SGs are Shunning High-Paying Jobs in JobsBank Woh! www.jobsbank.gov.sg

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Q: THE SITUATION WITH THE JOBSBANK.GOV.SG WEBSITE



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Post date:
18 Jun 2014 - 1:51pm












Hi again everyone. A Facebook status from a friend caught my eye this morning - now allow me to explain that this friend (let's call him Mr Tan, not his real name) is a former classmate of mine from Singapore and now runs a medium sized company in the Eastern part of Singapore, employing about 40 - 50 workers which comprise of a mix of mostly locals and some foreigners. His business is very successful and growing and I often see him asking his friends to recommend suitable individuals to hire. This is his latest Facebook status update:
Mr Tan: "The Ministry of Manpower wants employers to post jobs on Jobsbank.gov.sg so that priority can be given to Singaporeans when we hire before we are 'allowed' to hire foreign workers because we cannot find suitable local candidates. The irony is that after posting the job listing on jobsbank.gov.sg, only foreigners have been writing in for the jobs, that means that even if I want to consider hire a Singaporean instead of a foreigner, I can't even do so."

Allow me to show you two of the comments on this status update:
(Singaporean friend): We need to implement singpass logon for job application.
Mr Tan: Singpass lor. What if foreigners hack them to get to the jobs? I would hire that guy for his finesse leh. But seriously, if got Singaporean apply then I will of course see if I can hire them lah, but really don't have leh. Why young Singaporeans don't want to apply and then still kaobehkaobu say cannot find work? Even if you implement Singpass logon and no Singaporeans apply, then I bo pien still end up employing PRC or Malaysians. I am offering standard industry rates for my positions.
You get the idea - I have already blogged on this previous and have bemoaned how the government's FCF scheme is terrible ineffective. But Mr Tan's status update tells me two things: firstly, that there are jobs in Singapore for young people, the Singaporean economy is robust and employers like Mr Tan are indeed hiring (and offering quite attractive packages in fact for the right candidates) and secondly, these foreigners are far more hungry and proactive when it comes to applying for these jobs. Okay, I know we're just talking about one Singaporean employer's experience here but I do have some questions I would like to ask my Singaporeans readers as I want to understand this situation please.

Before we go any further, I need to give you this disclaimer:

I am vehemently anti-PAP and so is Mr Tan. We both really dislike the PAP so much

. Mr Tan has already expressed a desire to hire a Singaporean if possible. Okay, now that we have gotten that disclaimer out of the way, we can now have a discussion about this issue.

Why aren't young Singaporeans applying for jobs like that, on this website designed to give them priority

? Either they are so laid-back and passive that they can't even be asked to apply for jobs on Jobsbank.gov.sg or they are so cynical that the jobs will eventually go to foreigners that they are not even bothering. (If so, then that begs the question: how are they looking for work then?)

I just don't understand how Singaporeans are always complaining about the number of foreigners competing for jobs in Singapore,

yet Mr Tan still finds it so hard to find a Singaporean to apply for jobs at his company?

I don't know what the answer is, I'm not in Singapore anyway so I am opening this up to my readers in Singapore to try to answer that question. Kindly use the comments section below to share your thoughts, many thanks for reading.

Limpeh FT
*The writer blogs at http://limpehft.blogspot.com/


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