I refer to a former letter published on The Real Singapore and I quote:
I have more than 15 years of sales/marketing experience, with a basic degree and a MBA yield from Australia, and also Ngee Ann MBA scholarship winner. Yet, I could not find a job. I even tried to apply for a lecturing job in a polytechnic and the ITE but to no avail.
The reason I figure is that I am 46. In Singapore, it seems that once you passed the magic number of 40 years of age, you will be severely marginalized. I have since met or heard a few stories of Singaporeans with degrees having the same experience as I do. A retrenched senior engineer previously in the semiconductor industry has to be a real estate agent, while another friend with regional experience has to be a taxi driver. A head hunter friend of mine shared the story of a HR manager, who is probably mid thirties, has the preference to take in people who are younger than someone who is older but more experienced. Anecdotal evidence suggests that foreign HR managers have the tendency to bring in people from their own country. And there will be more of such stories to come if something is not done about the situation.
It is such a sad state of affairs that Singaporeans are marginalized in their home ground. Meanwhile, I have to learn to contend with running a small carpentry outfit, which was a far cry from the days when I was flying and covering the Asia Pacific region. I am just on the wrong side of history when Japan was hit with an earthquake, and my factory was 50km from the Fukushima nuclear power station and I was subsequently retrenched.
I always find it so amusing how in Singapore when articles or commentary are published which focus on giving a balanced view, some Singaporeans nearly always focus on the negative or the view that discounts them. Case in point, from the above article it states that an “Asian bank” has to hire from abroad for IT finance business analysts and project managers which they say is hard to find locally. Instead the comment posters focus on the “US firm” comments about needing to hire from abroad for 2 cyber-security risk positions.
The fact of the matter is currently the expertise, in many areas for many reasons comes from much larger markets due to deal size, population size, complexity etc. For all things IT related due to the fact that these much larger markets are dealing with issues like cyber-security, advanced IT innovation creation etc on a much larger much more frequent basis for many reason I will not get into here, so it only makes sense that some areas will see a disproportionate number of foreign placements.
Instead of focusing on blocking foreign talent from being hired or making it even more onerous by the government as suggested by some opinions above, the focus should be on knowledge transfer and patience for the future. The foreigners will, one day or another, leave. The majority won’t grow deep roots and stay forever. If the collective focus could shift from one of disgust and walking away, which is a reaction I have seen in Singapore over and over by locals, to one of taking the opportunity to learn and advance themselves under or next to a foreign talent, this issue may abate over time. But the knee jerk reaction is always to complain, quit and ask the government to do more.
There are plenty of locals working in various high paid, high positions at large SMEs, Singapore corporates and MNCs, in all industries and to blanket say that things are so bad is just flat wrong. There is always a very boisterous local contingency in Singapore who are the “squeaky wheel” and through their MPs get often ridiculous anti-competitive knee jerk reaction policies put in place by the government. I have always looked at Singapore as a place that was above this sort of boarder blocking, unlike the US, UK etc but over the years the unjustified complaints and flat out entitlement attitude of “I followed all the rules and I am still not winning” and then blame a foreigner, is just wrong and overreaching. There are many many many Singaporeans who are very successful I work with and have worked with. The best way to compete is to be better, on all fronts, not just academically but fully. It is way too easy to say that since one can get a job overseas but at home is prejudiced, there are so many variables to consider. I know quite a few people in IT security, IT risks management, programming etc globally who have no formal education, they learned through taking apart and rebuilding a computer at age 7, hacked into this or that network at age 10 and had their first IT related job at 16. Singaporeans always want to look at the education, what degrees, what schools etc, they do not really matter in all cases. The intangible things when education is compared equally will always need to be looked at and will trump pure education only people. Unless the attitude of entitlement and self-loathing can abate this issue will not be fixed by more government intervention and onerous efforts.
Making yourself more competitive with skills that are needed, attitude that is positive, dynamically and strategically problem solve, work well in teams, being a leader and interesting will enhance your ability to gain employment anywhere you want. Complaining and asking for more benefits just because of brithright is not the right way. Singapore is called Singapore Inc. for a reason and locals shouldn’t want their cake and eat it too. You can’t operate one way while wanting it another…
Foreigner working in Singapore
TRS reader