You don't have to contribute anything when you apply. But once its approved, you have to contribute.

Call the hiring manager and speak to him/her directly. Ask for help, don't complain. If he really wants to hire you, he will push his HR dept and even call MOM directly. If he's not keen on hiring you, what's the point of you pushing from your side?

You could also call the HR manager but again, don't complain. Ask for help.

I hope I read wrongly that you have already scolded the HR lady. That's the wrong move. If you're not happy with her, talk to someone else. But if you scold her, you can be 100% sure that she will not pursue MOM (for you (if the hiring manager or HR manager are not pushing her). And if she complains about you to the managers, there's a 50/50 chance that they might dislike your behaviour (ie. the way you deal with difficulties) and change their minds about hiring you.

His title?

Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Minister of Finance and Minister of Manpower.

To me, it was a conscious decision to cast a Chinese into the role of the protagonist, and then flash all the stereotypical messages: Don't be loud, don't be greedy, don't eat etc etc. Then they show the Malays as having perfect behaviour, and flash: "Be like them". And then have 3 Malay hosts at the end telling (presumably) the Chinese to "respect Ramadan ie. respect "them/Malays/Islam"". The ad to me, is simply the same sort of "I'm your tuan, and you'll fxking like it" rubbish as in BTN's (Biro Tata Negara) syllabus, but with background music and ketupat.

True, I might reading too much into the ad... but with UMNO Youth, Perkasa, the Mamaks, the Mufti of Perak etc constantly pushing to expand the limits of so-called Malay rights - non-Malays do not have the luxury of being timid and accommodating.

I know it's Ramadan, but I'll eat if I want to.

This post has been edited by seantang: Aug 4 2011, 10:47 AM

Anyone bought shares today, after DJIA lowsai last night?

SIA finally went below my target entry price BUT...

It's true after all, time & time again. Warren Buffett's very simple rule: BUY when people are bearish, and sell when people are bullish - is very, very hard to actually do.

---

Added on August 5, 2011, 7:29 pmI flew home yesterday after lunch and am on leave until next Wed.


This post has been edited by seantang: Aug 5 2011, 07:29 PM

Can't shake the fear from the back of my mind that... best case: I can wait for the market to go lower and buy cheaper (ie. lost profits) to worst case: I buy now and the market goes lower by a lot (ie. the current recession fears are true) and I get stuck holding some really overpriced shares for the next few years. And if I cut loss, it's still a significant loss.

On the other hand if I sit back and wait for the market to recover (hoping to jump on while it's on the way up)... like in March 09, then the market can go up so fast that I'd never jump in, waiting for a better entry point.

Anyway, this is not "spare" cash. This is cash that needs to work.

You have never travelled overseas before? To any country?

I like the BT in Sg. Check in queues are shorter (for Firefly especially since the planes are small), distance to walk to the gate is shorter and the queue through security and immigration is shorter. And for Firefly, I check in about 45m before the flight. No need to waste time waiting. Taxi queue is shorrter too. I usually spend 3 hours door to door between Sg and Ipoh.

Well, you can tell them you prefer to start later. And then the negotiation starts.

By the way, Hari Raya falls on Tuesday 30th, which is a public holiday in SG. You start on the 1st, which in my opinion is reasonable, imho.

Of course, since you're just now coming to SG, you have to be here a few days early to setup, move in etc. But this is not your company's problem... not unless you negotiate and make it their problem.

If I were you, and I didn't want to negotiate, I'd just come to Singapore a week or two earlier, set myself up and then go home well before raya, and come back to SG on the 30th.

This post has been edited by seantang: Aug 8 2011, 09:47 PM

Since the 27th's a public holiday AND a Saturday, I'm going to get a day added onto my annual leave.

Wah... you put me on table, man. I can't even afford to drive in SG, much less Big 3 and whatnot.

Likely.

There are no graduates from ACCA, only holders of it.

There's a Hard Rock on Orchard? Where at?

Can't make it today... literally.

Slept only 4 hours and was in office from 7:15am to prep for a meeting at 9. Presenting to the new bosses after surviving the latest round of reorganisation. My biz unit has been merged with 3 others. 4 candidates competing for each managerial role!!!

Been home resting since 4pm Thanks anyway.

Seems like if you're looking around for a MBA to do in SG, Insead and NUS are the ones to choose... if you're looking for ROI.

Ref: http://www.forbes.com/

You've just shot up to the top of my "people I need to pay attention to in this forum" list.

I don't know about that. SMU seems overly fond of publicising the salaries of their graduates based on "informal surveys" and sound bites from one or two exceptional outliers who were rounding up their salaries to the closest 10K.

Yup. The students are drawn like bees to honey. Employers though, are thoroughly skeptical... especially when SMU has absolutely no pedigree to back up those students who naively believe that it's the school (rather than the quality of the student) that motivates employers to offer 5 figure freshie salaries.

Lee Hsien Loong's giving his English national day speech right now. The number of WPs and lower end EPs will be further restricted. Proportion of uni places for foreigners will progressively reduce.

I've got a corner unit and my PS3 room is right next to the lift lobby and staircase, with no immediate neighbours next to that room. And my block faces a major intersection ie. farking noisy from the buses, cars and train. Play as loud as I want with the windows closed and curtains drawn, and you can't hear a damn thing over the traffic if you stand in the common corridor.

Actually no problem what. It's only a problem if the chap wants to be released from his bond. But he doesn't. He actually wants to work in SG. Ideally, if the bond holder (ie. govt?) can find him a job so that he can fulfil his bond, so much the better.