Is your job safe?
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Depends on your education lor.
In sg, cleaner or bus driver pay damn low! 2005 - $1800 then 2011 - $1800
My firm hires junior research analyst(local consulting firm) at $2300 in 2005, now at 2011 $3400. much higher for those with good grades. Incremental is substantial too. Senior analyst very hard to hire, bigger firm keep 'stealing' these employee...
need to enchance our trade union la, promote blue-collar workers' rights. I dunno what our union doing...
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Originally posted by MapleToto00:
Depends on your education lor.
In sg, cleaner or bus driver pay damn low! 2005 - $1800 then 2011 - $1800
My firm hires junior research analyst(local consulting firm) at $2300 in 2005, now at 2011 $3400. much higher for those with good grades. Incremental is substantial too. Senior analyst very hard to hire, bigger firm keep 'stealing' these employee...
need to enchance our trade union la, promote blue-collar workers' rights. I dunno what our union doing...
meanwhile 99% of jobs in spore are year 2000 pay rates.
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Originally posted by Medicated Oil:
Stop thinking that the foreigners are all construction workers, maids and waiters.
That is what they trying to fool you to put down your guards.
They are importing any foreigners to take over any jobs.
I am not against foreigners but against the shameless ploy to flood the place and win the votes.
Is this real?? Cleaner earns $5,470 in Norway??
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51-year-old jobless grad who used to earned $4000 per month now contemplates to become security guard
I am a 51-year-old unemployed male Singaporean holding a degree in Bachelor of Arts in English Language & Literature.
I made a serious error of judgment in life and quit my job impulsively in Dec last year without thinking through the consequences and I am now paying a hefty price for the folly. The experience was painful and since that fateful day, the thought of getting a job and putting bread and butter on the table again has been weighing heavily on my mind.
On some nights, I would suddenly woke up breaking out in cold sweat and worrying about my future.
I am a practical and realistic person. I knew that given my current age and circumstances, I can never expect to find another job which will pay me my last drawn salary of $4K again. Recently, I thought of venturing into the social service sector since I am already in the last lap of my working life. However, society was cruel and the doors were all shut on me.
My greatest disappointment was not being able to get a teaching job with Pathlight School last week. I had applied for an Assistant teacher position with them and after going through a comprehensive interview and selection test, my hopes were completely dashed. On the day of receiving the rejection e-mail, my heart really sank to the bottomless pit.
I knew the husband of my spouse’s church mate who works in the security line after he stopped helping his family in the baking business. This is despite the fact that he has a diploma qualification and is much younger than me.
I wonder whether if I should do the same and put my tertiary qualification aside. If I decide on this move, I have to conceal my actual qualification, otherwise employers will never want to take me in. Morally and ethically I know I would be dishonest.
So, I am really in a dilemma.
Regds,
.
Patrick
* The letter was adapted from transitioning.org, a non-profit society specially set up to cater to the emotional needs of the unemployed Singaporeans.
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Just to share what I know from the job market. Alot has been mentioned that the foreigners are here to take away our jobs because they are willing to take lower pay is not true. I know of a certain MNC here who are paying their filipino IT support exec at 4K and their indian FT as HOD IT dept at more than 10K. So do not be fooled by our papies gomin that natives are too choosy in their job hunt, you guys out there were all being fooled by the gomin. The reason behind is someone has already planned to buy out all our natives by indirectly forcing them out of this island so their newly created citizens would not only support them but also do not know all the dirty deeds of the past by the same gomin. They are just repeating the process to kick out those who knew too much of their background. This is very dirty underhand tactics to destroy its very own citizens just to cling on to power with a new set of citizens.
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You are still lucky to have a job till you decided to quit for whatever reasons. Many of my friends in their mid 30’s and early 40’s are without jobs for long long time. Doing part time or piece rate jobs and surviving on piece rate income.
Worse on the resume as time go by dont know what to add in. Employer see what is your current jobs and will only consider to offer you a job that is related to what you are doing now or in the same industry over here. This is the fact, as I learned from a guy at e2i, he mentioned in Singapore you need to have a job before you could move to another new offer/job. For FT is the reverse, they are accepted base on without a job.
Just sharing for the last tens years I have been looking for a permament job, till todate still hunting and writing. But keep asking is this wasting time, effort and preservance. Above 50’s the reply are closed to zero. Provided you got contacts. Even SMRT, Hospital, NTUC will not consider you as a full time staff. No doubt much emphasis on reemployment of senior citizen, this are all “air talk” or good publicity campaign. Those HR personnel has not experience and understand they will be old someday too.
Ageism is in all industry and sectors in Singapore. HR likes FT better than local and this true to an extend as they are much cheaper, inline with HR budget as well as they are the innocent baby learning the culture, lifestyle and system.
Now woke up too late and give up looking for jobs
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Hi Patrick
I am 47. I was previously employed as executive earning gross income of S$4800. But venture into own business and things doesn’t turn out as expected. Try going back but position was being replaced by FT.
At the meantime, work as security guard and looking for another job.
However, the pay hardly can substaintiate my family with all the high costs of living. In order to earn a little more, has been working OT. day and night and now only return home twice or once a week to see my family.Do you think those who hired their personal chef to fly in the fresh seafoods from Japan will understand the people’s plights.
Patrick, if no other jobs avaliable, maybe can temporary take up the security job, whilst hunt for a suitable one.
I am not worry about myself, I am very worry for my children.
Good Luck to you and God bless you
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hi patrick,
You shouldn’t look at the past anymore; just move forward and you never know what the future can brings. It can be much better than you think !
I’m about the same age as you and just a few years back; I was just like our millionaire minister lim swee say who says that when he look at his cpf statement; he feels very rich and I on the other hand was looking at the many zeros in my bank statement and felt similarly rich.
Due to some bad decisions, my business collapsed and I found the many zeros in my bank statement really became zero.
I love my industry and work and wanted to look for a salaried job but guess what? Even with 20 over years of experiences; nobody is willing to pay me $5K (half of what I used to have ); when they can employ a FT professional for only $2K. And $2k is what I used to earned back in the 1980s.
After much deliberations and reluctance; I went for a TVL course this year and will be a full fledged Taxi Driver soon. And I’m going to be a Professional Taxi Driver for that matter.
Patrick; let’s lift our head high ! We’re not in our 70s yet.
It’s never the end of the world and the future can be as bright as we want it to be.
Let’s encourage each other to make the ‘impossible’ possible. -
Hi Patrick,
You need to move on, get over the set back. I was a Engineer working for MNC. I too was retrenched back in 2005. Went for interviews, applied for jobs in JobDB.com but interviews after interviews was jobless for 9 months.
I have a dad, mom, wife and son to feed. It was a very stressful 9 months. Then one of my friend introduced me a job as an Engineer in Indonesia. I am still working in Indonesia. I don’t think you’ll be able to find jobs in sinkee land. Move overseas for better opportunities. Singapore is for foreigners. Good Luck bro. Remember next GE no more PAP.
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Patrick,
I was a lecturer in a private school for more than 10 years.
Just like you 8 years ago, I was retrenched and was jobless for about 10 months. I hold a Master in Business Administration.I had no choice but work as a Security officer without revealing my qualification for 3 months. My salary was $1,200 pm with OT $1,500 pm
A good friend introduced me a teaching job in China – Shanghai.
I was paid 10,000 yuan per mth with accomodation. I took the challenge, cos I could not survive on $1,500 pm with a kid.I am still in China, now a 30% partnership with a Language School and happy working here, although my written and oral Chinese is not that good. I go back to Singapore every 3 – 4 months.
Patrick, You have to be strong ….. move away from Singapore, and work overseas.
Remember to return to vote out the PAPies in 2016.
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Hi Patrick,
I’m 53 and kinda did what you did. I got very tired of my job and decided to retire from it. I was in a middle management position making about 70K per annum.
The difference between you and I is that I did not aggressively hunt for a new job. I knew I would be disappointed and hurt.
I am now a cabby and had been for 5 years. Not that I am putting it down but I think you are better off driving a cab than being a security guard. First of all, you will be making more. Nett earnings of at least $100 per day is assured if you put in a minimum of 10 hours. In addition, you will have freedom and need not have to take crappy instructions from incompetent superiors. Unlike other vocations where you need to gain the acceptance of your peers, you just do your thing without having to interact with other cabbies at all. Being on the road and listening and engaging in conversations with people from all walks of life, you are also keeping yourself updated all the time.
Think about it. Let me know if you want to know more. You can contact TRE for my email address.
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After reading, I cannot help but salute these people who soldier on in life despite the setbacks. Why? Because of family and self worth.
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at this point of grave economic uncertainty...stay put...
really...
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where are the success stories?
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Hi Gilbert,I am a fresh graduate with a foreign university honours degree. I have just finished a 2-month social work internship (unpaid) and looking for a full time job in social services.So far, I have applied to more than 40 jobs and was only shortlisted for 1 interview and 1 programme preview. Sigh…It seems like even a short internship is so hard to obtain here! I also find that MCYS is very biased towards local and Ivy League graduates. From what I know, they seldom hire anyone with a distance learning or overseas degree. Even for positions which do not mind applications from fresh graduates!As I was a private home tutor for many years, my job experience is minimal and previous pay was in the low $1000s only.I find it so hard to secure an internship, let alone a job! All I asked for was $2000 starting pay. ..My mom will be retiring by next year end the latest and I need at least $2k to support her and myself. My dad is still working as a taxi driver so it is still ok for the time being.I feel like quitting the social services sector and look for a job in the private sector instead.I mean, I spent 4 years studying for a honours degree and in the end I cannot secure any permanent job because 99.9% of social services jobs require 1-3 years work experiences in social services, or a social work degree!I am so frustrated and angry.I will also be applying to the Professional Conversion Programme for Social Workers’ Graduate Diploma in Social Work. Hopefully I will get sponsorship and gain employment and a certificate simultaneously.I will also be applying to NUS for entry into their Graduate Diploma in Social Work.Hopefully I get employed soon. I am getting tired of applying for jobs and filling up so many job application forms online.Regards,Lynette
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Hi Gilbert,
I
came across your article on hardwarezone forum today….the one on Thomas
who is doing a $1.6k technician job despite having a NTU degree.First of all, kudos to you for creating this transitioning.org website for the unemployed.Let me introduce myself…..I’m 39 Male Chinese Singapore Citizen. 2.5 years NS and 10 years ICT for the boot…..
I graduated from Nanyang Technological University in July 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering.After graduation, my working experience has always been in the failure analysis and inspection of IC components in various companies.
I was retrenched in 2010 due to company closure. Ever since, I have trouble getting full time jobs.
I applied for diploma entry level jobs even though the skillsets required were below those described in my resume.
Yet…I was not called up for interview.
I’m willing to take a lower diploma pay but yet……forget it.
My foray into temp jobs didnt bode well either….I did worked part time in a library before but I found the pay too low ($4/hour)….so I quit after five months.
Imagine a NTU engineering graduate having to go down to such a level is frankly beyond me especially when I started to study engineering almost two decades ago with much optimism.
What is happening to our country?
Moreover, the government won’t be bothered about people like us.We are the losers.WDA and e2i called up when I was doing part time in the library…..and they assumed I’m fully employed after I told them my part time job! What a joke!Subsequently my name was removed from the list and I guess that’s why unemployment figures are low…. I also heard that those who are out of work for more 6 months are considered retired!How can the unemployment figure be just 2%? Its beyond comprehension…When I was working in the library, I chatted with the aunties working there and a lot of them told me their sons/daughters also got trouble finding jobs even with a professional degree.You might have wondered why those aunties are willing to stick to the library job despite such low pay ($4/hour)? It is only because they can’t find relevant companies willing to employ them.$4 /hour? It is totally ridiculous and almost like a cleaner’s pay.If you think it is an easy job (which many think it is)….try doing it for 5-8 hours standing most of the time.According to them…..the agency submitted the lowest bid to NLB…naturally the project was awarded to them because the government always go for the lowest bidder.Hence…..the low rates.I guess this also explains why cleaners wages are low too.We are in serious trouble and yet many people think Singapore is still ok….that’s because they still have cushy jobs.The influx of FTs in every area has depressed wages for low income workers and also deprive our local graduates of good jobs.The government always say FTs are here to do jobs which Singaporeans don’t wish to do……but what about jobs which we want to do?If you are wondering why I can still survive until now….it is because I have been frugal all along and I’m still single. If I’m married with kids, most likely I would have ended up in Bedok Reservoir.Anyway, I got a slight favor to ask of you….is it possible to get in touch with Thomas regarding the company particulars for which he is working in?
I’m more than willing to do a technician job for $1.6k.
Thank you very much…..and have a nice day!
Louis
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Thomas came in to see me all perspiring after visiting Caliberlink at Brash Basah Road two hours earlier.
He also has to return to work at 2.15pm for the second shift of his 3-month-old technician job with a MNC. The second shift ends at 11pm but Thomas is not complaining.
It was something that he desperately took up as he didn’t want to go jobless for too long after he was retrenched from a lucrative $60,000/year IT engineering position earlier this year.
He has worked there for six years and was fortunate to come out with a reasonable severance package.
However, his wife is a home maker and it would be disastrous for two adult family members to go unemployed at the same time.
He has two primary school-going boys and it was a challenge to make ends meet if there is no income for a prolonged period - to him the technician position was a God-sent.
“It was also something that kept me going even though the pay is 1/3 of what I earned,” he told me when I offered him a drink and tissue to wipe off his perspiration.
Its true that jobless PMETs who continue working at lower-end jobs after retrenchment often feel energised and positive than those who simply apply for jobs and wait at home for the phone calls.
Looking younger than his mid-40s age, Thomas earned his engineering degree from NTU and life was rosy then as the lucrative semi-con industry has just took off and work was plentiful.
Nevertheless, all good things have to come to an end and he was soon retrenched from his engineering job early this year.
He has sent out numerous job applications as an angineer but none came back favourably so when the employment agent advertised for a technician position at $1600/month, he jumped at the offer even though the entry level is only a diploma.
“Its more like a production operator job and even below that of a diploma holder,” Thomas told me.
How long do you want to continue in the job? I asked.
“As long as I am still looking for a a permanent enginnering position,” he replied.
He knew that his biggest competitiors are cheap thrid-world engineers from India, Philippines and India who will flock to our country for as little as $2000/month.
His current company also hires many technicians but they are all permanent residents – mostly from India, Philippines and PRC China. They all earn around $1600 and below.
There are also many local diploma holders who just served out their national service working there but the turn over is high as the job is monotonous and does not require much technical skills.
Thomas has tried to request for upgrading courses from a few government aid bodies in the nursing and therapist profession but when he was told that the starting entry pay is not more than $1500, he hesitated.
“I wanted to switch to another line but it has got to be viable,” Thomas told me.
After studying full time for more than a year, the entry pay for many niche in-demand fields such as nursing is not attractive enough to convince past high-income engineers like Thomas to make the switch.
He will continue to look for engineering jobs but so far the response has being discouraging. as he has being rather selective in the positions that he applied for.
After speaking with Thomas for about an hour, I must say that I was inspired by his zeal to survive even though he could onlty take home less than $1200 for his efforts.
Transitioning has seen close to 500 clients of which at least half are with engineering background.
Some ended up driving cabs or become property agents even though they have engineering degrees from our prestigious local universities.
The semi-con shut down has truly affected the rice bowls of many of our engineers who took the cue from our government two decades ago to study engineering courses.
Now, they face the onslaught of competition from many cheap young engineers hailed from third world countries who could ply their trade here due to the ease in getting them work permits.
Looking at Thomas case, I feel that it will be a tall order for him to secure any engineering job despite his qualification and years of relevant experience and even if he manages to find one, the pay will not be anywhere near to his previous salary before he was retrenched.
Unless the government drastically reduces foreign talents soon, we will see more Thomas running around – jobless and desperate.
We will also see more undergraduates opting to study the arts and social sciences in universities as this is the best way to gain entry to the secured civil service sector.
Singapore will in future face the unpleasant situation of not having enough local experienced engineers as currently most of the engineering positions are occupied by foreigners.
The profession may also be cheapened by foreign hirings who may one day take their experience with them to other developed countries who will treasure their skills more.
Written by: Gilbert Goh
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Hi Gilbert
Thanks for your time. I’m glad that there’s a place – transitioning.org for the unemployed to get support during this dire period. It’s a fantastic and noble project you’ve started.
I’m currently in my late 20s and working as a financial consultant with an insurance company.
I am an Arts graduate from NUS and have been in the finance industry for the past 4 years. Previously, I worked with a bank also as a financial consultant.
I would not consider myself doing well in the career and I am seriously considering changing to another job, reasons being:-
1) This is a fully commission-based job. I am not bringing in enough sales and thus am not doing well financially
2) My dad has been feeling frustrated and insecure. He complained that he has been working his whole entire life and questions when he would get to retire if we are not able to contribute to the household. It’s been a couple of months since I gave my parents any allowance and this irked me alot.
I have thought through my career options alot lately and think I can understand why I can’t seem to perform in my current job. Then again, appearing to hold a job is better than being unemployed.
To continue keeping my job experience relevant, I should head back to the banking and finance industry.
I worry that my skills and experience would not be viewed favorably by the bank if I continue to stay but still do badly in my current job.
It seems that looking for a perm banking position is tough nowadays.
Then again, I am not sure if I should just take up a temp or contract banking position and end up jobless when the contract ends. I would appreciate if I can speak with a career coach on this as I think I need some direction in my career.
Thanks Gilbert. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours Sincerely
Denise
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Mr Fadil was happy when he managed to secure a senior engineer position at a MNC – UGL Services Premas Operations Ltd late last year.
He was the engineer in charge of facility management at ITE College West.
The job was also paying well and when he signed up on the dotted line, he felt confident as the job scope was within his capabilities.
However, six months later, he was given the sack and his last day was on 2 May after failing to clear an extended probationary period on 31 March.
The signs were already ominous when he first stepped into the office. Three quarter of the 50-strong workforce are foreigners – mostly from Philippines, India and Malaysia.
80% of the technical staff are foreigners.
They also tend to clique together according to nationality and it is difficult to penetrate into their inner circle.
Moreover, two Filipino technical staff who are supposed to assist him are also loaded with their own duties and he was told not to disturb them. The Filipinos were so unskilled that they could not even fix a simple aircon problem.
He ended up carrying out most of the technical tasks himself whereas he was under the impression during the interview that he has two staff assisting him. He felt cheated.
Mr Fadil brought this matter up to his American boss but every time he was told to carry on working alone.
He was later shocked to be informed that he was ill-suited for the position of senior engineer after working for a few months and that he would be reassigned.
Nevertheless, he was given the merry go round by the respective department heads and realised that the reassignment plan was just a plot to get him out.
Feeling chided, Mr Fadil later had a stormy meeting with the HR manager – ironically a friend who has brought him into the company but who proved to be very unhelpful when he is in need of wise counsel.
As Singapore struggles with integration in the workforce with many locals fighting to survive in our own country, more can be done to better protect the livelihood of local Singaporeans.
Singapore is probably the only ountry in the world that allows foreigners to control the top and middle management echelon at the work place.
Singaporeans are often sandwiched at the middle management level and report to a foreigner boss who often is suspect in his work and qualification.
Transitioning envisages that stressors at the workplace will boil over in the future with ugly consequences if the ministry does not look into the local-foreigner quota soon.
Many of the jobs now performed by foreigners can also be carried out by local Singaporeans who are currently jobless.
Already, many locals have questioned the hiring bias of foreign bosses who tend to hire their own kind and even make things difficult for the local staff so that they will resign on their own.
Our ministry probably may need to send in spies to the private sector to better understand the seriousness of the manpower staffing issue.
If not, they will end up not knowing what is the real situation on the ground if they continue to sit in comfort at the their ivory tower.
Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted last month when the engineer is still working. He is now no longer a staff with the company and wish to put the matter behind him.
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so far you people only quoted articles written to the transition.org. but in real life does anyone know anyone who couldnt find a job?
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Originally posted by Rock^Star:
T
Unless the government drastically reduces foreign talents soon, we will see more Thomas running around – jobless and desperate.
are occupied by foreigners.
The profession may also be cheapened by foreign hirings who may one day take their experience with them to other developed countries who will treasure their skills more.
Written by: Gilbert Goh
i dont think gov is goin to reduce foreign workers unless spore $$$ devaluates to lesser value as to the foreign workers coming to spore.that would be akin to saying unless spore grows to size of indonesia or malaysia....never goin to happen unless a more drastic approach is set by every single sporean.not sure all have that kinda stomach for that type of new drastic change.
they already done the professionals goin to elsewhere.most indians from inda went to spore..got interview to australia in spore,now earnin big $$$$$ in oz using spore as a stepping stone.indians look like ang mo so they will be much blended in apart from the badly sun burnt ang mo in oz.
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options to counteract problem:
1)setup own company preferably when yopur mind is active and action packed!
2)develop ideas in books daily from dreams and thoughts
3)go overseas like sim of creative iindustries to avoid distractions to your works by unnecessary army remedial trainings fpr athelets
4)dont look back or u will turn into stone and dust like the operation medusa thing
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Originally posted by Rock^Star:Overheard:
You are still lucky to have a job till you decided to quit for whatever reasons. Many of my friends in their mid 30’s and early 40’s are without jobs for long long time. Doing part time or piece rate jobs and surviving on piece rate income.
Worse on the resume as time go by dont know what to add in. Employer see what is your current jobs and will only consider to offer you a job that is related to what you are doing now or in the same industry over here. This is the fact, as I learned from a guy at e2i, he mentioned in Singapore you need to have a job before you could move to another new offer/job. For FT is the reverse, they are accepted base on without a job.
Just sharing for the last tens years I have been looking for a permament job, till todate still hunting and writing. But keep asking is this wasting time, effort and preservance. Above 50’s the reply are closed to zero. Provided you got contacts. Even SMRT, Hospital, NTUC will not consider you as a full time staff. No doubt much emphasis on reemployment of senior citizen, this are all “air talk” or good publicity campaign. Those HR personnel has not experience and understand they will be old someday too.
Ageism is in all industry and sectors in Singapore. HR likes FT better than local and this true to an extend as they are much cheaper, inline with HR budget as well as they are the innocent baby learning the culture, lifestyle and system.
Now woke up too late and give up looking for jobs
that's right! what;s left of sgreans jobs sgreans have to fight their own to clinck on ti and survive. so next election everyone should vote wisely. you will all growth old one day. remember so better choose the right people who will secure your rice bowl years on when you grow old,
June 4th, 2012 | 
Author: