Don’t quit before you find a job. This is my sincere advice to all Singaporeans out there, especially those with family and parents to support, and / or have a mortgage to service. The job market is very cruel to older Singaporeans, defined as those above 30.
I resigned in 2012 to look after my kids, while concurrently looking for a new job. To my dismay, it took me more than a year before securing a job.
I was previously a commodities trader in an MNC based in Hong Kong, and decided to move back to Singapore to start a family, thinking that the social and natural environment here is better. For example, people are kind and the air is fresh (until the haze came along).
Yet, despite the large number of trading companies based here under government tax incentives, I could not get through the door at all. I could not even get a proper interview.
Could it because the companies here are largely shell entities, and that there is no need to hire traders? Could it be that companies are based here without substance, and Singapore is merely used as a tax haven? Could it be only families and money are parked here, and the key business makers are still based outside Singapore?
Could it also be that I was unqualified to to be employed?
I checked through my CV
- straight As for A level
- scholarship
- engineering degree
- civil service several years
- commodity several years
- greater china experience
- used to earn more than 10,000 per month abroad.
But it all seems to count for nothing. Fine, I accept that.
At one point, I was thinking maybe I can become a barber, taxi driver, or anything that allows me to provide for my family.
The sad truths in Singapore are that:
One, there is no minimum wage.
Two, there is no unemployment benefits.
Three, the basic cost of living is high.
These three conditions allow employers to exploit workers to the maximum.
Some bosses can be quite nasty. Knowing you have a mortgage to service and family to support, they will exploit you fully by giving you a “universal” job scope, basically playing chicken — see if you dare to quit the job.
It does not help that the government does not have basic labour protection applied to different sectors. It is quite a different matter to adopt a light touch, and quite another to be totally hands off. Every worker is left to fend for himself / herself.
Arguably, the more educated should be able to negotiate with the employers, but not when floods of cheaper and sometimes lower quality FTs are sweeping in through the gates that are left wide open by the government.
Yes, we are a country without no resources, so we have to work hard but it is wrong to adopt the mindset that human is a resource. We are an unfeeling, static resource.
If the government does not owe the people a living, then what is the core focus for this government? To satisfy its owns desires? What is wrong with protecting jobs for the locals, and allowing them to lead a reasonably good quality life?
Yes, new investments may require incoming FTs to kickstart the operation but it can’t be a situation that most good jobs only go to FT friends and relatives. Sadly, it is human nature to recruit their own kind so if the government does mandate companies to hire Singaporeans first, our jobs are as good as gone. It is as good saying that despite the years of education, locals are still not good enough.
It is a situation of either MTI is creating all the wrong jobs, or MOE schools are teaching all the outdated things? The last I checked, students are still spending time plotting graphs on paper instead of using excel despite our schools moving on with times and being more “technologically advanced”.
I am currently in a fortunate situation compared to the many unemployed PMETs and low income workers out there, so I feel contented to live in a three room flat, and spend more time with my kids, and watch them grow up. I don’t believe I need to stay in a condo, or drive a fast car to be happy. Yet, many Singaporeans don’t even have the same or basic quality of life. Many are also constantly living with the fear that their jobs are not secure as more FTs are being brought in.
So my advice, try not to quit before finding another job. Perhaps this mindset is the key to explain low productivity and poor HR policies?
Kampong Boy