Singaporeans get discriminated in own country ?
The Ministry of Manpower will be issuing a warning to an employment agency that advertised vacancies only for permanent residents and employment pass holders, said Minister of State for National Development and Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin.
Writing on his Facebook page, Brigadier-General (NS) Tan said he received information about this recruitment agency through someone who wrote in to him online.
Said BG (NS) Tan, "We have had a 'chat' with the recruitment agency and they have immediately remedied the discriminatory practice."
In his post, he also reminded employers and recruiters not to lose sight of "the need for fair play when it comes to hiring and the need to hire on merit."
"We also recognise that building progressive and fair workplaces that seek to engage local workers will attract more locals to join them," he added.
According to TODAYonline, a check on BG (NS) Tan's Facebook page showed that a netizen had alerted him to a recruitment advertisement from Antal International last Thursday.
In his latest note, BG (NS) Tan also highlighted that a few key themes remain, including "too many FTs (foreign talents) and FWs (foreign workers), fairness and opportunities for our own Singaporeans, bringing in the right FTs, more information-sharing, challenges faced by local employers."
He added that the ministry was aware of the need to "tighten foreign workforce inflow", which they have already done so, and that they will continue to keep a close watch on how these measures work.
I know this may sound controversial, but in the first place Singapore opened its doors wide to foreigners, with the result that many foreigners now hold important managerial positions within firms.
Because of this, there is inevitably some biasness with respect to hiring people of their own nationality. The problem, of course, is how prevalent this practice is, and whether it has a severe effect of marginalizing our own citizens over foreigners even though both have the same skill sets.
(01-11-2011, 10:29 AM)Musicwhiz Wrote: [ -> ]I know this may sound controversial, but in the first place Singapore opened its doors wide to foreigners, with the result that many foreigners now hold important managerial positions within firms.
Because of this, there is inevitably some biasness with respect to hiring people of their own nationality. The problem, of course, is how prevalent this practice is, and whether it has a severe effect of marginalizing our own citizens over foreigners even though both have the same skill sets.
It doesn't change much except that the advertisement will now include Singaporeans.
However, the Singaporeans' resumes will automatically go to trash bin(physical or windows recycle bin).
I think this BG will just force the issue underground instead of tackling on the rootcause. Even opening to all, do we really think that agency will hire Singaporean at realistic pay ? This only make the surface looks good where underneath there continues to be discrimination. Why not ? And i don't blame the Agency.
The foreigners have the advantage of not doing NS and reservist and now have the advantage of getting employment first. The employers will employ foreigners first and will only employ Sporeans when they are unable to get foreigners . Thie is the practise of the opposite of all other countries in the World.
I can give you my own experience. This was for a high level senior position at a local bank. I passed all their tests and had skills that surpassed their needs. However they rejected me only with the reason that I did not respect one of their female team members as I did not look at her and talk.
I asked them for feedback on what exactly did I do that gave the impression that I did not respect her. They did not reply.
I found out later from the HR that the Senior high ranking foreigner who was hiring has been rejecting all locals and finally got someone he knew from Australia and was given a high pay although the no. of years of experience and education was lower than most of the local that went for the interview.
That day I felt very low to be discriminated in my own country and losing a post that I have been working very hard to get for the longest time.
It left a mark in my heart and mind.
(01-11-2011, 11:10 AM)flinger Wrote: [ -> ]I found out later from the HR that the Senior high ranking foreigner who was hiring has been rejecting all locals and finally got someone he knew from Australia and was given a high pay although the no. of years of experience and education was lower than most of the local that went for the interview.
Wow Flinger. That's really tough to hear.
Did you continue staying on in that bank? I think I would have left immediately. No point staying in a place that doesn't recognize diligence and talent, if that persists sooner or later, the system will be corrupt and it'll cumble on its own.
The flip side is that for certain industries, it's very difficult to find Singaporeans. My friend in construction tells me that there are few engineering grads that want to come in at the entry level. Most that do also have ridiculous requests like wanting to only be placed at sites near their home. Too many of the engineering fresh grads that go into construction only want to go in as consultants as the work environment seems less harsh.
Just look at the top management of SMRT.
Hi Buddies,
Just read a blog post of someone who's been working in a Financial Services company on a temp contract for a few weeks now and some interesting observations and comments made by him. Since we're on the same topic, thought you guys might be interested (link
here).
Bits I thought were more interesting:
Quote:While I wouldn't go so far as to call it discrimination, the fact of the matter is that job searches, as in much of life, depend on referrals. The impression that I get is that it is common for someone to be hired in my company based on a personal referral from someone already working in the company. And since the department is staffed mainly with foreigners...well, you get the idea.
Quote:Here is one other interpretation: perhaps it is not how easy it is for immigrants to find jobs here that is salient, but what an indictment it is of how bereft of value Singapore citizenship really is.
Maybe the government is so confident that foreigners can't freeload off the system here (beyond the initial inducements made to attract them) that they feel free to throw the doors wide open to all comers without reservation. After all, if you can't earn your keep here each day every day, you certainly won't survive long here. Even citizens here do not enjoy much in the way of state-sponsored benefits (aka "free lunches").
Citizens, PRs or foreigners on work visas, we are all just fungible labor inputs into Singapore's economic machine, which is why I do not mince words when I say that Singapore citizenship is bereft of value.
(01-11-2011, 11:10 AM)flinger Wrote: [ -> ]I can give you my own experience. This was for a high level senior position at a local bank. I passed all their tests and had skills that surpassed their needs. However they rejected me only with the reason that I did not respect one of their female team members as I did not look at her and talk.
I asked them for feedback on what exactly did I do that gave the impression that I did not respect her. They did not reply.
I found out later from the HR that the Senior high ranking foreigner who was hiring has been rejecting all locals and finally got someone he knew from Australia and was given a high pay although the no. of years of experience and education was lower than most of the local that went for the interview.
That day I felt very low to be discriminated in my own country and losing a post that I have been working very hard to get for the longest time.
It left a mark in my heart and mind.
I hope you did not vote for the PAP.
