed, then the choice is "easier". In my case, I have managed my finances so well that I can take the risk. That makes it a difficult choice.

Fair point. I love watching people burn candles at both ends.