Top Things Needed by a Successful Entrepreneur

Everyone’s favourite line is to succeed. People exist not only to live but to achieve the peak of their triumphs. Like business men, investors, or entrepreneur they chose to be in the business industry not only they want it but because they want to earn more money.

To be a successful person will not be easily given in your hands, unless you are already successful since birth. Even if you are successful or not, you still have to be more equipped with knowledge in the business strategies. As part of progressing world, you should also be productive as a business entrepreneur. Some of the business experts suggest providing your business with online networking that can accommodate online users of customers.

Top Things Needed by a Successful Entrepreneur

The top 3 things needed by every entrepreneur are the following:

1. Logo - if you want your business to be easily recognized it will be important to design your logo. It is a symbol or graphic mark typically used by different companies, corporations, or a single entity to have public acknowledgment. There are several types of logo you can decide on using.

Emblem – it is a type of logo design wherein the logo covers the name of company inside the design. Some of well-known companies use this type.

Iconic or symbolic way – it embodies the company in a very simple and bold style. Specifically, it is in an abstract form. Most of the companies use simple logo that can easily be recognized.
Letter Mark-mostly the letter marks is printed. The use of symbol can identify the company by means of using brand or company’s initials. Some of the business owners prefer to use this type of logo to make the name shorter.

Combination Mark – this type of logo is a combination of symbolic or iconic manner and word mark type. They give the brand name as well as their symbol altogether.

Word Mark – this one of the most creative ways that can give the right spell of the name of brand or company.

2. Name Card - contains not only with one type of card but all the business cards. It has a smaller size that contains name of the owner or company and other contact information. Name card may differ in some features depending on the company’s choice of design and style.

3. Website - it can be in a simplest or most complex manner. It plays a crucial role in every individual who are using different online sites. It provides you to be in the different sites. It is one factor that a businessman should comply. Website has more advantage to link with other people who can probably one of your clients. It is the best way to have access with other networking sites that may help you for the progress of your business.

If you are an entrepreneur who wants to easily succeed, you have to consider those 3 important things. Do not wait for the time you might lose your business, start working with your business logo, name cards and websites. For the assurance of your expenses, look for a professional company that can give you their most effective and expert both in web and graphic designing.

"Top Things Needed by a Successful Entrepreneur" is originally published at make8nice’s Blog.

2600 Singapore Employment Pass renewal rejected in H1 2013

According to the latest figures released by Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM), 2,600 Employment Pass renewal applications were rejected in the first 6 months of 2013. About 50% of these were EP Q1 (lowest of the 3 EP tiers). Bulk of the unsuccessful EP renewal came from wholesale, retail, professional services and infocomm sectors.

MOM figures show that by June 2013, there are 172,100 Employment Pass holders in Singapore down from 175,400 compared to December 2011. But probably the decline is due to the fact that the employee who do not satisfy the stricter EP criterias (mainly minimum salary) are downgraded to lower Work Passes such as S Pass. In January 2012, the qualifying montly salary for EP holders was raised to $3,000 from $2,800 which will be further raised to $3,300 January 2014 onwards. Older and more experienced workers are expected to draw more than this minimum to qualify for Singapore Employment Pass.

Singapore Employment Pass (EP) is a type of work visa issued to foreign professional employees, managers, and owners/directors of Singapore companies. Unlike lower tier work passes like S Pass there is no quota system limiting the number of Employment Passes that can be issued to a company. There are 3 levels of Singapore EP: Q1 Pass, the lower tier, is given for minimum $3,000 salary to up to $4,500. Mid tier P2 Pass is for $4500 to $8000 bracket and the highest of all P1 Pass is for base salary above S$8,000 a month. Aside from the minimum salary, the applicant’s educational qualifications and work experience are also key considerations for the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in granting and determining the EP category.

Top 20 demanded employer in Singapore

According to a LinkedIn study named "Top 20 Most InDemand Employers", top list for professionals in Singapore is dominated by multinationals. The first 3 were IBM, Microsoft and Accenture. SingTel, local telco is the top 12th in demand employer in Singapore. Globally, Google, Microsoft and Apple tops the list.

There are only 4 local firms in the list, SingTel (12), DBS Bank (13), NCS Group (17) and OCBC Bank (19). Technology companies dominated the list followed by employers in Banking and Finance domain.

Below is the complete list:

01 - IBM
02 - Microsoft
03 - Accenture
04 - Oracle
05 - Standard Chartered Bank
06 - HP
07 - Cisco
08 - Citi
09 - Barclays Investment Bank
10 - Deutsche Bank
11 - Google
12 - SingTel
13 - DBS Bank
14 - Credit Suisse
15 - Apple
16 - HSBC
17 - NCS Group
18 - Deloitte
19 - OCBC Bank
20 - Procter & Gamble

Expedia and Incofood International have apologized for their discriminatory job advertisements

Expedia Inc, the online travel agency, and consultancy Incofood International have apologized for their discriminatory job advertisements after Singapore's Manpower Ministry (MOM) suggested they do so. According to The Straits Times newspaper an MOM spokesman said the ministry was informed of the ads last month by members of the public. "We engaged the companies at a senior level, informed them to remove the advertisements immediately, and also suspended their work pass privileges," he said.

In a statement titled "Expedia Sinagpore Pte. Ltd. Apologises for Discriminatory Job Advertisement", Expedia Singapore released a public apology:

"Recently, Expedia Singapore Pte. Ltd posted an employment advertisement for a position, which created the perception that the position required an individual of Filipino descent, which was not the intention. The intention was to require an individual with Filipino (Tagalog) language skills not to require an individual of Filipino descent. The company has since removed the advertisement and implemented procedures to ensure that language skills that are necessary for any position are clearly stated. The company wishes to apologize for the mistake as that was clearly not the intention. The company will give an assurance that this will not happen again. 

The company recognizes the importance of diversity in the workplace and as such makes recruiting and hiring decisions based solely on individual merit and the qualifications directly related to professional competence and job requirements. The company strictly prohibits its employees and representatives from engaging in any form of prohibited discrimination in any aspect of employment including job application procedures, hiring, compensation, promotion or advancement. The company would like to affirm its commitment towards fair employment and the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices."

Incofood International Pte Ltd also apologized in their jobstreet.com.sg advertisement for an Admin Officer position by saying:

We apologize unreservedly for our earlier job posting of the same position. The company acknowledges that a discriminatory advertisement has been posted. The company gives assurance that this will not happen again going forward. The company affirms our commitment towards fair employment and supports the Triparte Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.

Some firms openly advertise positions for specific nationalities and the complaint that these firms favor foreigners over Singaporeans was highlighted in last month's Budget debate by Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, who pledged to tackle such discrimination.

100 best-paying jobs in Singapore

Your Salary in Singapore, salary.sg, publishes a list every year where 100 best-paying jobs in Singapore are listed. This Top 100 Jobs In Singapore list is compiled from the  wage data in Singapore Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) Report on Wages in Singapore report.

The MOM wage data exclude bonuses and profit sharing. You may also wish to note that “(t)he wages for certain occupations, especially those where performance-based bonuses constitute a significant portion of total wage, would be lower than expected. Examples of such occupations are brokers, dealers and senior management staff.”

Below are top 50 best paying jobs in Singapore. The full list is here in Top 100 Jobs In Singapore (2012).

1. Managing director/ Chief executive officer – $29,102
2. Foreign exchange dealer/ Broker – $22,302
3. Marketing and sales representative (institutional sales of financial products) – $20,834
4. Trade broker (including oil and bunker trader) – $19,500
5. Company director – $17,142
6. Financial/ Investment adviser – $15,500
7. Chief operating officer/ General manager – $15,005
8. Commodities derivatives broker – $15,000
9. Ship broker – $15,000
10. Creative director (advertising) – $14,750
11. University lecturer – $14,000
12. Real estate agent – $13,952
13. Software and applications manager – $12,280
14. Advocate/ Solicitor – $12,213
15. Lawyer (excluding advocate and solicitor) – $10,900
16. Financial/ Insurance services manager (eg financial institution branch manager) – $10,250
17. Chemical engineer – $10,105
18. Network and communications manager – $10,024
19. IT service manager – $9,999
20. General practitioner/ physician – $9,963
21. Research and development manager – $9,685
22. Legal officer – $9,624
23. Editor (news and periodicals) – $9,500
24. Journalist – $9,441
25. Chief information officer/ Chief technology officer – $9,405
    
    
    
26. Marketing and sales representative (ICT) – $9,396
27. Risk analyst (financial) – $9,335
28. Treasury manager – $9,160
29. Budgeting and financial accounting manager (including financial controller) – $9,150
30. Business development manager – $9,100
31. Technical/ Engineering services manager (eg shipyard manager) – $9,078
32. Policy and planning manager – $9,000
33. Human resource manager – $8,491
34. Customer service manager – $8,462
35. Securities and finance dealer/ broker – $8,367
36. Wholesale trade manager – $8,243
37. Sales and marketing manager – $8,125
38. Management and business consultant – $7,982
39. Quality assurance manager – $7,848
40. Procurement/ Purchasing manager – $7,804
41. Manufacturing plant/ production manager – $7,652
42. Premises and facilities maintenance manager – $7,638
43. Insurance sales agent/ broker (including independent financial planner) – $7,632
44. Advertising/ Public relations manager – $7,600
45. Information technology project manager – $7,570
46. Business services and administration manager (excluding manager in finance, administration, HR, policy and planning) – $7,535
47. Administration manager – $7,100
48. Instrumentalist – $7,078
49. Health services manager – $7,027
50. Chief/ Executive cook – $7,000

Singapore Hiring Market Report 2013

Morgan McKinley Singapore releases Singapore Hiring Market Report  each year which provides analysis of trends and forecasts based on our survey of employers. Morgan McKinley’s Singapore Hiring Market Report provides analysis of trends and forecasts taken directly from our annual survey of employers across the country. We surveyed over 700 hiring and operational managers across financial services and commerce & industry in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region to give you an insight into hiring trends for 2013. We have also included an analysis of the findings from our Hong Kong and China surveys. We hope that you
find this report informative and we welcome your feedback.

These highlights below are from Singapore Hiring Market Report 2013:

Financial services:
Across the financial services sector in Singapore, employers said:

• More than two-thirds (68%) cited the impact of the global economy on Asia-Pacific as a growth market as a concern.
• Headcount limitations and economic conditions globally and locally will be key factors impacting hiring levels, according to nearly a third of hiring managers.
• Overall, 72% plan to hire in the next six months, with 60% of these also expecting some headcount losses.
• Nearly all managers (95%) expect to secure permanent hires, with 50% also planning to recruit temporary and contract staff.
• Replacement hiring will dominate for 70% of organisations; however, 50% will also add new headcount.
• Compared with the last 12 months, 74% believe that hiring will not fall in the next 12 months, but only 22% expect a rise.

Commerce & industry:

Hiring managers across multiple functions in Singapore’s commercial 

organisations told us:

• Only 44% believe that global uncertainty will significantly affect the growth of Asia Pacific.
• Key factors influencing hiring levels are headcount allowances (50%) and the company or team’s performance (47%).
• 45% of companies will be hiring – without any job losses in the next 6 months.
• Permanent hiring is a focus for 88%, while 51% will hire temporary or contract employees.
• 64% expect that they will be adding new headcount.
• Increased hiring levels are expected by 36% in the next 12 months compared with the previous 12 months.

Singapore Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2012/2013

According to the Singapore Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2012/2013 released by Kelly Services, although demand for talent across the Professional and Technical segment remains high, employers do not seem to be increasing salaries to attract and retain key hires in the continuing war for talent. The annual guide, which provides an insight into the latest salary ranges for positions across all industries in Singapore, shows that salaries remain largely unchanged as a greater importance is placed on non-monetary benefits.

Kelly Services compile the Employment Outlook and Salary Guide for Singapore every year. The guide is a comprehensive reference tool on the salary trends, job titles and employment outlook across industries and aims to provide an insight to the latest salary ranges for various positions across industries in Singapore through a compilation of salaries and job titles.

“Human capital is the most valuable asset in a fiercely competitive globalized world and employers must retain and attract talent to be able to compete on a regional and global scale. We are seeing a shift in the way that companies approach compensation and benefits with many recognizing that they must find creative solutions that offer more than just a competitive remuneration scheme in order to keep hold of critical skill sets within an organisation” said Dhirendra Shantilal, Senior Vice President, APAC at Kelly Services commenting on the data from the guide released.

Salaries in Singapore remain largely unchanged according to the results of
Singapore Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2012/2013

Singapore has long faced a widespread talent shortage. Despite the heavily publicized global cutbacks and redundancies in recent years, many professionals including Accountants, Bankers and Financiers, and Engineers remain highly sought-after. In such a labor market, one would expect companies to use financial compensation as a means of strategically attracting and retaining talent. However, according to the 2012 Kelly Global Work Force Index, Singaporeans prefer to negotiate other factors. 75% placed personal growth and fulfillment as more important than compensation and benefits when choosing between jobs. 51% also believed that it was important to change jobs for career growth and skill development.

In response to the changing demands of the workforce, savvy HR managers have begun to take a different, more rounded approach to an individual’s employment package. While monetary benefits remain a key feature, non-financial rewards such as work flexibility, career development programmes, and a clear career path are also being used as negotiating tools. This means that while some professionals may not have seen their salaries increase in line with inflation, their long term prospects have improved quite considerably.

Just as future career prospects are looking bright, the outlook for Singapore economy remains positive. The economy grew by 4.9% in 2011 and is expected to grow by 1-3% in 2012. The employment rate is on an uptrend and has recorded higher growth compared to other advanced economies such as Japan, Germany and the United States.

For the key sectors in demand, hiring is still expected to grow despite the challenges in the macro-economic environment. In the Accounting & Finance sector, mid-level positions like senior accountants, auditors and credit managers, will continue to be in demand due to stricter internal controls via expense management and push for profitability.

In the Banking & Finance sector, with the greater focus on risk and compliance as regulatory requirements become increasingly stringent, banks are focusing on the hires for such business critical positions. The insurance, asset management and reinsurance sub-sectors are experiencing solid growth creating appetite for skills such as quantitative analysis and actuarial related disciplines.

You can download the full report here: Employment Outlook and Salary Guide (Singapore).

Singapore Workforce 2012 Videographics by MOM

Singapore resident work force (Singaporean and Singapore Permanent Resident workers) grew 1.9% over the year in June 2012. Although this is faster than 1.6% of 2010-2011 period, the growth is significantly lower than the average of 2.6% per annum average of last 10 years (2002 – 2012 period).  According to MOM, this reflects the slower growth in resident population in recent years.

There were 2.12 million residents in the labor force in June 2012.The faster growth in the resident labor force came from the increase in resident labor force participation rate. In June 2012, a record 66.6% of the resident population aged 15 and above were participants of labor force. This is up from 66.1% in 2011. This was supported by labor force participation rate among older residents and women in the prime-working ages.

In 2012, 78.8% of the resident population of Singapore aged 25 to 64 was employed. This is up from 78.0% in 2011 and 72.1% a decade ago in 2002.

For more highlights you can watch the latest Videographic on Singapore Workforce, 2012 by Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

Singapore Workforce 2012

Part time jobs in Singapore

Careerjet SG

Before browsing through individual online job sites or classifieds ads, you may want to shortcut by using job aggregation web sites. These sites basically crawls the web like google does and brings jobs into a search database for you to search centrally. Careerjet.sg is one of them. To look for part-time job:

1) Go to http://www.careerjet.sg.

2) In the main manu without entering anything in what/where boxes, click Find button.

3) A list of all jobs published in Singapore will come. Now you can filter this jobs by using Contract type on the left column. You can filter part time or temporary. If you are looking for a specific job, simply filter to part-time and write the keyword (i.e. receptionist) in the search box and press Find.

Indeed

This is another job aggregation site. You can look for jobs here which looks at advertised jobs and stores them in a centralized database. Simply enter part-time in search box and click find at http://www.indeed.com.sg.

Printed Newspaper Classifieds Ads
I think classifieds ads in printed news papers such as The Straits Times and The New Paper are still the best places to take a look at first if you are looking for a job. You do not need to pay for all of them. Just head to the nearest library where you can find all the local newspapers.

JobStreet
JobStreet.com has grown to become one of the leading Internet Recruitment websites in the Asia-Pacific since it was launched in 1995. It is one of the most popular job site in Singapore (most popular according to them) and have a Part Time Jobs in Singapore listing.

STJobs
STJobs (previously ST701 Jobs which was awarded ‘Best Recruitment Site’ by Marketing Magazine
in the 2011 Digital Media of the Year survey) has a Temporary / Part Time Jobs section listing many jobs.  The site offers several filter options as well as resume upload facilities which would make life easier to meet your dream part-time jobs.

Gumtree Singapore
Gumtree, an extensive network of online classifieds and community websites, has local noticeboards that now spans 76 cities across 11 countries. And one of these countries is Singapore. Gumtree Singapore has a section under jobs named Part time, evening, weekend jobs and work opportunities in Singapore which has a very busy listing of part time or weekend jobs in Singapore.

You can also leave "part-time job wanted" ads in this site which is a good way of looking for job id you are really not actively searching the web.

Craigslist Singapore
Craigslist, a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, items wanted, services, community, gigs, resumes, and discussion forums, is one of the oldest in the web which has started operation in 1995. It has a local Singapore web site named craiglist sg and this web site has a part time job section. Although a significant number of these advertisements are looking for female escorts, there are a lot of other part-time jobs which can be suitable for your needs.

Singapore part-time jobs

Singaporeparttimejobs.com is a small and simple site which lists a few good jobs to take a look at.

You may also like to check this article by Ryan Ong named 5 Part-Time Jobs to Avoid in Singapore. According to Ryan Ong,  the best part-time jobs in Singapore are entirely subjective but the worst part-time jobs are not :)

Singapore Personalised Employment Pass (PEP) criteria tightened

Singapore Personalised Employment Pass (PEP), is a special type of Singapore work visa issued to highly-skilled foreigners. Unlike ordinary Employment Pass (EP), PEP is independent of any employer and allows its holder to stay in Singapore for up to 6 months in between jobs.[1] With normal Employment Pass, you can only stay in Singapore up to a month if you lose your job so for this reason many EP holders try to get PEP to have better flexibility and security in their jobs in Singapore.

Currently about 12,000, 7 per cent of the 174,000 Employment Pass holders have PEP. But this number is set to fall as Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has announced that starting December 2012, foreign professionals applying for a personalised employment pass (PEP) will have to meet more stringent criteria that includes a minimum annual fixed salary of S$144,000, up four-fold from the existing S$34,000 a year.[2]:

From 1 December 2012, the qualifying criteria for the Personalised Employment Pass (PEP) will be raised and some of its features will be refined. This ensures that the PEP remains a premium pass for top-tier foreign talent and is in line with recent moves to raise the quality of Employment Pass holders. P1 Pass holders who earn a fixed monthly salary of at least $12,000 and overseas-based foreign professionals whose last drawn fixed monthly salary was at least $18,000 will be eligible for the PEP. For overseas-based foreign professionals, they should not have been unemployed for longer than a continuous period of 6 months at the point of application. Correspondingly, the minimum annual fixed salary requirement will be increased to $144,000.

 The period of validity of the PEP will be reduced to 3 years. [3]

The changes will apply to all new PEP applicants, including existing P1 Pass holders who wish to apply for the PEP. There is no immediate impact on existing PEP holders. MOM will give all existing PEP holders until 31 Dec 2014 to meet the revised minimum annual fixed salary requirement of $144,000.

Previously PEP was available for current and former P1 Employment Pass holders and overseas-based foreign professionals with $8,000+ salary, P2 Pass holders with at least 2 years’ on a P Pass and earned a fixed salary of at least $34,000 in the preceding year, Q1 Pass holders with at least 5 years’ on a Q1 Pass and earned a fixed salary of at least $34,000 in the preceding year and foreign graduates from Singapore’s Institutes of Higher Learning with at least 2 years’ on an Employment Pass and earned a fixed salary of
at least $34,000 in the preceding year.[3]

See this PDF file titled CHANGES TO PERSONALISED EMPLOYMENT PASS (PEP) for the details of the new changes and answers to frequently asked questions.

[1] - Singapore Personalised Employment Pass (PEP)
[2] - MOM tightens criteria for premium employment pass
[3] - Changes to the Personalised Employment Pass

UBS to cut 10,000 jobs. Singapore, India and Hong Kong are affected

Last week, Financial Times leaked the plans of Swiss bank UBS to cut 10,000 jobs and yesterday it is official: UBS unveiled plans on Tuesday to fire 10,000 staff and wind down its fixed income business. The bank plans to return to its private banking roots and will focus on wealth management and a smaller investment bank. How will these job cuts affect Singapore and Hong Kong staff?

UBS is mainly cutting staff in Switzerland, Europe and the US and on Tuesday dozens of traders were stopped from entering the UBS's London offices. [1] Good news for Australia staff, they are not affected from this round of job cuts. But Singapore and Hong Kong will be affected:

Dozens of traders at UBS's offices in London learned in the worst way that they had lost their jobs when they turned up to work to find out that their security passes no longer worked at the turnstile. 

The traders - many of them from the Swiss banking giant's fixed income department - soon discovered they had been put on two weeks special leave as part of UBS's plans to cut 10,000 staff in a retreat from fixed income.[3]

According to Singapore's state media, only less than 10 of 2,000 UBS employees in Singapore will be affected. According to a recruiter in Singapore, Singapore has already suffered redundancies in FICC sales, but some FICC (Fixed Income Clearing Corporation ) traders will be reassigned into wealth management:

"A Hong Kong headhunter with knowledge of the bank, who asked not to be named, says a few redundancies were announced in Hong Kong from 8am on Tuesday morning. Credit and rates roles were trimmed across a range of seniorities, although the number of staff affected is likely to be low proportionally. USB has emphasised that Switzerland, London and Stamford, Connecticut will be the worst-hit locations. 

FICC is bearing the brunt of the global lay-offs, including in Asia, as the bank pulls back from its less-profitable trading operations. “The key factor driving this is Basel III’s capital requirements, which reduce the profitability/ROI of the division,” says another recruiter." 

One of the worst affected country in Asia is India, where UBS is expected to make cuts in the“high double digits”, according to media reports.[2]

As usual for banks, UBS fired the staff on Tuesday with a rude and quick note: Some staff turned out in the office in the morning have discovered that their entrance card does not work any more. They have then been escorted to Human Resources where they have collected a box full of their belongings and given 2 weeks of paid leave:

Chafing at their treatment, several tweeters revived "U've Been Sacked," an invented acronym for UBS which circulated in 1998 after the bank fired hundreds of staff following the merger of the two big Swiss banks which formed today's UBS.[1]

These cuts fire 15% of UBS staff force which is currently standing at 63,745 and will be and was once 83,500 at its peak in 2007.

[1] - UBS to cut 10,000 jobs in fixed income retreat
[2] - UBS cuts: Asia affected, Australia escapes
[3] - Locked-out UBS traders head to the pub

Further tightening of SPass work visa holder inflow

To further slowdown the increase of the number of foreign workers in Singapore, The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is now looking at tightening the increase of S-Pass holders here. S Pass is a Singapore work visa type designed for mid-level skilled foreign workers employed by companies operating in Singapore.[1] Foreign workers earning more than $2000 per month in supervisory or junior PME (Professional, Managerial Executive) hold this type of work visa. The number of foreign workers holding S-Pass in Singapore has jumped by 14,200 in the past year and now there are 128,100 S-Pass holders in Singapore according to recently released population statistics.

While number of SPass holders jumped, number of Employment Pass holders slighttly went down from 175,400 to 174,700. This suggests that companies are applying SPass for new hires or renewing their employee passes with SPass instead of Employment Pass due to the restrictions introduced in Employment Pass category (salary lower limits for Employment Pass holders was increased in the beginning of the year):

"Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said that it is likely that companies are using S Passes to bring in
more junior-level professionals, managers and executives (PMEs).  “The S Pass is a sector we are not totally comfortable with, because there’s a lot of transference of lower (level) Employment Pass into S Pass and we are now exploring measures to perhaps tighten that segment,” he added.[2]

The sentiment on the ground is that S-Pass holders are taking up decent paying jobs that could have gone to Singaporeans. Also as a more worrying trend, the work force is still increasing despite a significant slowdown in Singapore's economy which is resulting in productivity decline in Singapore. It seems like Singapore's economy is only expanding by adding more working age people to its population and excessive borrowing (especially the construction sector is running on near zero interest rate fueled mortgage spike), which is quite unsustainable and also reduces the wealth of man on the street while the GDP goes up, rather than increasing productivity.

Although the number of foreign workers is continuously increasing, super unproductive SMEs of Singapore seems to not get enough of them. A recent Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) survey
of some 200 companies found that eight in 10 currently face manpower shortages, following the tightening of
regulations on foreign labour.[2] A few weeks ago, an SME boss was telling "we cannot increase productivity in many cases since it is not feasible". He gave an example of small bakeries who needs automated baking machines to increase the individually because they do not have enough revenue to finance it. He basically told bringing more worker is the only choice and otherwise the bakeries will bankrupt. In my opinion this this is exactly what should happen: Let's say there are 5 bakeries like this. If the constant influx of cheap labour which is sustaining their unproductive business practices goes, some will definitely go out of business. But 1 or 2 out of these 5 (probably 2 of the 10 in ASME surveys) will survive and armed with an increased share in market, they will be able to finance a baking machine. They will also hire the locals working for the other companies with probably higher salaries thanks to the productivity increase. Is this process painful? Yes, it is but it is constructive destruction and after the initial pain it will be win-win for all Singaporeans and Singapore economy. Enter Joseph Schumpeter's creative destruction.

The Acting Manpower Minister, however, stressed that Singapore cannot continue to rely on low-cost foreign labor to grow the economy, as it is “a race to the bottom”:

“We will not be able to sustain our competitiveness against our neighbours, who will always have more ready access to lowcost labour,” he said, noting that textile firms in China are relocating to other countries with even lower labour costs.[2]

[1] - Singapore S-Pass
[2] - Govt may further tighten inflow of foreign workers

Julius Baer wealth management job cuts will lead to lay-offs in Singapore and Hong Kong

Swiss private banking group Julius Baer has recently announced a massive job cut of 1,000 jobs after purchasing of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's international wealth management business.[1] According to efinancialcareers.com, this will lead to lay-offs in Singapore and Hong Kong and under performing Merrill bankers in Asia will especially be vulnerable:

The deal is expected to close in Q1 next year and the cuts will happen in stages after that. The Merrill wealth business outside of the US and Japan, which the Swiss firm has agreed to buy, made a first-half loss of $30.4m. Baer is now seeking to cut costs by reducing the post-merger combined headcount of about 5,700. 

Merrill Lynch has about 100 financial advisors – its term for relationship managers – in Singapore and another 150 in Hong Kong, says Rahul Sen, executive director, Gibson Tullberg. Only about 28 of them in Singapore and another 75 in Hong Kong are generating $1m or more in annual revenue – Baer’s minimum threshold – leaving nearly 150 others at risk, he adds. “We do see changes taking place within the Merrill lot going over to Julius Baer as they won’t all make the cut.”[2]

With no improvement in the world economy in sight and very likely recession due to debt crisis in major economies of the world, big financial institutions are announcing job cuts in banking and finance services one after another.[3]

[1] - Julius Baer to cut 1,000 jobs after Merrill deal
[2] - Nearly 150 Merrill private bankers are potentially in peril in Asia as Julius Baer plans 1,000 post-merger global cuts
[3] - More job cuts are announced in Asia in banking and finance services

More job cuts are announced in Asia in banking and finance services

The bad news for Asia’s banking and finance professionals has continued unabated in the past few months as more job cuts are announced in Asia by big financial institutions. Last month, Deutsche Bank AG has eliminated about 85 jobs at its Japan and Hong Kong equities units as Europe’s widening debt crisis curbs economic growth in Asia.[1]

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is planning to announce a wave of job cuts at its Asia markets division which will total up to 40 people two people. The global markets unit, which deals in fixed income, equities, currencies and commodities trading, has been hurt by weak trading volumes and a drought in initial public offerings.[2] Daiwa Securities Group Inc. has also announced in the last week of September that it will eliminate 50 derivatives jobs in Hong Kong and may shrink investment banking and equity research in the city. Tokyo-based firm has already eliminated 500 positions in the last 12 months[3]:

A Hong Kong-based recruiter, who declined to be named, says job losses were across the board, with both junior and senior bankers axed. “Of course morale is low. All firms, not just Deutsche Bank are rationalising their commitment to equities because they’ve struggled to make the required rate of return. At the same time, they’re refocusing on areas where they have competitive market share.” 

The future of Asia’s equities professionals appears bleak at the moment. Trading volumes have dropped off and so have the number of IPOs. The Financial Times quoted a source as saying: “By the end of the year, I reckon every equities team will be down by at least 20 per cent compared to the start of the year.”[4]

Hong Kong

According to Simon Mortlock writing for efinancialcareers.com the decisions makers have recently returned from a longer and less active summer break than usual and they have found themselves in an economic environment lacking of a recovery in the markets:

Banks’ optimism about Asia compared other regions also helped to delay redundancies, adds Damian Babis, director, Capital People. 

Bonuses are a factor, too. Because falling profits have diminished their bonus pools, firms want to make sure their top performers receive the bulk of what’s left. Cutting underachievers now, before bonuses are due, leaves more money in the pot. And when hiring decisions are made for next year, it also frees up headcount costs for business units that are expected to be profitable, says Babis. 

All this has been exacerbated by the move to electronic trading and the resulting decline in commission rates for investment banks. “In equities, the business model has fundamentally changed. Low-touch trading, which is less staff-heavy, has replaced high-touch trading,” says Pearmund.[5]

[1] - Deutsche Bank Said to Cut 85 Equities Jobs in Tokyo, Hong Kong
[2] - Bank of America Plans Asia Job Cuts
[3] - Nomura Said to Cut Up to 30 Jobs in Americas Equities
[4] - More equities heads roll in Asia; here’s more on Deutsche’s latest cuts
[5] - Why BoAML, Daiwa and others have held back on Asian job cuts until now, despite markets being rubbish for ages

Finance professionals find Singapore expensive, but still stay on anyway

Many Singapore finance professionals are concerned about the country’s high cost of living, but there are many other factors in the Republic’s favour, says George McFerran, managing director, Asia Pacific, eFinancialCareers.[1]

44 percent of Singapore finance professionals have said that they find Singapore expensive and they are concerned about the Singapore's high cost of living. But still 8 out of 10 recommends Singapore to their friends as a place to come, work and live. 75 percent of the respondents do not want to relocate or leave Singapore. 60% said that safety is the best thing about living in Singapore and the second best thing is the quality of living in Singapore.

[1] - Finance professionals find Singapore expensive, but still stay on anyway

Fresh Graduates Starting Pay in Banking and Finance

Application for full time banking and finance programs in Singapore in 2013 is now open and many wonder how much salary they can get from these jobs as fresh graduates. Below numbers are from $1Million Personal Financial Diary blog kept by a fresh graduate in Singapore. They are based on blogger's information collected from recruitment events and his schoolmates.


According to the blogger the application process is quite tedious:

"An online application form will take me approximately 30 mins to an hour as there is usually a section where I have to answer questions such as "Why did you apply to our organization" or "How is our bank different from others?" The most tedious one was the MAS application where I have to answer 8 questions. I can still remember the last question was something like "How will you spend/invest a million dollars?" Also, some applications require a pattern test or numerical reasoning test where I have to do some math questions in a short period of time."
Source : Fresh Graduates Starting Pay

Job	Starting Salary for fresh graduates
Auditor at Big Four accounting firms	$2,700 -  $2900
Corporate finance at Big Four accounting firms	$3000 - $3500
Operations at Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Bank Of America, etc	$3,750
Personal Financial Consultant at Standard Chartered Bank	$3000
Singapore Management Trainee Program at Standard Chartered Bank	$3,800
Personal Banker at UOB	$2,700 - $3000
Operations at UOB/DBS/OCBC	$3000 - $3500
Management Associate Program at HSBC/UOB/DBS/OCBC	$4000  - $4500
Sales and Trading at Goldman Sachs	>$8000
General Education Officer aka Teacher	$3,200
Graduate Officer at Monetary Authority of Singapore	$4,000 - $4500

Credit Suisse is not the only bank moving back office jobs outside Singapore

This week Singapore media reported that Credit Suisse is moving out "some" back office jobs out of Singapore. The news is based on a Financial Times article which reports that Credit Suisse is relocating dozens of back-office jobs from Singapore to India and Poland:

"Credit Suisse is relocating dozens of back-office jobs from Singapore to India and Poland as part of efforts to cut costs as some western banks find it more expensive to maintain staff to support the growth of higher-earning “front office” jobs in the Asian financial hub.

The development is a sign that Singapore is facing intense competition as a low-cost centre for banks’ back-office operations, even as its low tax environment and proximity to growth markets in Asia attracts top-earning investment banking and trading jobs from the west.

Source : Credit Suisse moving some Singapore jobs

Credit Suisse is neither the first or the only international banks to relocate back-office roles from Singapore to cheaper locations. As more international banks moved back office jobs from West to Singapore in the past decade, they also helped Singapore to become a very expensive location to make business. Although the taxes are low in Singapore, almost everything else is very expensive and the cost of both salaries and real estate has skyrocketed.

Cost cutting has fuelled the rise of Asian back-office centres in India and the Philippines, and to a lesser extent China and Malaysia. Banks – including ANZ, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, RBS, Standard Chartered and UBS – have relocated operations positions into emerging markets. RBS, for example, has shifted roles from Singapore and Hong Kong to India. Morgan Stanley last month moved about 80 back-office jobs from Singapore to India and Hungary. Non-client facing jobs at the junior or mid level are typically the most transferable. 

Source : An in-depth look at why Credit Suisse and its rivals are relocating back-office roles out of Singapore

Only Credit Suisse's move has been reported in the media in Singapore while I have not seen Morgan Stanley's recent 80 back-office job move anywhere.

According to Kyle Blockley, director, KS Consulting, offshoring out of Singapore started to gain momentum about two years ago:

 “Singapore has become a financial hub in one decade, which has been great for its growth, but detrimental for costs. Staffing is one of banks’ biggest expenses, so it’s to be expected that they search for cheaper locations.”
Source : An in-depth look at why Credit Suisse and its rivals are relocating back-office roles out of Singapore

Although there is still ongoing redundancies in Asia foreign finance professionals are still keen on Asia. But unfortunately, employers in the region are not as enthusiastic:

"Mark Enticott, managing director, ambition, Hong Kong, says: “There continues to be a high volume of expats wanting to move into Asia. The region is still perceived to be the growth engine of the world, but firms are mostly looking for candidates with local or Asian experience. Besides, employers aren’t willing to pay for expensive relocations.”"
Source : Four cold hard truths about Asia’s financial employment market

But there are also some positive news in this cost cutting spree. According to Bloomberg, Wall Street and European banks are transferring jobs from Japan to Hong Kong and Singapore to reduce expenses as the euro region’s debt woes dent global investor confidence. Tokyo is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, according to ECA International’s Worldwide Cost of Living Survey conducted in March. Singapore is 32nd and Hong Kong 36th. 

Top 100 Highest Paying Jobs in Singapore in 2012

Salary.sg, a blog on salary and income in Singapore, compiles top 100 high paying jobs in Singapore every year. Salary.sg uses the wage data in Report on Wages in Singapore report to generate our Top 100 Jobs ranking table. According to this report:

"The tight labour market continued to lift workers‟ wages, despite the slower economic growth in 2011. Total wages (including employer CPF contributions) in the private sector rose by 6.1% in 2011, higher than the growth of 5.7% in 2010.  Taking into account the rise in consumer price index (CPI), the increase in real terms was 0.9% in 2011, lower than the gain of 2.9% in 2010.  The corresponding figures when adjusted using CPI excluding imputed rentals on owner-occupied accommodation were 1.9% and 2.4%. "

According to the 2011 report, top 20 jobs ranked based on pay are as below.


1 - Managing director/ Chief executive officer – $29,102
2 - Foreign exchange dealer/ Broker – $22,302
3 - Marketing and sales representative (institutional sales of financial products) – $20,834
4 - Trade broker (including oil and bunker trader) – $19,500
5 - Company director – $17,142
6 - Financial/ Investment adviser – $15,500
7 - Chief operating officer/ General manager – $15,005
8 - Commodities derivatives broker – $15,000
9 - Ship broker – $15,000
10 - Creative director (advertising) – $14,750
11 - University lecturer – $14,000
12 - Real estate agent – $13,952
13 - Software and applications manager – $12,280
14 - Advocate/ Solicitor – $12,213
15 - Lawyer (excluding advocate and solicitor) – $10,900
16 - Financial/ Insurance services manager (eg financial institution branch manager) – $10,250
17 - Chemical engineer – $10,105
18 - Network and communications manager – $10,024
19 - IT service manager – $9,999
20 - General practitioner/ physician – $9,963

You can see the full list here Top 100 Jobs In Singapore (2012).

Number of Singapore EP applications up in 2011

Although Singapore Employment Pass criteria became stricter in 2011 compared to 2010, number of Singapore EP applications between H2 (i.e. July to December) 2010 and H2 2011 has increased by 22.5% according to the Singapore company registration specialists, Rikvin:

"Inclusive of renewals, Singapore EP application numbers has increased by 25.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) between 2010 and 2011. Over the same period, the number of fresh Singapore EP applications alone has increased by 13.7%. On the other hand, the number of Singapore EP applications increased by only 5.2% between January and June 2010 (H1 2010) and H1 2011."
Source : Singapore Work Visa Applications Have Increased Y-O-Y Between 2010 and 2011: Rikvin

How? The reason is largely external according to Rikvin’s Head of Operations, Mr. Satish Bakhda. Many highly qualified professionals with salaries well above the minimum salary requirements for work visas are increasingly applying jobs in Singapore due to the difficult employment environment in their countries in Europe and USA.

Further analysis shows that the higher requirements mandated by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) are far from draconian and are part of a larger national strategy to 1) raise the quality of foreign manpower inflows and Singapore’s human capital as a whole and 2) implement fairer and more inclusive employment practices for Singapore workers. 

Nevertheless, Singapore remains as one of the most open and attractive economies in the world to talented professionals. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has most recently ranked Singapore’s employment framework as one of the most flexible worldwide and its labor-employee relations as well as employment opportunities offerings as the second best worldwide
Source : Singapore Work Visa Applications Have Increased Y-O-Y Between 2010 and 2011: Rikvin

Singapore Employment Pass is a work visa issued to white collar foreign employees which enables them to work in Singapore. Unlike S-Pass, Employment Pass is not subject to any quota system which limits the number of Employment Passes that can be employed in a company. There were around 142,000 Employment Pass holders as of December 2010. These foreign professionals are directly competing for the jobs with locals and many Singaporeans openly express their intake should be slowed.

Share transportation in Singapore

As many of the residents in Singapore, I commute to work by MRT trains and buses. The public transportation in Singapore is quite developed but it has started to become less convenient in the past few years. Since COE prices are ultra high, a family car is not an option and taxis are too expensive and rare to find to use for everyday commute between work and home.

But luckily there are other options which may be useful for many. For example, a popular mode of share transportation, bus pool is getting popular in Singapore. According to Estatebuzz, their latest bus pooling services has been a runaway success and in just 4 months, they have introduced 6 13-seater buses to ferry office workers from their houses to the city. And their 6th bus,  which has started running on June 5th 2012, a non-Shenton Way/Raffles Place bus!  The bus currently goes from Choa Chu Kang to Buona Vista, Science Park I and II and then on to Mapletree Business City on Pasir Panjang Road. Their 5th bus is from Woodlands to Beach Road, Suntec and Raffles Place and 4th is running this morning from Choa Chu Kang to Beach Road, Suntec and Shenton Way.


You can check the shared transportation services offered by the company in this web site sharetransport.sg. The service was launched in March 2012 and offers an alternative transportation option for commuters. With these buses you can have a more direct route than public buses, avoid sardine box mode of transformation in the rush hours and pay much less than taxis. Each passenger pays S$ 95 to S$110 per month or $4.5 to $5 per day. 


"It's popular because the buses are customized according to the passengers on board. We pick passengers up at the places that they live and drop them off at their work buildings." says Moh Hon Meng, Chief Executive of Estatebuzz:


Mr. Moh said he may start an evening service soon and expects to run about 50 buses in all by the end of this year. Finance Manager Vejaya Letchumi, 52, takes the service from Choa Chu Kang to her Beach Road office. Her journey time is now about 30 minutes, down from an hour or so when she takes a public bus or the MRT.
She said: "Now I can get to work on time. The MRT has occasional delays, while the buses are crowded and get cought in traffic. This option takes the most direct route and can avoid areas with traffic jam."


And on the bonus side you can sit and you will not have to commute face to face with a stranger in trains packed like sardine boxes.

Share transport in Singapore by bus pooling - Source : sharetransport.sg

You can easily use the service by signing in sharetransport.sg. You can either try to use and existing route or enter transportation requests (from where to where, what time, etc.). If the service can match you with 12 other people with similar transportation requirements, a new route can be opened. Here you can see the existing routes and schedules.

The service also offer carpooling like Limo/Taxi Charter sharing, cost-share car pool, ad hoc taxi pool. 

See also:

Car sharing in Singapore	Rent a Supercar in Singapore