jordan-taylor29

I am a 30 yr old male living in the UK who is seriosuly considering working in Singapore. i have 11 years experience working in mechanical engineering mainly in plant installation in the food industry, although i have no formal qualifications in this field i do have a lot of experience.

Is there anyone Living and working in Singapore who is able to help or give advice with a potential move there? I have registered on a few jobs sites with my CV but i also wonder if there is anything else i can do?

Cheers,

Jordan Taylor.

ex reg

If you are currently in employment does your employer work in Singapore.
Can you transfer to an employer in UK who does have work going on in Singapore.
Have you registered with Rail Personnel they have a range of jobs outwith the rail industry.

I wouldn't recommend a visit to look for opportunities as it will likely be cash down the drain.
Have you considered HK, Malaysia and maybe Indonesia?

In this jobs climate you'll have to be lucky especially with no formal qualifications.
Good luck.

Inselaffen

without formal qualifications you may struggle to get an employment pass

jordan-taylor29

Thanks for the honesty ex reg, I have always liked Singapore and i have just started a relationship with someone there which is one of the main reasons i would like to go.

A friend of mine in Australia told me that companies in Singapore are looking for people with hands on experience as aposed to someone with a degree and no experience at all? not sure how much truth is in that.

May i ask why you would recomend HK malaysia or indonesia? what do they have to offer that singapore doesn't?

ex reg

I mentioned HK and Malaysia as having worked there and enjoyed things I thought you might expand the areas you are looking as Singapore may be a closed shop.
Haven't worked in Indonesia but as it is less developed than the other 3 they may therefore accept people with less qualifications.

You might feel you want to move to Singapore quickly, I doubt that will be easy but you may find that working elsewhere in the region will help you develop a network of people/companies which may eventually lead to Singapore.

teck21

Companies may be looking for that, but immigration authorities may not share the same view unfortunately.

The authorities place very heavy emphasis on formal qualification. It's almost like they believe that one can't be good at what one does unless said person has the relevant paper qualification.

They make very few exceptions, and I think one of the things they consider is the salary such an applicant would be earning. Unless it's astronomical (in which case they might admit that the applicant has an exceptional skill-set which they probably never even heard of), odds are generally not in ones favour.

Of course, you wouldn't know if you didn't try.

Kooky.

Seems to be a good few threads like this at the moment - have you all just been on a Singapore stopover?

I'm going to be brutally honest - it's nigh on impossible unless you're a white collar worker offering something that can't be recruited locally. Or a trailing spouse with the right to work there, thus costing the employer nothing in visa fees - and then they still have to convince the Ministry of Manpower that they need you and not somebody local.

Read the other threads for more opinion on this.

There was also one recently by a guy who did make it out there to be with somebody he'd met, as he didn't need to work, and it sounded like he got a good dose of reality. Please guys, think carefully before you give up everything in the UK to follow your heart.

bakedbean

ex reg mentioned Malaysia. you might want to take a look in the Malaysia forum on here. there are tons of folks getting jobs in KL (Kuala Lumpur) currently. just check out the threads, maybe ask a few questions. maybe more opportunities there at the moment. it may not be the place you want to
be, but its an intro to southeast asia and a 40 minute plane ride to singapore to see your partner. lots of budget airlines these days. all the best