Competition at Non-White-Collar Level
When I used to work at China Jump as a waitress/host during my uni days, the waiting, bussing and bartending crews were made up of Singaporeans (full-time and part-time), with the exception of a couple of Malaysians. Some staff were veteran waiters and bartenders, i.e. they had been working in major restaurants for years, and were experienced in interacting with customers, cross/up-selling and taking orders. It was their profession. They had flair. They knew the tricks of the trade. Their career progression would be to move towards the floor/bar manager role, and in due time, they could take charge of the restaurant/bar or a few restaurants/bars.
A few doors away, the staff profile at Bobby Rubino's was the same, and at that pub (I forget the name) too etc. Of course, the quiet hardworking guy who washed the dishes in the kitchen at the back was always from Bangladesh. That was in the late 1990s.
Today, step into any restaurant, you are likely to hear Filipino or PRC accents. Is it true that this is a result of Singaporeans being picky? Does this mean that a few years after the late 90s, all my China Jump friends stopped wanting to work in this line? That they gave up their years of prior restaurant/service experience and career paths because 'Singaporeans don't want such jobs' anymore?
SINGOV tells us that it has no choice but to import skilled foreigners to fill in these service positions, e.g. import experienced waitresses from the Philippines. And in recent years, they had to step up the rate because the economy had been growing very fast.
Yesterday, we went to a 1-year old ramen restaurant owned by a Singaporean restaurant chain. It looked nicely Japanese. The waitress spoke with a Filipino accent. After some interaction, we realised that she couldn't answer our questions, and that she was 2-weeks old in the restaurant. In gist, she is an UNSKILLED foreign worker in Singapore.
Of course, the floor manager of that restaurant was Singaporean. He had probably gained his food & beverage skills by working up the ranks in the late 1990s. But if the current waiting, bussing, bartending positions are mostly taken up by foreigners. In time to come, the floor/bar manager jobs then the restaurant manager jobs would have to be filled by experienced foreigners, and not by inexperienced Singaporeans.
In the process, Singaporeans are edged out, regardless whether they were really disinterested in such jobs in the first place. Once time is lost, this is not an easy process to reverse.
Competition at Super White-Collar Level
Another crazy phenomenon I have observed.
You have read about how SINGOV claims Singapore does not produce enough 'talents' for jobs in the other end of the spectrum, i.e. the top while collar jobs. And so, they also had no choice but to bring in foreigners aka Foreign Talents (FTs), who are supposedly better than us.
What's strange is this: Every year, the Singapore Civil Service gives out hundreds of scholarships to talented 18 year old Singaporeans, for them to be trained in the best universities abroad. They are trained in a huge variety of areas, e.g. Economics, Physics, Mathematics, Engineering, Law etc. Most of them top their university class, i.e. they are considered as one of the best in the world. Then they return to serve their bonds with SINGOV. The bond used to be 8 years, now it's 6. A female 'scholar' starts serving her bond at age 21/22, and will remain bonded to SINGOV till she's around 27/28. Male scholars serve their bonds at age 23/24 and will remain bonded till he's around 29/30.
Most scholars want to get into the Administrative Service, i.e. the elite talent management scheme in SINGOV, because it means they'll get the chance to compete for the top civil service positions, e.g. becoming the Permanent Secretary. Of course, the pay is extremely attractive. So, the current system is such that a returning scholar is placed on the Management Associate (MA) Scheme automatically upon return. Within 4 years (2 postings in 2 Ministries), he will know if he's been selected from the MAs to join the Administrative Service. As mentioned earlier, if he is selected to join the Administrative Service, his career path is extended and paved with gold (e.g. top Administrative Officer by age 32 can make SGD300k per annum).
Sounds good eh? HOOT AH!!! Go for it!!!
HOWEVER, if he is NOT selected to join the Administrative Service by the 4th year, he will be 'absorbed' by one of the ministries. His career path becomes that of a normal officer at the age of 28 with roughly 2-3 promotions to go (to Director-level) for the next 30+ years.
At 28, this unchosen scholar would have 2 more years of bond to serve. Of course, if he has the resources, he may choose to break his bond, i.e. buy up the rest of his bond + interest, then go work elsewhere. And so, the Civil Service attempts to retain these unchosen scholars with sort of a consolation prize called the High Potential Scheme, i.e. give them a lump sum of money annually till they hit a certain senior grade (i.e. unlikely to have similar market value), promise them lateral movement, and involving them in 'interesting' but adhoc projects.
Meanwhile, these unchosen scholars hear from their Ivy League/Oxbridge classmates who had graduated at the same time as they did 4 years ago. Some with grades not as brilliant as theirs. These classmates are now hired by the private sector and working in London, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Shanghai etc. Having joined big financial institutions, management consultancies, large MNCs...
And by the 6th year, these private sector classmates would have risen considerably in their respective fields, and some have even come to Singapore as Foreign Talents on expat packages.
(We are only talking about scholarships given out by the Civil Service (aka Ministries), and not even counting scholars under Statutory Boards such as ASTAR, LTA, URA etc, who may have studied in the same course/uni and graduated with the same top honours as their Civil Service counterparts.)
What's wasteful here?
SINGOV creates the rights over a basket of local talents for its own talent selection process and needs. To arrive at that basket of around 200 Administrative Officers, SINGOV goes through an even larger basket of scholars annually. Even when some of these scholars are deemed unsuitable for SINGOV's purpose at an early stage, they are 'stored' in SINGOV through the prime years of their careers. While some of these unchosen scholars choose for themselves to remain in the system for life, others eventually make their way out into the private sector. It is unclear how successful they are in the private sector. Some have gone overseas to seek better opportunities.
Here comes the conundrum...
Meanwhile, SINGOV claims that Singapore does not have enough local talents, and so, we have to import Foreign Talent. And like the waitress situation, SINGOV had to step up the inflow of Foreign Talent because the economy is booming. And so, some of these scholars' classmates are now in Singapore as expats (foreign talents), while the unchosen scholars struggle with the question of whether there are jobs for them in the private sector.
You must remember that these unchosen scholars are still the cream of Singapore. They topped the A Levels. They topped the best universities around the world. And there is more than just a handful of them.
And for normal talents like you and me, we suffer fates similar to my China Jump waitress/bartender friends. We are also replaced by foreign 'normal' talents. (Yes, the foreign talent we let in is not limited to top top top talent only.) Our big bosses are foreign talent too. If we do not get the opportunity to build up our careers, we are nothing in years to come.
A solid career is not just for shioks/ego, though self actualisation is very important. Minimally, a solid career will help to pay the bills. Don't get me started on the cost of your old age and that of supporting your folks' final years. The cost figures are very scary, even though SINGOV does not make these explicit. Let's deal with this in another blog entry...
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?
The point of this entry is NOT to claim that:
- Importing foreign talent and labour is BAD.
- Singaporeans can fill ALL the jobs in our economy
It is the prerogative of Singaporeans to demand:
- For SINGAPOREANS to be considered FIRST for ANY position.
- For SINGOV to study and limit/cut-off inflow of foreign labour/talent for positions/industries which Singaporeans wish to take up.
Other developed governments do this for their people, I don't see why we should not want this.
Don't tell us this will make Singapore less attractive to MNCs/FTs, because we know for sure that Singapore is Asia's Top Expat Destination. And we know how not-so-well the Western economies are coping these days. Expats are dying to work, live, play and raise their children in Singapore, so we definitely have the upper hand to choose the best from this ample Expats supply to work for us.
Singapore may not have had any bargaining chips to avoid pimping ourselves to the world earlier. But this is not the case now. This is the best time to house-keep our Labour/Talent situation.
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