Tag: Gilbert Goh

Father Resorts To Crowfunding To Pay $69,000 To MOE For Daughter’s Failure In Teaching Program

Dear Friends,

Our whole family was delighted that our second daughter got through the teaching interview. She was an exemplary student in school and her strongest characteristic is that, she does not give up in all her pursuits.

She got all the relevant teachers and even her PE teacher to write her testimonials in order to support her application to join the teacher’s trainee programme for ‘O’ Level students.

Prior to this, my daughter had already gained entry to one of the diploma courses in the Polytechnic through their Direct Admission exercise, where they base the qualification on the student’s preliminary examination.

She qualified for health and fitness, event management and nursing courses. If we had a crystal ball, we would not have opted for the teaching course.

I had always thought of my daughter’s strong determination to overcome all odds to succeed in life would enable her to be successful in any course that she took. This is after seeing her excel in the National Team in Silat (Malay Martial Arts) and doing well in training others to master the skill.

She even cleared her studies in the Polytechnic even though she had never studied chemistry and additional mathematics during her secondary school years.

Our main intention for her to take up the profession was because of the values she can pass on to her students, if she were to become a teacher eventually.

She proved herself well when she was doing the course at NIE scoring over 3 points for her GPA. The practicum was supposed to be just a formality before she became a teacher.

Life is known to throw you a curved ball and we were shocked when my daughter did not get through her first practicum despite almost getting a pass for the second observation.

She had to pay $700 to do the second practicum without getting any allowance for it.

This is very stressful for everyone because it is at the tail-end of the course and the amount to be paid back to MOE is certainly much more compared to if she were to drop out of the course earlier.

At the second practicum, she had to take it in a different school. It was as though she started from ground zero because the school’s culture was different from the previous school.

She did not go to a higher ranking school so actually she was in a worse position coupled with the mentors having no interest to coach anyone.

One mentor was furthering her studies during the night and the other mentor had lost all passion for teaching. The other mentor has since left the teaching profession.

My daughter wanted to do her best at this second practicum but it seemed that nothing was going her way.

The following is her personal account of what she went through at the second practicum.

1. I spent sleepless nights to prepare the lesson plan and taken every feedback to improve it and work on it.

2. I spent a lot of time improving my lesson plans, I did my very best to execute everything I have planned during lesson. Due to the amount of time I spent improvising the lesson plan, it hinder my progress to prepare for my other topics.

3. I have spared time to participate in preparing for teacher’s day celebration. I choreographed a presentation by the students for the occasion which have taken much of my own time.

4. I am involved and present in every Judo session and wrote a reflection about what I had observed

5. I paid $700+ to redo my practicum and when I explained to Ms June (CT 2). She said that money doesn’t go to them. I was taken back by this reaction and felt lost.

6. Ms Yati (CT 1), she was taking part-time degree studies, she made me felt that I was a burden to her hence, I dared not approach her for help. She too had sleepless nights, her son was falling sick most of that time. I felt stress about it. She did try to share with me about her problems and how she was able to overcome it.

7. She could only spend a certain amount of time with me as she has to complete her own assignments.

8. Ms June (CT 2) was planning to resign and she did.

9. I came very early to school at 6am to prepare equipments for students so that I was able to save time and able to carry out my lesson smoothly.

10. I tried to approach to Ms June (CT 2) for advice and motivation to persevere; she said that if I failed this practicum, I have a diploma to get a stable career and pay the liquidated damages and the numbers will eventually go down.

11. I have a friend in the same school, she’s a classmate of mine. She too was teaching the same subject as me. The CTs goes to her and tell her what were my flaws and finding out from her what was wrong with me. My friend would come to me and tell me what they had spoken about me. Why must they do that instead of discussing this with me directly?

12. My friend and I, we quarrelled about it because I was unhappy that the CTs went through her instead of facing me. The CTs tried to find out more from her about me whether I am always this emotional. I felt that this situation was as if they were talking behind my back.

13. This caused me to build a barrier between myself and the CTs. I was clear that I have to work together with them. Due to this incident, I dared not to speak or seek help from anyone.

14. When my NIE supervisor wanted me to do a reflection, I did and email to her. I never got any reply from her on how I could overcome it.

15. A week before the moderation, I came to my senses and told the subject head; Ms Mai that I want to put all this behind and forgive my friend, I want to keep moving forward and do my best in the moderation.

16. I went back home and take every feedback and make amends. The feedback that kept appearing was that there was no link in my PowerPoint slides and in my delivery. I should add more visual so to cater the different learning needs of the students.

17. I felt the moderation was my only hope that I could prove to them I have not given up. I had searched for hours, videos and clear explanations for the terms which were one of the areas of improvement that I felt I did quite well but still it was not significant enough

18. I have done well in NIE as I passed all the modules.

19. I was late once because of the traffic jam. The rest of the week I reported punctually to work. (unquote)

The thing that we feared most has now dawned upon us. My daughter is now slapped hard with a SGD$69,000.00 debt.

What is worse than this is, the diploma that she received from this course is too specialized for teaching and have no commercial value. This means that she had wasted 4 years of her life pursuing something that cannot be used unless she is a teacher.

So friends, this is where we as a family are now. We are burdened with a debt of SGD$69,000/-. We cannot afford to pay and have exhausted all avenues for appeal, including to the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. MOE says our daughter has to pay and there is no other alternative.

We appeal to your good sense to help us in our bad financial times, so that, as a family, we can move on and have closure to this horrendous episode in our lives. No amount is too small for us. We thank everyone for reading and understanding our plight and donating to us.

May God bless you all!

Your humble family of 5!

Editor’s note: Zulkifli Jabal is a regular volunteer at our charity events and his wife joins him regularly. The crowdfunding site is listed here –https://life.indiegogo.com/…/help-pay-liquidated-fee-after-…

– See more at: http://www.transitioning.org/…/father-resorts-to-crowdfun…/…

Source: Gilbert Goh

April 1, 2015
Gilbert Goh: My Experiences With Lee Kuan Yew’s Policies As Prime Minister

Ten personal experiences I had with Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s policies as Prime Minister:-

1. Defamation lawsuits – I grew up knowing more of LKY on his defamation lawsuits against his political opponents than anything else. I realised then that this man can’t be messed around and he would take action to bring you to task.

However, my respect of him lessened considerably as it meant that he is very intolerant of dissent and criticism and is too brutal on the way he treats his political opponents.

This perhaps is the gripe of many other people who criticised his policies.

2. International arena – he brought much pride to our country when he travels round widely especially to the US where his expert views on China was sought after.

I remembered the pride for my country was at its highest in the 1980s. I would touch down at Changi airport after a trip and felt goose pimples of pride welling up within me as I am finally home.

Employment was high, wages good and everyone has enough – even those who are a non-graduate like myself. I earned $2500 then and life was sufficient.

I could marry, have a executive BTO flat and a PAP supporter still. I also served in the RC though I resigned within a year due to personal reasons.

Its no wonder then most Singaporeans prefer life in the 1980s under Lee Kuan Yew.

This pride left me many years ago as we struggle with our own identity made worse by the huge influx of foreigners and the high cost of living.

Like many, I yearn for a change within my country as I could not see a bright future ahead.

3. Banning of chewing gum – I was quite shocked that chewing gum was banned almost twenty years ago by LKY when there was a report stating that people jammed gum on the MRT train doors causing them to malfunction.

I thought that was a sign of dictatorship and my unease grew as this powerful man could impose his will on anything in Singapore without any consequence or resistance.

4. Succession plan – I was quite shocked that LKY decided to leave the throne almost 2 decades ago after 30 years as our first Prime Minister. His primary reason for doing that is to roll out a proper succession plan so that Singapore is not solely dependent on him alone.

My respect for him grew back after that as he is willing to sacrifice and let someone takes over from him when he is still capable and at his best.

Most tyrants would try to hang on power as long as they could but this man gave it up for the sake of the country – wow!

5. Graduate mother scheme – when he announces the graduate mother scheme almost three decades ago, I thought that was crap and smelled of elitism.

Graduate mothers could give birth to more babies compared to non-graduates as he argued that genetically, such babies will be born gifted with better genes and thus possess better opportunities at succeeding in life.

There was a lot of resistance against the scheme and understandably it was scrapped.

The scheme however was one huge example of LKY’s emphasis on elitism and his highly-unpopular government scholarship scheme.

6. Anti-corruption stance – LKY is famed for his stand against corruption and those found flouting it were severely punished.

I remembered a housing minister found guilty of corruption and subsequently committed suicide because LKY was coming down hard on him.

He knew the adverse consequences of a corrupted regime and thus decided to pay millions for his cabinet to ensure that they stay clean.

He even complained of a discount given to the Lee family by the developer when they bought a high-end property and later decided to donate the discount to charity.

He wanted a clean government and it has to start with him personally.

However, corruption has began to creep back into the government service and more than ten top ranking officers were caught and persecuted, mostly because of their addiction to gambling in our casinos.

7. Million-dollar ministers – personally I was not comfortable with LKY’s policy of paying his ministers million-dollar salary.

It became a hot election topic and the opposition used it to good effect.

Many people felt that ministers are serving the people and they should be compensated fairly but not excessively. A junior minister earns $1 million per annum.

When it was debated in Parliament, I could see how LKY argued for it without much criticism and I knew that we are in trouble when the policy was pushed through easily just because of one man’s charismatic influence and authority.

To his credit, PM Lee Hsien Loong has reduced his own pay and the pay of his team of cabinet ministers after the previous election but compared to other western countries with larger problems, ours still seem excessive – after a reduction.

8. Housing for all – LKY was the architect of the policy home-for-every-Singaporean and went to make this a realisation when he became Prime Minister.

High-rise public flats were made available and more importantly affordable so no one will be denied a flat despite his financial constraints.

Many babyboomers benefitted from the cheap housing and most people could afford a flat – I bought a executive flat at $146,000 when I married at 32 years old. I am now 53 years old.

The same BTO flat now would cost almost $400,000.

As the economy matures, flats later became more expensive and many people could not afford to own a public flat anymore as our wages fail to chase after our high cost of living.

The secondary market also turns into a national disaster as foreigners with bucket loads of cash churned and caused many second-hand flats in prime locations to rise unabatedly.

Permanent residents could buy second-hand HDB flats but the policy has since tightened with some restrictions but irreparable damage has already been done.

Poor families now have no choice but to opt for cheap government rental flats and the queue is getting longer as the economy favours the well-educated and well-connected.

9. Racist policy – LKY is also famed for his daring anti-Muslim stance as he felt that Malays will always side with Malaysia in a war situation due to the religious factor angering many Malays all this while.

Malays are often sidelined from key sensitive military appointments and many serve their national service with civil defence – a non-military segment of our total defence mechanism.

The Malay community continues to face latent discrimination as many of them were portrayed as unable to fit into our mainstream Chinese-dominated society.

The government-controlled mainstream media also constantly paints this minority community as the ultimate black sheep in a divide-and-rule strategy.

Many Malay voters are expected to vote against the ruling party as they felt marginalised and politically exploited.

10. Loving husband – the world was treated to the amazing dedication of a loving husband when his daughter Ms Lee Wai Leng recounted in a article how LKY took pain to care for his ailing wife caught in a stroke.

He would read to her every night and even cleaned her up personally.

I remembered my tears welled up when I read of his dedication for his wife.

It was a side that not many Singaporeans would know as we all viewed him as someone who is hard-nosed and to many almost a tyrant.

RIP.

We will all miss you and thank you for your dedication in serving Singapore – the best you could.

Source: Gilbert Goh

March 23, 2015
Seven Career Life Tips For My Third Year Undergraduate Daughter

We have our fair share of enquiries from fresh graduates seeking career direction from us over the past few years.

My own daughter is also a third-year overseas university student now and is rather clueless as to what she wants to do after graduation.

Gone were the days when young people could simply graduate and get a job pretty soon – some could even land a job before they graduate!

Nowadays, unless you are a A-class student, chances are you will need to job search for a while before landing that elusive job.

Many fresh graduates will opt to work for the civil service for a 2-year contract before they decide what to seriously do next.

Its a good interim measure and one that allows you to chalk up some valuable work experience and yet you get paid for doing that! Talking of best of both world…

I have list down seven tips for my own third-year undergraduate daughter or any other soon-to-graduate young people to look out for positive direction in their career path:-

1. Know what you want to do

Many fresh graduates we met over the years are rather clueless as to what they want for themselves – this is understandable as they have spent many years pursuing an education and aceing their exams rather than anything else.

There is hardly any time left to find out what interest them or make them tick.

It is my hope that my own daughter and our young people take some time to pursue their hobbies during the school holidays to explore more of what interest them than attending educational classes that only expand their IQ further but not their EQ.

More and more employers are questioning the inter-personal and mangement skills of our fresh graduates – they are good in their work alone but often find it difficult to work with other people in a team project.

Leadership in a company also involves the ability to talk and convince a group of people to follow after a direction that you set out and people often prefer to follow after someone who is good at persuasive communication.

Besides the ability to communicate effectively, its also good to find out what you like and dislike – what make you tick and what don’t.

People who are older often look for jobs that interest them – something that they could find their passion in and its often not all about the money.

Nevertheless, this is something that most young people would not be able to identify with as they equate a good salary with their achievement and self-worth and its fine.

Unfortunately, they often could not really find out, by the time they hit their twenties, what they really like to do until very much later in life.

Young people who are thinking of starting a family also needs the right salary to provide for their family and often times its not all about work passion and career satisfaction.

Its no secret though that people tend to stay on longer in a job when what they do is interesting and that they are passionate about the stuff they commit to from Monday to Friday.

If you drag your way to work regularly every morning for more than a year then its time to re-examine your interest component for that piece of job.

Doing what you like requires you to first know what you want for yourself.

2. Know who you are

Its important to know who you are before committing to a work contract though fresh graduates have the luxury of trying out a few jobs first before they really know what job suits them for the long haul.

A salesman job needs someone who is able to speak and listen well and a quiet person may not be able to handle the work well.

Its good to know yourself well so you now what kind of job suits you better. However, I am all for fresh graduates trying out a few jobs first before settling down with one for the long term.

I am sure a few internships can do the trick here though the pay may suck for a while during internship.

Too many people take on a job simply for survival sake and in today’s jungle market its understandable but if my daughter could try to find out more about her own strengths and weaknesses,I am sure that she can save himself much heartache by doing what really is within her personal strengths rather than weaknesses.

Too many of us are stucked in jobs that do not really utilise our strengths and capabilities.

I was working in the civil service for close to 11 years before making a belated decision to venture out to the private sector and it was my personal regret that I didn’t came out much earlier.

I could function better in the private sector as its less regimental and more dynamic – something that is appealing to my outgoing personality.

By the time I left the civil service, I was already in my early thirties and the best part of my dynamic twenties were gone.

Of course, in today’s turbulent job market, most fresh graduates would prefer a stable job working for the government but is that what you really want for your life?

So its good to know who you are so that you know what kind of work suit you.

3. Know who can help you

When I was still in my twenties while working for the civil service, I really wish there is someone who can point me the way, my darling daughter.

I was living aimlessly for a while and the early demise of my own father robbed me of someone whom I could speak to when I am in a limbo about my own career needs.

back then, besides drawing a reasonably sound salary, there was really nothing in the job that appeals to me – there was a lack of challenge and oopm in the job that I was doing.

Its all auto-gear by year three and even though I have asked for a departmental change at year five because the previous job scope was really boring, the stagnanted feeling still haunted me for many years. It was like I was wasting my time over there.

Career coaching was an unheard of preposition then and I am glad that nowadays most local universities offer career coaching to fresh graduates perplexed at their own vocational choices after graduation.

A mentor is also crucial here as sometimes you need to walk through your needs and wants with someone who is able to provide a listening ear.

I wish there is someone who did that for me when I was struggling as a young adult – my dad passed away when I was about 23 years old and it was an uphill task having to hold the fort for my family back then.

I have to grow up fast suddenly and it was tough initially – I hope that I can be that person who will be able to walk through the turbulent young adult years for you.

4. Know your own timing

Timing is very important when we are looking out for the right job and sometimes opportunity knocks but once – you ought to learn to seize the day sometimes my darling daughter.

Learn to take some risk in your life especially if its a unique job offer that comes your way and more so if it is something that you are not comfortable with.

We tend to stick with our comfort zone too much when something uncomfortable may really be what we really need to progress further for our own life.

We have spoken to many people who have rejected jobs that require them to step out of their comfort zone and often it involves an overseas posting.

I remember venturing to a overseas posting 7 years ago teaching business English to Chinese students in a faraway province that I have not heard of before.

I was in my 40s then and had nothing to lose as I was unhappy in my job and need a way out to something fresh.

I half-suspected that it was a mid life crisis bout and getting away was part of my own personal solution to resolve the unrest stirring constantly within me.

Though the contract only lasted a year, the adventure was exhilirating and I learnt alot from the short overseas stint.

More importantly, it smashed up quite alot of my own personal hiccup like I couldn’t survive abroad on my own and my self-efficacy improved tremendously – that I could do it if I put my soul and effort into it.

Lets not kid ourselves – a stint abroad is not easy especially when you are married and you struggle with all kinds of personal inhibitions but if you dare to take the plunge there is everything to gain from that venture.

Singapore is just too safe and comfortable for one to experience anything that is beyond the ordinary and for many of us sometimes a stint abroad is the hard kick in the right direction so that we can grow inside.

Too many fresh graduates whom we have met are not struggling with a lack of knowledge or skills but self-confidence – they always feel that they could not do it as they lack a strong belief in themselves.

They tend to speak alot about their own weaknesses than their strengths and capabilities so much so that the interviewers have no faith in them doing the job.

Most interviewers find that the Europeans, Indians and Americans tend to fare better in interviews than our locals as they ooze self-confidence and believe in themselves alot.

So if you are offer a chance to work overseas my darling daughter, calculate the risk and if its manageable go for it – it may just change your life as it has changed mine many years before.

5. Know your own self limit

The latest SOS suicide statistics showed that those in the 21-29 age group has indicated an increase in their suicidal tendencies. The next highest group are those in the 50-59 age category.

While venturing to curve out your own career my darling daughter, its good also to realise that many fresh graduates may be too idealistic and want the whole world to themselves – as soon as possible.

In today’s instant-result economy, we want everything fast and patience and perseverance are the very last things any fresh graduate can identify with these days.

Young people want to earn X number of salary by a certain year and they demand a promotion even if they don’t really deserve it.

Job hopping is our latest professional disease and most young graduates have work at least three jobs by the time they graduated within the five-year period.

I am sure that many of those suicides that hit our young adults these days is a result of failed relationship which dashed the romantic hopes of a few but a good many may have being professional failures – failure to get that dreamed promotion or cherished posting.

Though its good to have all kinds of goals and plan after graduation its also wise to know one’s own limit and try to plan within one’s ability – not everything is defined by how much money we earn and we ought not to let one failure defines our whole life.

Ending one’s life is just a very myopic view of avoiding a situation that doesn’t goes our way.

6. Know how to slow down

We live in a very fast-paced society my darling daughter whereby everything is done at a push of the button – if you need money go to the ATM machine and if you need to buy a movie ticket just punch into your handphone apps.

Fresh graduates out to work in the society need to learn to slow down and constantly ask themselves – am I doing alright, am I happy with my own personal achievement, do I need to change course abit so that I can live better?

We ought to constantly check ourselves so that we don’t live life aimlessly and on auto-gear.

Moreover, we also have the unenviable record of having the highest number of work hours in any first world economy and there is no sign that we will slow down.

Though our young people are well rewarded – its at the expense of their mental and physical health.

It is no wonder that before they reach 30 years old, our young people are checking out the migration route as they realise that they can’t go on like this – beating themselves out at the work place till 9pm daily and not expecting any backlash on their health and psyche.

So I hope that you my darling daughter will learn how to slow down and exercise regularly.

If you have to quit from your job to save yourself, do it – nothing else matters much if you suffer mentally or physically from the stress at work especially when it affects your sleep pattern and psyche.

Its just not worth it.

I have personally quit from two jobs because of the adverse politics within the work place and the mundane nature of the job.

7. Know how to give back

Before starting to chalk up those precious hours at the work place my darling daughter, its good for you to have a habit of giving back to the less fortunate and vulnerable.

When we give back to the society, we feel good and those altruistic feelings will do wonders for us.

Studies have shown that charitable acts improve our own personal well being and have in fact lessen those depressive feelings within us.

We have all along groom a society that is rather achieving in nature and sometimes we become self-centred in our own personal pursuit – often ignoring the needs of the less fortunate.

We turn a blind eye to the down trodden and over time, we turn hardened and cold.

So take time to help out in organisations that reach out to the less fortunate. There should be many around these days.

You can also volunteer with us if you are keen – we need tutors, befrienders, drivers and counsellors.

You can do so regularly or one-off but for tutors and befrienders, we prefer that you sign up with us for at least a year to ensure continuity.

Conclusion

I have shared seven ways to look out for positive direction for my darling daughter and other fresh graduates and many are gleaned from my own personal experience.

If you have any enquiries, please write to us at [email protected], we love to hear from you.

Written by: Gilbert Goh

Source: www.transitioning.org

March 3, 2015
In Solidarity With Singaporean Indians – Make Thaipusam A Public Holiday!

There has been a lot of talk recently about making Thaipusam – an annual Hindu festival event celebrated by the Tamil community here – a public holiday.

We have four races here and though Deepavali is celebrated as a public holiday, Thaipusam which is an important Hindu day in the Tamil community calender is not officially gazetted as a public holiday yet.

In Singapore, every major race is given two days of religious or cultural holiday. The Chinese have Chinese New Year (CNY), which lasts for two days. Malays, who are predominantly Muslim, are given holidays for Hari Raya Haji and Hari Raya Puasa. Indians are given Deepavali and Vesak Day. Hence, Thaipusam could not be made a holiday for Indian Hindu.

Vesak Day which is a Buddhist religion is strangely been gazetted as a Indian holiday though very few Indians celebrate.

17,000 signatures were collected to date to petition online for Thaipusam to be made a public holiday here:-

https://www.change.org/p/mdm-halimah-yacob-make-thaipusam-a-religious-holiday-in-singapore

There is also this recent controversy whereby three Indians were arrested for disorderly behaviour during the recent Thaipusam when the police was called upon to enforce a ancient 1973 law which disallows the use of musical instruments for kavadi carriers.

In response to the arrest, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K Shanmugam made an effort to explain why musical instruments were disallowed during the Thaipusam’s foot procession, citing the 1964 riots as the main reason for imposing such an ancient law.

We hope that with the recent arrest, the government will look closely into allowing musical instruments to be played during Thaipusam foot procession under limited conditions.

This event hopes to unite all Singaporeans to support our smallest minority race to petition for Thaipusam to be made a public holiday – as only 9% of the population is make up of Indians.

We agree with the online petition statement that –

Thaipusam should be made a holiday in Singapore from 2016 in the interest of fairness to all races in Singapore.

Let us come together and speak with one voice – though we have 4 races but we are first Singaporeans!

Singaporeans supporting Singaporeans.

Gilbert Goh
Event Organiser

Editor’s note: We will co-operate with NParks and the police to ensure that the event will be carried out smoothly.

Source: Gilbert Goh

February 10, 2015
Former Civil Servant Understands Pain Of Having To Compete With Foreigners For Jobs

Transitioning: First of all, thanks for allowing us to interview you online and can you provide us with some background information on yourself?

Linus: I am a 38-year-old Singaporean, currently living and working in Phnom Penh, Cambodia as a Director of Business Development with a Singapore-owned company. Until the middle of 2014, I was government officer, and my last appointment was Senior Assistant Director at one of the Ministries.

I was forced to resign from the Ministry following an incident where one of my subordinates was charged for alleged CBT, and my superiors thought someone had to take the fall for the failure to discover and report the breach. I found myself out of a job for six months following my resignation, and I was lucky to have met my current employer, and here I am in Cambodia.

Transitioning: What was your last occupation and you have told me that you were unemployed for a few months, can you tell us more about this and also your job search experience?

Linus: It’s never easy to be out of a job in Singapore, especially in such a challenging economic climate. I had to rely on savings that both me and my wife had painstaking built over the past 13 years. I had written to a number of foreign-owned and local companies only to hit a wall each time as they came up with all sorts of excuses, from me being ‘overly-qualified’ for some of the positions I’d applied for, or that they were still “interviewing other candidates”. There were even a few who out-rightly said I was above their budget based on my last drawn salary without even asking what I was expecting, and then I was shown out of the room (literally).

Transitioning: You have told me that you are currently jobless for more than six months, what did you do in order to survive? Did you also approach the CDC for assistance?

Linus: I didn’t approach the CDC but instead relied on savings. I was originally confident of getting a job based on my qualifications and experience, and thought our savings could see through a couple of months while waiting. What I didn’t count on was a prolonged job search.

There were times when I found myself not even having $10 in my pocket for meals outside because I would rather save and spend the money on other necessities. I didn’t go out and meet people and became a sort of a semi-recluse, often locking myself at home and having instant noodles for lunch.

Transitioning: Did you attend any interviews during the past few months and why do you think you are unsuccessful so far?

Linus: I think the reason why I had not been successful in finding jobs while in Singapore is because it’s just too competitive when you have locals and foreigners chasing after the same basket of jobs in a challenging economic situation.

There are 2 areas in which local Singaporeans lose out to the foreign candidate, in my opinion: (1) some foreigners, especially those from the Philippines, China and India are able to accept lower salaries for the same job roles and responsibilities; (2) in the case of Caucasian FTs, I think there is still very much a “colonial mentality” where local bosses will think the “ang moh” possesses more superior skills, while the foreign employer simply doesn’t bother with local candidates.

Of course, that’s only my view.

Transitioning: Tell us abit more about what you have learnt from your jobless experience and how it has impacted your family.

Linus: Remember that old adage “save up for a rainy day?” Guess what, it’s a myth. We had quite substantial savings, but because of the ridiculous and ludicrous living expenses in Singapore (I can say that now comparing the lifestyle I am enjoying in a seemingly “less developed” country), unless you had a million dollars in your savings, I’d say it doesn’t help much, because these days, we don’t know how long you have to remain unemployed for.

It was stressful for me and the wife. We try not to discuss hardship in front of the kids, but the kids can sense something is wrong — they’re usually sensitive to such things.

Transitioning: What do you think you could have done to shorten the unemployment period?

Linus: Nothing much except wait and hope for the best.

Transitioning: Do you think that Singapore is now a more difficult place to make a living?

Linus: Yes, definitely.

Transitioning: What do you think the government can do to alleviate the current employment situation?

Linus: Well I think they should take seriously the cries from the ground with regards to foreigners competing for jobs with us — it’s something that’s real, and not just some urban myth. Secondly, it doesn’t help too that we have ministers like Tan Chuan Jin coming out to justify why they think foreigners should be paid more than Singaporeans, and making it sound like Singaporeans are lousier in comparison.

Transitioning: Many people have blame foreigners for competing jobs with us, what is your view on this?

Linus: See the above. Many people will read my comments on the foreigners and say “there you go, another one of those”. But I can tell you from where I was previously, the statistics we get tells exactly that story: it’s the government officers who paint a different tale because it’s their job to convey the messages that the leaders want them to say.

Transitioning: Lastly, whats your advice for those who are still jobless and feeling down?

Linus: Don’t give up on yourself. And it helps if you go out there and talk to more people, unlike what I did; these days, finding jobs is a lot more to do with networking than it is about searching on jobsites.

Thanks and end of interview

Source: www.transitioning.org

February 3, 2015