Some MNCs which like to think of themselves as 'progressive' encourage their employees to be involved in "continuous learning".

My company's management for instance, likes to count PhDs and MBAs. They put into the annual reports, press statements, customer meetings, investor relations, government relations etc. They like saying stuff like:

- our Shanghai R&D center is home to 500 PhDs
- 50% of our Singapore accounting service center have professional qualifications and/or postgraduate degrees
- 80% our managers have MBAs

Sometimes... it's a check-the-box kind of thing. Having it won't give you an automatic promotion. But NOT having it when all your competitors have it... could cost you a promotion.

Don't be too caught up in the numbers. Focus on the probabilities.

All income levels / job levels are by necessity structured into a pyramid structure. The higher up on the pyramid, the narrower or less area it is. That's a basic law of life. The better it is, the less is available. So fewer and fewer people are higher and higher up on the pyramid.

So, the question you need to ask YOURSELF, and be absolutely honest... is in terms of your potential, how high up do you think you are on that pyramid? Out of a cohort of 100%, how many % of your competitors and your peers are you better than? This is your ability... ie. IQ + EQ.

And then also note that at all levels of the pyramid, there are trade-offs. And the higher you go, the more severe and impactful those tradeoffs will be. You need to decide what level of tradeoffs you can live with. This is your willingness... ie. the balance of your time, energy, work/leisure balance and your personal values (money, family, lifestyle, ethics, charity etc).

This are the 2 most important career decisions you have to make, as it determines which which industry, which job type, what job conditions/environment, what lifestyle you pursue and therefore, will end up with.

Now... I realise that it's not easy to answer these 2 questions and make the 2 decisions. And the more fresh or inexperienced you are, the harder this becomes.

That's why mentors and role models are so important. Mentors help you answer Q1 by being your sounding board and giving you objective assessments of yourself. Role models provide templates and examples of the possible career and lifestyle pathways that answer Q2. You need to choose a suitable role model that is consistent with the answer you obtained from Q1. So, don't go choose Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg unless your feedback providers in Q1 all say you are a 1 in a billion phenomenal talent.

So at the end of the day,..

(1) do you possess a 100K or 200K or 300K or 1M intellect, charisma and drive?

(2) are you willing to go the distance and do what it takes to earn that 100K or 200K or 300K or 1M?

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 9 2014, 11:54 AM

Look at it this way... if the money is not spent on BR1M, it will be spent on cronies and corruption.

And BR1M is not as if one person gets it, another person will not get.

If you do not take yours (regardless of whether you are working in Sg or not), rest assured that someone will use your IC number and take it for you. Lots of people went to collect their BR1M and discovered that someone "already collected on their behalf".

Ask MOE if you can lodge a bank guarantee in lieu of guarantors. Then ask your family's bank to issue a bank guarantee in favour of MOE.

PR is Permanent Resident.

Therefore, it relates entirely to your Residence... ie. where you stay/live/dwell/reside. Your employer and your employment does not determine your residence at all.

So, where are living? Malaysia or Singapore?

Now... that's not to say if you're not living in Singapore, you cannot apply. Singapore does not have specific, immutable rules who is or is not eligible for PR. In theory, anybody and everybody can apply for PR. AND in theory, the Singapore govt can approve or decline applications based on whatever criteria they want. They don't need to tell you which 'criteria' you don't meet. There are plenty of rules of thumb... but no hard and fast rules of eligibility.

So, just go ahead and apply.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 18 2014, 11:15 AM

Regardless of what currency you're paid in, you pay tax to the country in which you work. So, if your work location is in Malaysia, your salary is derived from Malaysia and you pay Malaysia tax. Doesn't matter if your employer is a SG company or MY company or if they pay you in SGD or MYR.

If you like to go home for makan, take naps, take a dump etc... then take the closest one. My temp living when I first came to SG was at the service apartments right behind my office. Heaven! Walk towards the toilets so that people think you go pee, then detour to go home for afternoon naps.

Parkroyal and Shang should be ok.

What exactly are the "math calculations" that shows that getting PR is not worth it?

Only if it prevents you from working whenever they want you to work, and doing whatever they want want you to do.

All these multiplier, 360 etc accounts require you to jump through lots of hoops. Some quite tedious if you don't already have their credit card, payroll crediting, loan etc with then as well. And the bonus interest is limited to $50k principal only. I opened the DBS multiplier account simply because I have been with POSB since day one.

For savings, I use the CIMB Saver which gives 0.8% up until $750k and it's a current account with free cheques and no withdrawal restrictions. Simple to manage and no need to take their other products. And like Maybank2u, if you have a CIMB account in Malaysia, transfering money home is straightforward.

This post has been edited by seantang: Aug 18 2014, 07:32 AM

The highest paid non-managerial accountants in my company's regional accounting center (ie. still executives, but about 15 years experience) are paid around 15K a month including car allowance. These guys don't have people reporting to them and they don't manage or approve budgets / expenses, but they handle the most complex work or legal entities and business units.

100% have a bachelor's degree. 75% also have either a postgraduate degree or professional qualification on top of their bachelors. 50% have all 3 ie. bachelors + masters/MBA + professional qualification. Since there are a lot of foreigners, many actually have 2 professional qualifications ie. their local country qualification plus a more international one like CA, CPA or ACCA.

Managers start at 15K.

US MNC regional HQ in SG.

Chemicals industry.

Firstly, the HR system doesn't recognise ACCA to be an academic qualification. It's recognised as a professional membership. So technically, people with ACCA alone are Form 5 or Form 6/Pre-U highest academic qualification and a professional membership. Since we have 2 salary scales (one for graduates, another for technicians/non-graduates) - the HR system will default ACCA to the technician/non-graduate payscale. Since ACCA holders can find a higher salary elsewhere, our salary offer won't attract them.

Secondly, in Singapore, it's very easy to find graduates who also have a professional qualification. So, we don't bother to look at non-graduate resumes.

No idea about other companies. The HR consultant that does our benchmarking has separate data for graduates and non-graduates. l imagine other peer companies have similar pay differentials between graduates and non-graduates.

I don't think people go "WHOAHHH" over professional qualifications in this day and age anymore. Nowadays, everybody has one. In SIngapore - 99% have one plus a degree, or 2 degrees. In my experience, only Malaysia still values a professional qualification alone, without degree.

Before you work with someone, the only things the hiring manager has to assess you is your education/qualifications and work experience. That's why your education is such an important thing when you're looking for work.

And worse still if you're a fresh graduate. Your score vs your peers (eg. GPA, honours/distinction) and your university's score vs its peers are the only realiable/verifiable measurements the prospective employer has about your ability as an employee.

But once you have successfully been hired, then your work performance, IQ, EQ and work ethics is displayed for all your colleagues to see. After you have been hired, your performance, the way you behave and the way you project yourself/your brand/your image/perception becomes the metrics you are measured by.

Ang Mo Kio itself? Anywhere along the bus routes you've listed out?

Not many 8-10K jobs for people who don't already know their way into this job market and know what & where to target with their given skillset & qualifications.

At that salary level, only perhaps IT and banking will take a chance on candidates who are totally new to the market. Other industries have no shortage of qualified people already onshore with employment/residence status.

That willingness to fire also contributes to the industry's willingness to hire.

Accountancy? Depends on which industry the accountant is in. If he is in banking, then yes, it's easier to get in compared to say a local GLC where at your target salary level, you'll need minimum ICPAS membership and familiarity with local accounting standards, tax laws and commercial practices ie. you'll be in a controller level role in charge of the entire book. If it's MNC accounting service center, they will have more than just local GAAP accounting, but also US GAAP and/or IAS. They may also cover local accounting of other countries which makes foreign experience welcome.

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 19 2014, 09:19 AM

It's quite true. I basically ended up here in Singapore because the company wanted to move all finance operations in KL to SG. Took the package and came here. Never looked back since.

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 19 2014, 06:40 PM