All Singapore Employers Should Read This

<above pic: regular TRS contributor Alex Tan>

Due to the loose labor market caused by the influx of foreigners, Singapore employers are highly demanding and very choosy when it comes to hiring. Over the age of 40? Next. Fresh graduates? Next. From another industry? Next. No relevant experience? Next. Non-Chinese? Next. Not willing to negotiate a 10% discount salary? Next. NS reservist liability? Next. Never stayed in a job for more than 3 years? Next. Stayed in the same job for more than 30 years? Next. Not willing to do unpaid overtime work? Next. If you think this is bad, wait till you commit more mistakes like asking about work-life balance, employment benefits, working hours or when they find you too vocal.

Especially if you are working for a Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs), Singapore employers are infamous for being one of the stingiest bosses in the world. A typical full time employee usually get nothing more than the Ministry of Manpower's regulations. It is not that Singapore businesses are not profitable, in fact, the low-tax environment, business-first trickle-down economy approach by the government and near non-existent manpower policies made many bosses millionaires. It is very common to see directors drive Lexus and Ferraris, while employees could not even afford a Toyota. Singapore's income inequality is among the highest in the world and at the same time, have a good record of GDP especially in recent years. There is hardly any excuse except for greed why bosses are treating their employees so shabbily.

Despite having the population jumped from 4 million to 5.5 million in 14 years, Singapore employers are still complaining about the lack of manpower and holding on to a list of grouses maligning job applicants for being picky. The root of the problem lies with the environment which mollycoddled employers believing it is always the job applicant's fault. Here are a few common profiles of job applicants employers should start re-thinking their hiring process:

1) Job hopper

Singapore employers must accept that there are good reasons to job hop and one such is salaries because long service workers are well-known for having stagnant salary. A job hopper profile does not indicate the amount of commitment or contributions he made to his ex-companies. The prejudice to job hopping is that they are time wasters and probably won't stay in your company either. This is however not true if you are confident your company is a good place to work in. Most job hoppers are not really job hopping if you see their history of companies consisting mostly SME companies who are more likely problematic than MNCs. We don't see a MNC or government job hopper, do we?

2) Long service employee

Some Singapore employers are really pain in the ass. If you have worked in a company for more than 10 years, they start questioning why haven't you join other companies.

3) Fresh graduates

Yes we get it, we know you want experienced staff. Not only you, all companies want experienced staffs. However the fact remains that internal training is actually not a bad thing after all. Experienced staffs have their baggage and way of handling matters. Fresh graduates tend to be more eager and accepting of how things are run.