The only places I've seen that have walk in interviews for graduate level positions are factories and hotels. If you're targeting big audit firms or MNCs, I'm afraid the receptionist might not even buzz you in through the security door. For eg. my office has no receptionist in the reception area. Only a telephone which works only if you know what extension to dial.

In this economy, you could be in Singapore for while.

Of course it does. Straits Times on Saturday is the job seekers' street directory.

Check out http://www.efinancialcareers.sg/as well. The site's more banking finance oriented but sometimes has straight finance and accounting jobs. One thing though is that the majority of the jobs are mid career ie. you've got at least 5 years experience and probably already drawing 5-10K. But then again, there's always the rest of the minority.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 4 2009, 10:48 PM

chess_gal has got a point. The Jobs Credit Scheme makes local employees (citizens and PRs) around S$300 per month cheaper in cash terms vs previously. After tax, it's around S$375 since the cash payment from the govt are tax free and I have not heard that the tax deduction claimed on employee salaries is reduced by this amount.

So if the job pays 3K, a Singaporean or PR will actually be 10+% cheaper than before. This scheme compensates the employer for the 14% employers CPF contribution that they have to pay for locals but not foreigners. It basically narrows the cost advantage of employing foreigners over locals.

Right.

Like I said initially, the employers won't get job credits for foreigners.

Yup, you've got it. At least that's what I think is the unpublicised intention of job credits anyway.

Let's be clear. Are you talking about Singaporeans vs PRs or locals (Singaporeans & PRs) vs foreigners?

If it's Singaporeans vs Malaysian PRs (or PRs of any other nationality), then I think chess_gal is absolutely correct. I have not seen nor heard nor experienced a situation where citizens and PRs have different payscales. Of course, that doesn't mean that the salaries are 100% identical because within every pay scale, there is a range of salaries. But then this range discrepancy will apply to everybody under the same pay scale. At the end of the day, in terms of job level, salary scale and seniority (ie. years of service calculation in case of retrenchment), they are the same. If not, it is discrimination. And if I'm not mistaken, it is a criminal offence.

If it's locals vs foreigners... of course there is a difference. Their resident status and employment status are different. Their legal responsibilities, entitlements and commitments are different. You cannot expect them to receive the same salary, no?

Are you a PR and if you are, are you getting a very different salary from your Singaporean peers?

I don't know about yours, but in my company and most of the MNCs, the pay is the same. I for one, will not accept it otherwise. The only difference is if they are here as expats.

These sound like work permit or employment pass holders, not PRs. If so, then it's to be expected. Nobody will pay the foreigners more than what it takes to get them here.

Same thing for locals, but for the fact that the employer cannot employ beyond a certain ratio of locals vs foreigners. So if there are more foreigners going for jobs allocated to foreigners but fewer locals going for jobs allocated for locals, then you have a disparity. No country in the world (except maybe the Eiddle East) will allow your workforce to be 100% foreign by the exclusion of locals.


I think my company is quite transparent in that the payscales are published on the intranet and our job titles reveal exactly which job level we're at. If you're an expat, it's also common knowledge.

If that angmoh is not an expat but is paid higher than me, it's because he's on a higher pay scale ie.. higher ranked than me. If we're both doing exactly the same job, then it's a matter of why is someone who's higher ranked doing the same thing as I am. In my company, this is something I can bring up to my supervisor and expect a serious answer. And we have asked the question too because not long ago, our peers in the Shanghai office were often 1 or 2 levels higher than us but doing the same job. The reason given is that because the job market in Shanghai is very competitive and MNCs needed to pay more to hire English speaking Chinese. Our feedback was that the salary scales for Shanghai should be adjusted upwards, instead conveniently slotting them into a higher job rung... causing a mismatch of experience/capability vs managerial authority. This has since been rectified.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 8 2009, 06:36 PM

It's not like they point a gun to their heads and force the foreign PRs to accept a lower salary than the locals, no? At the end of the day, companies will only pay you what it takes to keep you. You can't expect them to increase your salary to match someone else if they know you're not going to leave even though you're being paid less.

Anyway, we've just proven that the Singapore job market is not homogenous. What is the norm in one company or industry may not be the norm in others.

So the next time someone asks if Singaporean companies favour local born Singaporeans over foreign born ones / PRs etc, perhaps we cannot be too quick to confirm a motherhood YES or NO. Obviously, it depends.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 8 2009, 06:50 PM

Chrisky's spot on. All currency transactions will have a lower buy and higher sell price (from the bank or money changer's perspective). That represents the spread which the bank or money changer profits from.

So when you buy, they give you their higher sell price. And when you sell, they give you their lower buy price. It's like a casino. They've already calculated all the possibilities when they set their spread. You cannot beat them at their own game.

Besides, if there was such a big kapla jumping on the street, would you be the first person to capitalise on it? No... right?

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 10 2009, 01:35 PM

What's the 'middle rate'?

Lots of 2nd hand cars in Sg. It's because after roughly 5 years in, the amount you get when you sell - the amount you need to pay off the remainder of the loan + the COE rebate roughly breaks even. Therefore people sell the the 5 year old car and get a new one because they are paying the same loan instalment at the end of the day. Due of the COE, Singaporeans view car ownership like a recurring 10 year lease. The monthly instalment is more like monthly rental rather than loan repayment because in the end, you don't own the car... you scrap it and get a new one if you want to keep driving.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 12 2009, 12:49 AM

Up to you. I did the public transport thing for a few years. Now I take taxis to work. Later on I'll be buying a car... although I seem to have missed the S$2 COE. Will wait a while to see how the COE moves.

Not really. You just need to adjust the selling price to reflect the zero COE rebate.

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Added on June 12, 2009, 9:32 pm
What do you analyse?

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 12 2009, 09:33 PM

I think it's more like blacklist your Malaysian license so that you cannot renew it. Your records eg. license number, vehicle class, renewal history etc. are still with JPJ. When you give up your Singapore license, you get a similar letter from Sg TP, and JPJ will re-instate your existing license (if it has not expired) or issue a new one.

If you have a work permit, you can get postpaid. You might however have to put down a guarantee. No idea how much.

I'm using Starhub Powercall (postpaid) and it gives me 160 minutes free each month for local or IDD calls to any of Starhub's 018 destinations (including Malaysia). I'm like you and I make lots more IDD than local calls, so I find this really good. For my friends and colleagues in Singapore, I usually call from the office or SMS (also free) or Facebook. Hardly ever make local calls.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 13 2009, 08:17 PM

Just look at the input jacks available. If it has a co-axial input like normal CRTs, then no problem. Usually LCD TVs will have it because it comes with an analogue TV tuner. LCD monitors usually don't.

Never been discovered by customs?

Since Singtel has a monopoly on iPhones... Pros: You get an iPhone... Cons: You have no choice if you want a Singapore iPhone.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 15 2009, 05:19 PM