Foreign talents
Came across this article on My Singapore News regarding yet another PM dialouge with the youths in their latestWhat interest me is the point being made in the above linked post.
Extract:
During last night's PM dialogue with the youth the concern of letting in too many foreign talents in the salary bracket of $1,800 and $2,500 were raised. This is the group that will hit very hard on our young graduates and executives. The fear is genuine.
Hsien Loong's response was to acknowledge the concern but added, 'I think we should bring in people who can make a contribution and as for our people, you'll compete with them but at the same time because they are here, our economy will grow and there will be more business, more opportunities for us.'
Personally, I fall into this very group. I graduated couple of months back, with a degree in Information Systems & Mangement. Prior to that, I had a diploma from a local polytechnic in an IT related field as well. You can say that IT is both my interest and probably my forte and I consider myself pretty good at it, and enjoy it as well. Like every other young people, I have dreams of landing a 'dream job' whereby I can get a job that pays well, while at the same time doing what you love. Its easier said than done.
I guess in a way, IT industry is more affected than many others say maybe manufacturing or engineering sector as a result of globalisation. IT projects are so many easier to outsource for example, you can easily get a programmer from India or a web designer from China to do parts or even entire projects without having the need to be physically in Singapore at a fraction of the cost compared to hiring locals. I accepted that fact a couple of years back and as software engineering is not my core interest anyway, I have more interest in networks and hardware, it didn't really bother me too much.
The hard fact hit me when I went job hunting. 80% of the interviews I went to, the interviewer basically just sneer at my so called 'accomplishments' such as projects and my results slip and told me that in the real IT industry, paper qualifications count for nothing, they want actual experience. Cool. I can understand that. I'm willing to work for the chance, the experience, as long as you are willing to give me the chance, and of course, a reasonable pay package. Most of my fellow classmates, which incidently, none is in the IT line anymore, have an average pay package of $2000 - $2500, so I was expecting along the lines of $2000, or maybe slightly lesser by a couple of hundreds, if it meant landing a job I craved.
I did not count the number of interviews I went to, but I'm quite sure that I had been to no fewer than 10 interviews, and I really seen the share of ridiculous offers. The most jarring incident was one whereby the interviewer offered me $1200 and refused to add a cent more, telling me that he can easily get a foreigner with a S-Pass to do the job at that price, and they would be far more experienced than me. In fact, I should be grateful that he is offering me this opportunity to learn and I quote "Nobody will want to hire a fresh graduate these days when we can get more experienced people for less, and they don't need to go back for reservist." I do not want to sound arrogant or anything here, but come on lah, I am afterall a degree holder, you are basically paying me less than what I would have expected even as a poly graduate lor. Back when I was running my pub, I paid my perm staff $1500 a month and he doesn't even have a full 'O' levels. I probably should have gotten a foreigner to do the job too huh... Then where will all the locals go and find their jobs? I seriously can understand if they get foreigners to do stuff that locals want to do such as construction etc, or if they are REAL talents, they can be a CEO or some high ranking expatriates that we have come to get used to. But by allowing them to come in at entry level and take away the opportunity from young fresh graduates, it will only be breeding a whole new generation of discontent youths. Stop giving lip service and model answers in response to questions such as the above mentioned and show us that you are really paying attention to what we are saying.
Labels: foreign talent, fresh graduate, jobs, singapore
posted by Nutcracker @ 1:09 pm
4 Comments:
You think your degree is such a big deal ? Go to any HDB estate, throw a stone and it will most likely hit a degree holder. They're a dime a dozen almost to the point of being toilet paper these days. The key to surviving in today's job market is differentiating yourself from the pack and adding value to the employers. You may think you are good at what you do but then doesn't every other Joe on the street? You have to justify why you're worth a lot more than $1200. Just believing that you do, unfortunately, doesn't count.
I don't think my degree is a very big deal thank you very much. Just that it should at least count for something. Its easy to say that you want to differentiate yourself from others, but how are you going to do that exactly if you cannot even get the job in the first place? Dress differently at the interview? Talk differently? Its easier said than done.
My point is not so much how much I or any other degree holder is worth in terms of pay, rather, its how the situation had been made worse by the uncontrolled influx of FT, especially in the IT industry.
fyi, I had actually found a job that did pay me a whole lot more than $1200 which probably 'justify' my worth, sadly, its just not in the IT industry anymore.
I'm not sure if it's good to benchmark the remark from that particular interviewer about what he can get with that $1.2k, but it is apparent his unprofessional, ignorant remark cuts deep.
If he's a HR guy, chances are he doesn't know the industry well. If he's the immediate reporting manager, chances are he's tired of going through tonnes of applications. Then again, good that you won't be working for him, because he is not a good person to work for. He gives me a schrewd and oppressive impression of him.
If I were you, I'd probably wonder out loud, "Then why the hell did you waste my time if you already had your foreign talents in mind? A-penny-a-deal dude. You get monkeys, you get peanuts. Good luck with your $1.2k then." Of course, you must be worth the real deal.
You might be not aware as you're fresh in the market, many of the foreign workers have impressionable over-qualified resume (masters deg, MNC experiences, etc) vying your freshie's job. That's because they can't survive in their competitive homeground (hence wanting to 'experience' overseas life). Imagine with me, a stone's throw in their suburb gets you MANY Masters degree holders over there. So, get the picture?
That's what interviewers meant when they claim they can get a handful of more qualified candidate for the same job at 1/2 the price. The fact is, they don't konw what's the deal they get at the end.
In my experience working, out of 10 "masters" holders with umpteen years of experience on paper, perhap 1.5 of them can deliver the goods they promise. The rest? They introduce more bugs to fix a bug, resulting in more man-hours required, overrun project costs and schedule, losing customer confidence.
Maybe I'm just unlucky.. maybe. Craps exist everywhere afterall, locals too, not just those foreign workers. But given their sheer population, I get the impression the better ones are already taken by Tier-1 companies. The rest? It's like raffles draw. For 1.2k, common sense tells you the smarter ones will know someone else can pay better than peanuts.
So, if you or anyone ever get that kinda crap from an ignorant interviewer again. You know who has the last laugh.
All the best!
Nutcracker:
Somehow I sense that "Confusil" is one of those PAP runners. You do not have to worry about his remarks.
For start, it is good that you are confident of your worth, unlike some people only interested in making other feel lower and inferior (You can find a lot of such remarks in STOMP Btw and I think there is a spill over here).
It has been 9 years working since my poly days. I happened to start work in a time where Singapore immediately suffers the “currency crisis” followed by SARS etc.
The Singapore Government like their reasoning not to review on the local overall minimum wage is shitty for a first world government in according to ILO standard. Because of this unwilling to set a minimum wage for the industry, this is the reason for your suffering now which we commonly call it “exploitation”. If you look at most current Government Policies, you will find that Singapore is a good place to be RICH but not for the poor or even worst the middle class like you and myself.
COE, you can be rich and buy 10 cars but still paying the same amount of COE at 10th. By the way, what is $11k ~ $30K to you if you are rich (like Goh Chok Tong wife said, peanuts). When you are rich, you can choose to employ cheap foreigner and shut the local (with HIGH expectation, some may call it; forgetting the fact that Singapore earns money for Singapore use. Foreigner earns money to build house back home, thanks to the strong Sin dollars).
It took me 2 straight years to find a stable and reasonable paid engineering job in a factory, Nutcracker. During these 2 years, I had worked in the construction industry with pay $500 to $700 less than the so call market standard (Based on MOM annual wage print out). In the end, my wife filed a divorce because my construction work time frame became a toll to my marriage. By the time I managed to find a 5 days factory work to match my wife in order to save the marriage, it was too late.
Remember Nutcracker. Good things come to those who wait, however hopeless it may seems. Stick to your belief of what you are worth and don’t let some SUCKERS tell you not. All the best to your future and god bless this little country call Sinkapore.
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