Jorbb gets Jobs for You! Bringing Employers and Job Seekers updates on Singapore Employment News. Productivity related Tech Toys & Web 2.0 Sites will also be covered. Singapore's 1st freelance / casual / part time / contract job blog. Visit http://www.jorbb.com to join today!
Called Step Out For Change, the programme was officially launched yesterday by Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong at a job fair in Jurong East.
It features a series of workshops that teach women a range of skills, from writing a resume to dressing for an interview.
The programme, designed by the Workforce Development Agency, is free and open to women older than 25, without tertiary education and who have been unable to get a job for at least six months.
It targets one of the key problems Singapore faces in coaxing older people to return to work. Latest figures show that not enough older women are doing so. Among the barriers cited as keeping them from working are the need to take care of children and a lack of flexible or part-time work arrangements.
A recent Manpower Ministry report found that two-thirds of non-working women aged 50 to 64 had never worked or had stopped working for at least 10 years.
Their situation was acknowledged by Mr Gan when he spoke to reporters after touring the job fair. He noted that besides being unfamiliar with the work environment, these women 'have inhibitions about going back to work'.
But he is optimistic that the Government's various efforts will bring more women back to work.
Employers like Apex-Pal, which is behind the Sakae Sushi chain, have geared up for the greying population. The company has older-worker friendly policies like an extra day of paid leave a year for grandparents.
Said its vice-president of group human resources, Ms May Foo: 'We find that with mature workers, our turnover is low. They are committed to staying long.'
The National Research Foundation will be awarding six new venture funds with S$10 million each under the Early Stage Venture Funding scheme.
These selected venture funds will in turn have to raise a matching sum of at least S$10 million from third party investors.
They will then invest the money in locally-based high-tech start-ups.
The Early Stage Venture Funding scheme was first announced earlier this year.
It is aimed at helping young high-tech start-up companies in Singapore get funding during the early stages of their development.
The six selected fund managers are: BioVeda Capital II, Nanostart Asia, Raffles Venture Partners, Tamarix Capital, Upstream-Expara and Walden International.
Singapore’s jobless rate rose to a one-year high as firms slowed hiring amid choppy financial markets and a weakening global economy, and analysts warned that unemployment may climb in coming months.
The jobless rate rose to 2.3 percent in the April-June period after seasonal adjustments, compared to 2 percent in the previous quarter, the Ministry of Manpower said in preliminary data on Thursday.
Employment rose by 70,600 in the second quarter, slowing from a rise of 73,200 in the January-March period.
Economists said the rising jobless rate was evidence that the economic slowdown had extended beyond economic data and was spreading into the real economy, although Singapore’s labour market is still expected to remain tight this year.
“The labour market is going to soften as growth…slows,” said Irvin Seah, an economist at DBS. “We don’t expect a sharp rise in retrenchments but things are going to move along at a slower pace.”
Economists said the tight labour market — the unemployment rate was at a 10-year low in the fourth quarter — may fuel price pressures in Singapore where inflation is at a 26-year high.
“The labour market is still tight but it is moving towards a more sustainable pace that will soften the margin squeeze on companies,” Seah said.
The booming construction industry created a record 22,100 jobs in the second quarter, compared to 14,500 in the first three months of the year, as building deals carried over from last year’s red-hot property market — which has since cooled — continued to fuel activity.
Services, which includes the key financial sector, added 37,600 jobs in the April-June period, slowing from the first quarter when 46,500 jobs were created.
Employment in manufacturing rose by 10,200, down from an increase of 11,800 in the first quarter.
Retrenchments in Singapore fell to 1,900 in the second quarter from 2,274 in the previous quarter.
Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s central bank chief, said this month unemployment rate is seen at 2 percent for 2008.
Economies across Asia are expected to slow this year as growth in the key U.S. and Europe export markets weaken, while demand in emerging markets are not as strong as hoped.
Singapore’s trade-driven economy, a barometer for global demand for Asian exports, shrank an annualised and seasonally adjusted 6.6 percent in the second quarter, its biggest contraction in five years.
More than half of workers in S'pore regret choice of study, the Straits Times reported.
A global recruitment company has found that more than half of workers in Singapore regret what they chose to study back in school, polytechnic or university.
One in three is also uncertain about their ultimate career choice, according to an online survey by Kelly Services. It was released on Wednesday.
The findings are distilled from the answers given by more than 2,000 people who had sought Kelly Services help to land a job. They form part of it global survey of 115,000 people by its offices in 33 countries.
People of all age groups, educational levels and professions took part and in Singapore, most were in business, engineering, financial services and information technology.
Cuil has just been unleashed and it has been getting so much attention that their servers crashed on the first day. NY Times reported that Cuil is a search engine that the founders promise will be more comprehensive than Google’s and that they hope will give its users more relevant results.
Ms. Patterson left Google in 2006 to found Cuil. The new company has other prominent ex-Google employees, including Russell Power, who worked with Ms. Patterson on the large Google index, and Louis Monier, a former chief technology officer at AltaVista, a pioneering search engine. Cuil, which has about 30 employees and is in Menlo Park, Calif., has raised $33 million from venture investors.
Mr. Costello, a former researcher at Stanford, said that with 120 billion Web pages, Cuil’s search index is larger than any other. The company uses a form of data mining to group Web pages by content, which makes the search engine more efficient, he said. Instead of showing results as short snippets of text and images with links, it displays longer entries and uses more pictures. It also provides tools to help users further refine their queries.
Barclays, a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services, is cutting 1800 UK IT jobs, many of which will be relocated to S'pore. The plan is to reorganize their infrastructure and service delivery by setting up hubs in Singapore, Hungary and Italy. 700 jobs will be reduced in the UK location this year, with the remaining 1100 being moved by 2010.
These new locations will be considered technology "centres of excellence". Barclays does not indicate specifically how many jobs will come to Singapore, but a Barclays' spokeswoman says this: "We need to transform to a global organisation, able to serve the needs of our customers and clients who have operations around the world."
CNA reports that small businesses across Asia-Pacific are optimistic about the economic outlook for the next six months, according to the HSBC Asia-Pacific Small Business Confidence Survey.
44 per cent of the companies surveyed said they expect current economic growth to continue, while another 26 per cent expect to see a pick up, despite global economic uncertainty.
Businesses in India are the most optimistic, followed by those in mainland China.
The survey was conducted by market research firm TNS in the second quarter of this year, covering more than 3,000 small businesses across 10 economies including Singapore, Bangladesh, mainland China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.
Hiring process drawn out as caution rules - In another sign of the slowdown in Singapore's job market, employers are slowing their recruitment process - at least for jobs in the accounting and finance sectors, the BusinessTimes reports.
Employers are now taking twice as long - eight weeks - compared to a year ago to sign up a new employee. The process is often prolonged because more senior decision makers in the company are involved, according to Ambition, a recruitment firm listed on the Australian Stock Exchange which has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and London.
'Recruitment is all about market confidence,' said Guy Day, Ambition's managing director. 'There are numerous examples of where relatively junior positions have required video or telephone conference calls with very senior executives in corporate headquarters before an approval will be given.'
While this may be seen as overkill, Mr Day said it is certainly a sign of the times. Just last week US based executive search firm Hudson reported that more employers in Singapore are putting recruitment on hold even as managers continued to expect higher sign-on pay.
Only 43 per cent of those Hudson polled here planned to hire more in the current quarter - a three-year low - down from 54 per cent a year ago.
Within the commercial sector, the information technology continues to do well in Singapore, along with the petrochemical, healthcare and biomedical businesses.
The Singapore Business Times has a great article on what it takes to be a firm that is admired by it's employees. It isn't just great salary! And one of the reasons that the World's Most Admired Companies pay approximately 5% less in salary than comparable firms is that they tend to promote from within. As important as the highest salaries is a company's "brand" (how it is perceived by customers and employees alike) and how well it grooms its employees for promotion.
Another way they compensate for what seems like lower pay is through larger annual bonuses. Additionally, these most admired companies are great about communicating what they offer and their business strategies actually produce results! The Hay Group, in partnership with Fortune Magazine, does the World's Most Admired Company poll of Fortune 1000 and Global 500 companies. They are judged on the following criteria:
1. Ability to attract and retain talented people 2. Quality of management 3. Social responsibility to the community and the environment 4. Innovativeness 5. Quality of products or services 6. Wise use of corporate assets 7. Financial soundness 8. Long-term investment value 9. Effectiveness in doing business globally
The five most admired companies in the world are: 1. Apple 2. Berkshire Hathaway 3. General Electric 4. Google 5. Toyota
MOM reported that boosted by the sustained economic growth and strong job creation in recent years, a record high proportion of the older resident population was employed in Jun 07, mainly reflecting the entry of many older people into the workforce.
Nevertheless, there is still a sizeable pool of older residents outside the labour force, particularly among women.
The majority of the older economically inactive women have limited or no labour market experience, suggesting that efforts to help them enter the workforce could be complemented by suitable skills upgrading and work preparation programmes, in addition to facilitating part-time and flexible work options.
In Jun 07, 47.8% of the resident population aged 50 & over were employed, surpassing the previous record1 of 46.0% a year ago.
There were 469,400 employed residents aged 50 & over in Jun 07, constituting 26% of the resident workforce. Land transport & supporting services (52%), administrative & support services (incl. cleaning and security services) (42%) and restaurants (41%) had the highest incidence of older workers, with more than four in ten of their resident workers aged 50 & over. At the other end, the incidence of older workers was lowest in IT & other information services (5.8%), electronic products manufacturing and financial institutions (both 12%).
The majority of older workers were in salaried (73%) and full-time employment (90%). However, older workers were more likely to be self-employed (27%) and work part-time (10%) than those younger (11% and 4.8% respectively).
The vast majority of older job seekers sought employment mainly because of financial considerations. Two in three (66%) job seekers aged 50 & over in Jun 06 wanted to work mainly because they needed money for current expenses. Another 12% sought work for future financial security. Only a minority cited non-monetary factors such as needing to occupy time (6.3%), wanting to lead an active life/have social contact at work (6.1%), or having a sense of purpose/being useful (3.9%) as their main reason for seeking work.
David Allen, author of "Getting Things Done," one of the best-selling productivity books of all times joins Robert Scoble to talk about the future of work and how to make the most of productivity while minimizing stress.
A breakthrough book on productivity written by a dynamic author with national recognition, GETTING THINGS DONE has changed thousands of people's lives since it was originally published in hardcover in January 2001.
Now five years later this book is a national best seller. This shows how valuable and effective this book has proved to anyone looking to achieve their goals in life and work with the minimum amount of stress and the maximum degree of efficiency and flexibility. Whether you are an executive, student, or run a business and/or household, GETTING THINGS DONE will teach you the tips and tricks of how to get--and stay--on top of it all.
'They are thinking, nothing is getting cheaper, why should I accept less pay?' - HUDSON COUNTRY MANAGER GINA MCLELLAN, on how the rising cost of living here has left many professionals refusing to accept lower salaries.
The Straits Times reported that Managers and professionals, shrugging off signs of a job slowdown, are not budging on the starting pay they want, according to manpower surveys.
Only one in 10 of the employers that human resource consultancy Hudson polled said it could convince a new manager to accept a lower salary.
Similarly, a survey of almost 900 professionals by recruitment firm Robert Walters found 95 per cent want a pay rise of at least 10 per cent, and 23 per cent are eyeing a hike of 30 per cent or more.
FastCompany has a slideshow about 10 things you can do with Twitter.
We feel that one power feature of Twitter is the "track" command which is used in this way - "track singapore", "track jorbb", "track grand prix".
Anytime someone twitters about "singapore", "grand prix" or "jorbb", you will be notified via IM / SMS.
This helps you with environmental scanning of what's being said about your brand, or to keep up to date with latest news e.g. who just won the Grand Prix.
There have been hints in the government that S'pore may expand its national child leave policy to mirror that in European nations like Sweden. While S'pore currently offers mothers 3 months of paid maternity leave...and fathers three days, Sweden offers 13 months for both parents. Not surprisingly Singaporeans of child-rearing age who were asked like the idea, but employers are balking. The Electric New Paper says that some workers expressed concern that if they policy was changed that generously, they would be discriminated against if they or their spouse became pregnant. S'pore does not allow dismissal of women during their pregnancy or their leaves.
Employers are understandably concerned that the 400% increase in time off (from 3-13 months for 2 parents) would hurt them in both productivity and financially. They would have to continue to pay salary AND find someone to replace the lost worker. Swedes, and other Europeans with extremely long maternity pay have much higher taxes than Singapore to help cover costs. Image Source CT government Follow Jorbb on Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook Group. Now on Mobile!
CNA reports that Singapore's Interactive Digital Media sector has just been given a S$70 million boost. The money will be set aside to attract more international research centres to partner local institutes of higher learning and set up research centres in Singapore.
The first to kick off the initiative is Keio University - one of Japan's top universities. It is jointly setting up an interactive digital media research centre with NUS called Keio-NUS CUTE (Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments) Centre.
The centre, which will have a presence both in Singapore and Japan, will focus on connected lifestyle media and embodied interactive technologies.
The CUTE Centre is KEIO University's first full-scale international research centre located outside of Japan. It is expected to be operational soon and will involve some of Japan's top researchers who are also world-leading experts in their fields.
Among the top researchers expected are Prof Masa Inakage, an internationally-renowned digital artist and creative director & producer for digital entertainment such as Hollywood blockbuster Spawn, and Prof Keiko Okawa, best known for the School on the Internet, which connects Southeast Asian Universities for research and education.
From the Singapore side is Associate Professor Adrian Cheok, who is known for his work in mixed reality and embodied media.
Some 50 researchers from Japan and Singapore will be involved in the CUTE Centre. - CNA /ls
The Straits Times is reporting that, despite indications S'pore's economy is slowing, a large number of professionals are still seeking pay hikes of up to 30%!
A survey indicated 95% of professionals expect at least a 10% increase, while 40 per cent expect pay raises of 20-30%. Apparently, this is common across Asia as they polled 3500 professionals globally. China expects the highest increases but all of the candidates polled were clearly optimistic about the job market's future.
Jorbb.com will launch in 2 weeks. We are almost done with ironing out most of the bugs and will be in Beta mode when "live".
You will stand a chance to win a prize (Five Apple® iPod Shuffles, a Sony® PSP Slim, a Nintendo® DS Lite and the grand prize of an Acer® Aspire One mini-notebook(TBC)*) just for being on our mailer and by setting up your FREE account!
We will annouce winners at the end of August.
Jorbb will be Singapore's 1st freelance / casual / part time / contract job site with a twist... actually many twists :)
*All fields compulsary. Refer 5 friends or Sign-up when site has launched to qualify for the lucky draw. Please use your real name as winners will be notified by email. Duplicate emails will be disqualified. Lucky draw is open to Singaporeeans / PRs only. Winners to be announced end of August. Judges reserve rights to replace prizes of similar value. Judges decision is final. We adhere to anti-spam policies and will not redistribute / resell your email to external parties. Jorbb.com is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any of the listed products or retailers. Trademarks, service marks, logos, (including, without limitation, the individual names of products and retailers) are the property of their respective owners.
SINGAPORE is not facing the dreaded 1970s curse of stagflation, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran. Stagflation has become a hot issue among economists.
The unholy combination of sluggish growth, high inflation and rising unemployment inflicted huge damage 30 years ago on developed countries, but Mr Iswaran is confident things are different now.
This is because even as inflation is likely to stay high, the economy expanded 4.3 per cent in the first half of this year.
'Our job market remains healthy. In the first quarter of the year, more than 73,000 jobs were created and unemployment remains low,' he said.
While the United States has severe problems in its financial sector and other economies such as Japan and Germany may see further softening, Asia's growth has been fairly robust.
'In Singapore, the strong pipeline of foreign investments and tourism projects...will also provide a certain amount of support to the economy for the rest of this year and beyond.'
But inflation - the other aspect of stagflation - hit 7.5 per cent in May. 'We expect some moderation in the second half...but inflation is not likely to return to previous levels any time soon,' he said.
Singapore's consumer inflation rose 7.5 per cent in June (up 0.4% from May) compared with a year ago, according to latest figures from Singapore’s Department of Statistics.
This was due mainly to higher costs of food, housing and transport and communication.
Singaporeans paid 9.2 per cent more for food than they did a year ago because of more expensive items such as cooked food, rice, milk products, fresh poultry and vegetables.
Housing costs also went up by 13.4 per cent on year because of higher accommodation costs and electricity tariffs.
With higher petrol charges and taxi fares, the cost of transport and communications rose 5.1 per cent on year, offsetting the effect of lower car prices and road tax.
Those seeking healthcare had to pay about 5.8 per cent more due to increases in hospitalisation fees, charges for medical consultation and specialist services.
Excluding accommodation costs, which form one-fifth of the consumer price index, prices rose 6.5 per cent in June compared with a year ago.
As part of being an E-biz Exhibition sponsor, which is happening at SMU today / tomorrow, 100for100 Web Hosting will offer its $100/yr for 100mb plan (Free .com .net .org) at only$50 for 1st year (subsequent years at $100/yr), that's a 50% discount! The account will have unlimited features such as unlimited email addresses, unlimited databases etc.
Visit this link for more information on the package and http://quiz.100for100.com to redeem the promo (500 new accounts available only).
100for100 Web Hosting, a TrustSg certified web hosting provider, is proud to be a sponsor for the event. We have been providing hosting services for online shops, start-ups, blogs, hobbyists with the popular $100/yr for 100mb package which comes with FREE domain name (.com .net .org). This Linux based package also comes with 1 FREE professional Flash template from a choice of 10 and unlimited email accounts, MySQL databases, and much more. With one-click installation, scripts such as shopping carts, blog scripts can be easily added to your website.
Come down to The E-biz Exhibition (TEE) - the FIRST exclusive e-commerce bazaar that will allow online entrepreneurs to showcase and sell their products! Grab amazing bargains from nearly 40 different booths - we'll have gorgeous accessories, handpainted shoes, global fashion imports, personalized gifts, perfumes and more. At the same time, you'll get to learn all about online shopping, selling and entrepreneurship through a series of talks from our invited guest speakers!
Date/Time: 25 and 26 July 2008, 12pm - 10pm Venue: SMU School of Economics and Social Sciences Ground Floor
CUTBACKS in the financial sectors were largely behind a 9 per cent fall in the number of white-collar jobs on offer here in the last quarter.
There were 214,999 job advertisements placed for mid- and senior-level positions during the three months to June 30, down from 236,423 in the first quarter, according to the just-launched Robert Walters Asia Job Index.
The recruitment firm's index tracks print and online job ads for white-collar jobs placed each month.
Its Singapore managing director, Mr Mark Ellwood, said the 'slight drop' was due to the ongoing financial turmoil in the United States and the tendency for financial services firms to advertise for positions in the first quarter.
This is in anticipation of resignations following bonus payments.
"Nicely sums up the explosion of digital-technology advances during the past 15 years and places the phenomenon in its global context...[Friedman] never shrinks from the biggest problems and the thorniest issues...Ambitious."–Paul Mangnusson, BusinessWeek
Listeners will receive the audiobook in three easy-to-download sections, and soon after that, as an added bonus, will also receive an exclusive prepublication audio excerpt of Friedman's HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED: WHY WE NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION AND HOW IT CAN RENEW AMERICA.
SINGAPORE’S booming office market is facing a drop in demand and a slowdown in rents that have left many wondering: What happens next, when a host of new developments are launched?
Citigroup estimates that rents could fall 30% to 35% by 2011 as a host of new office buildings are expected to be ready for occupancy.
The Robert Walters Asia Job Index is regarded an important regional economic barometer, with employment advertising being a key indicator of future hiring.
Job advertisements placed in the second quarter of 2008 grew by 3 per cent to 474,308 in Hong Kong, the second successive quarterly rise, but slipped by 9 per cent to 214,999 in Singapore.
The figures suggest that employment growth in Hong Kong is being underpinned by its proximity to China, whilst in Singapore, a more cautious approach to hiring by the major banks resulted in a slight drop off in recruitment advertising during Q2. Although, in both markets, international banks have slowed their recruitment activity, there remains broad multi-sectoral strength, with notable recruitment activity increases in IT and telecommunications, and within the sales and marketing functions of bigger companies.
KEY FINDINGS:
• Total job advertisements posted in Hong Kong in Q2 2008 3% higher than Q1 2008
• Total job advertisements posted in Singapore in Q2 2008 9% lower than Q1 2008
• Accountants in Demand: Chinese companies listing overseas, foreign companies listing in China
• International banking currently the most cautious with regard to recruitment
• Banks serving local and SME markets actively recruiting
• IT personnel in strong demand
• Brands looking to capitalise on China growth - sales & marketing, telecoms and HR roles in demand
Mashable posted a great article summarising 35+ examples of a wide variety of businesses, industries and social media tools. As you can see, engagement takes many forms. Some are likely to generate more discussions with the company while others might result better connections between customers. Some will fade away over the next 6-12 months while others will continue to grow and evolve.
The list includes Blendtec (Will It Blend fame), Dell, Coke, Nike, MacDonalds etc.
There are no rules to what form your engagement has to take. Look at your company, identify its strengths, what types of conversations energize employees and determine how you can best grow/shape/build/join your own community.
Singapore is now the fifth most expensive city in Asia, according to Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.
In Asia, the cost of international-standard accommodation has pushed some cities up the ranking. For example, sharp increases in house prices have contributed to Singapore climbing from 17th to 14th position. Rising property prices have also caused Indian cities to move up the ranking – for example, Mumbai has jumped from position 68 to 52 (score 84.9).
Singapore’s rise in rankings is partly due to the appreciation of the Singapore dollar against the US dollar.
Other contributing factors include its high quality of living and continued strength as a regional hub.
Tokyo is the costliest Asian city, followed by Seoul, Hong Kong and Osaka.
In world standings, Singapore is in 14th position.
Moscow was ranked the most expensive city both in Europe and globally for the third year running.
Mercer’s survey covered 143 countries across six continents. - CNA/de
With the US economy in upheaval and its effects slowly influencing hiring strategies in Asia, here are some areas where you may want to polish your job skills.
If you want to stay employed in IT amid the economic uncertainty, look for jobs in software design and development, networking and systems administration, software implementation analysis, testing and quality assurance, database administration and general IT management with cutting-edge mobile IT and Web 2.0 skills.
ComputerWorld article noted that in the top 20 recession proof jobs list, 4 are IT related. They are:
Software design/development (No. 4)
Networking/systems administration (No. 10)
Database administration (No. 18)
Software implementation analyst (No. 19)
Testing/quality assurance (No. 20).
"That general category of IT popped through as the biggest winner" at this time, said Barry Lawrence, a JobFox.com spokesman. "We know our recruiters are dying to get people with those skills. Everybody is trying to improve the ways they do business, to streamline in a tough economy," so companies are seeking workers with these qualifications.
IT staff jobs are at increasing risk -- both for contractors and in-house workers -- according to a survey of top CIOs by Goldman Sachs & Co. released last week. Global services companies will also feel the pinch because of the slowing economy.
ComputerWorld article reports that the Goldman Sachs & Co. regards the survey as "an early warning flag" for service providers' 2009 bookings of new projects.
These intended cutbacks are a change from last fall. When the managers were asked in October which area of IT service delivery resources they would cut for application-related development or maintenance work, the answer was 0% for in-house employees.
However, with a declining economy, 8% of respondents in a February survey said in-house IT programming staffers would be cut. In April, 15% of respondents said in-house staffers would be cut. That dropped to 11% in the June survey (the most recent).
But contract employees fare much worse. In the survey, 48% of the respondents said that those staffers would be cut. And 30% of the responders said on-site third-party service provider staffers would also be cut for application-related development or maintenance work. 12% of the managers said they would cut employees from offshore third-party service providers.
Most of us think that the only thing you need in order to start running a business is money. If you have money you can do business. That’s what they thought, but money cannot handle everything.
There are 2 major reasons why businesses fail. First, a lot of people presuppose that putting up a business is simple if they have the money plus the technicality-know-how of the product of the business. A brilliant thinker cannot be the entrepreneur at all times. Like for example, a dress maker who wants to be in the dress shop business. The dress maker is good in making the product but she can’t promote it, she can’t do financial bookkeeping and most of all she can’t manage people. Probably she can handle it all out of gut instinct but more of her decisions are crucial for the business.
Second major reason is the product sameness. How can you distinguish your product from the competitors? What makes it unique? A unique selling point or USP is needed in marketing your product. It is a distinct feature or benefit that separates your product from the others. If your dress shop is located in a place full of other dress shops and gown rentals, and you don’t have that USP, more or less you’ll have to compete with them in other way which in this case, can be the cost or fee of making the dress. At the end of the day, no profit gained.
Setting realistic goals, good and flexible marketing plan and execution of that plan are a must but what else to do? Attend business seminars; educate yourself on how to run a business; learn accounting; learn marketing; or better yet seek for professional help.
Straits Times reported that hiring cools off in June as banks turn cautious. The number of jobs available in the three months to June have fallen nine per cent compared to the preceding quarter, according to a new jobs index.
The Robert Walters Asia Job Index, which tracks both newspaper and online job advertisements, found that 214,999 job advertisements were placed in the second quarter, against 236,423 three months ago, due to 'a more cautious approach to hiring by the major banks'.
The index was launched on Tuesday morning. Despite the slide, Robert Walters managing director for Singapore Mark Ellwood said that 'recruitment activity across the market remains steady, with a particularly strong demand for sales professionals'.
You And Me Online or Youmeo is the newest solid social networking website. The founder Calum Brannan started it all at his bedroom when he was 15 years old. The website was named pplparty.com before and just recently changed into Youmeo. Since pplparty.com launched in 2005, they currently now have 400,000 members.
Now at 19, with his 10 man team in his London office, Calum has achieved many in such a short period of time. But what’s the difference between Youmeo and other social networking site? They actually encourage you to import, update and organize all of your social networks and photo gallery websites into just one site.
AsiaOne Business has an interview with Mr Gan Kim Yong (Acting Minister for Manpower and Senior Minister of State), discussing his role and present and future trends in S'pore employment. Yong addresses concerns about inflation and income noting that incomes will likely never keep up with prices but that the government has programs in place (like Workfare Income Supplement) to help offset this discrepancy.
Regarding foreign workers in Singapore, he says that many foreign workers take jobs that native Singaporeans don't want and they add to the "vibrancy and diversity" of the country. He notes that the only way to eliminate foreign workers is to somehow force Singaporeans to work in less popular sectors or to slow down development, and neither option is appealing.
He also states, regarding foreign workers in low-wage positions, that they are not pushing wages down overall and that, if they left, wages for S'pore workers would not be likely to increase.
There are a lot of people all over the world who would like to take a big step and make a career in a different land. Singapore which is job paradise for foreigners especially to Asian people would probably have seen million advertisements of businesses looking for skilled workers.
In a recent asiaone business news report, an online advertisement for a hotel sales executive excluded Filipinos from their manpower hunt. Specifically put in "Filipinos need not apply." Some reacted and even wrote in to clarify what’s going on.
The company who posted the advertisement said it was a "genuine oversight," though their spokesman declined to comment about it. After two days, that clause from the ad was changed to "Position open to Singaporeans and Singapore PRs only."
Now the question arises: Are there any legal guidelines for a fair employment?
Last 2006, Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices was built to promote fair employment in Singapore. The council stated that employers should "recruit and choose workers on the basis of merit like experiences and their skills or abilities to perform the given profession and regardless of their race, religion, disability or age."
In other online job portals like JobStreet.com, they filter advertisements according to job requirements such as educational attainments.
But the guidelines are there only to guide employers on how to attract applicants. In whatever medium of advertisement they choose, they still have the ownership on what to put and whats not to put on their ads.
We've been keeping it low for a while, but we have exciting news.
Final site testing is being conducted right now (this is our 4th round - and we keep adding features to Jorbb.com). We are hoping to wrap up middle next week and launch by the last weekend of July.
Thanks for your patience and don't forget to register your email for the lucky draw :p
Pssst, during the opening week, we're going to give away a "newly launched lifestyle companion" and a couple of PSP slims to some lucky registered users. More details later as the mystery product is not in the shops yet.
That's a comment from an expatriate on GeoExpat.com when discussing living in Singapore versus Hong Kong and many Singaporeans apparently agree. According to AsiaOne, they are being lured to work in Hong Kong by higher salaries, livelier business action and "grittiness". Singapore feels sterile to some.
10,000 Singaporeans live and work in Hong Kong in all business areas, feeling that more high-level business transactions take place there, allowing them to add more impressive projects to their CV. One of the reasons that Hong Kong is seen as more impressive place to work is it's proximity to China where business growth has been unprecendented.
Hong Kong's salaries are higher as well. Foreign workers from places like the US and UK seem to agree, although acknowledge that Singapore is a friendlier, safer place to live. They do note, however, that it is much more expensive to live in Singapore. Singaporeans from all different business sectors work in HK, including financial and IT and find they have more responsibility in HK than in Singapore. Singapore businesses, particularly in banking, are attempting sucessfully to close the salary gap between the two destinations.
Newsweek's recent article on Singapore's education system explored the government's new plan to incorporate more of a creativity and technology focus in education. Though Singaporeans are admired world-wide for their work ethic and strong educational emphasis, the traditional structure of S'pore's system may prevent growth in new industries like biotechnology or entertainment unless new steps are considered.
Singapore has notoriously high university entrance standards that may need to be relaxed in order to attract a broader variety of students. It's historically been so difficult to get into good schools that students have had to spend an enormous amount of time studying versus innovating, creating new businesses or engaging in the arts. Some of the city/state's traditional values will have to become more relaxed to encourage an entrepreneurial mindset among young people, encouraging more rebellious, creative thinking while still maintaining S'pore's strong ethical values.
Singapore's Education Minister recently spoke about some of the upcoming reforms in the university system and the government's desire to stay competitive when luring foreign students or trying to retain it's own citizens. S'pore's universities are in the top 100 in the world so maintaining this standard will be imperative. It is encouraging to see that the government realises that they need to maintain open thinking and groom innovative ideas to maintain Singapore's financial growth and world status in the years to come.
The Gallup organization has developed an educational program called StrengthsQuest to help identify and foster student's strengths versus shoring up their weaknesses. The program, and the accompanying book, provide resources for educators including seminars, curriculum outlines, guidebooks and Web forums.
The curriculum is currently in use at many schools including Texas Tech where survey information from 2007 and 2008 showed that most students agreed that the program was helpful in the following ways:
Booking a taxi will be a breeze from next Monday (July 21, 2008). Taxi commuters will just need to call one common number - 6342 5222 - or 6-DIAL CAB. The number will be routed to 3 companies, in a relay, if one does not pickup, it will try the next one, and then the next.
Update: MoFuse has stopped charging for Pro account so all accounts now get these features - Use a custom domain name for your mobile site Use your logo in your SMS widget Create up to 5 mobile sites (increased from 3) Receive 50 free SMS messages a month to promote your mobile site (increased from 10) - HOORAY!
Point your phone browser to http://m.jorbb.com and you can see that we've just enabled a mobile / iPhone version of Jorbb.com/blog.
This was done with a superb service MoFuse. As Mashable described, moFuse is an interface that’s designed rapidly deploy existing web apps as mobile applications. It will take your RSS feeds and compose it into a mobile / iPhone friendly layout.
It only took us 5 mins to get our mobile version up and running, try it on your own blog. They also have methods to monetize your mobile blog and they'll take 50% cut from your revenue.
Give our mobile blog and try and let us know what you think.
If you have an iPhone, send us a photo on how our site turned up on it.
There are many theories in the art of persuasion, particularly when it comes to sales. Consulative selling involves persuasive sales and there are some easy techniques to persuade someone to say "yes" to what it being offered.
1. Make sure you are exploring their real needs or desires. Don't just list features of a product or service. Find out what your customer is looking for so you can tailor the discussion around that.
2. Use the right questions. Build the discussion asking "what" or "how" questions (i.e. "what are you looking for in a new refrigerator" or "how do you think sales coaching will help you?")
3. Use stories or analogies to make the experience personal.
4. Use real testimonials. Tell them about the neighbor down the block who had a similar issue with insects, used your pest control service and had great (be specific) results. If you have a celebrity testimonial, even better!
5. Be sincere. Really try to help the customer find a solution. Don't just make the sale...build a relationship. Even if you lose this particular sale, if you are sincere and really attempt to help, the likelihood that the customer will seek out you, or at minimum, your company when they do have a genuine need (or pass the info on elsewhere) will improve dramatically.
"Experienced MIT Grad For Hire!" read 48-year-old Joshua Persky's advertisement as he paraded around midtown Manhattan, a key location for commercial banks and investment houses.
The Gazette reported that he has been out of work for six months and desperate to find a job, one innovative New Yorker donned his new power suit - a sandwich board - and hit the streets of Manhattan to lure potential employers.
The new Contact Singapore program, a joint venture between the Ministry of Manpower and Economic Development Board, is intended to raise awareness about all Singapore has to offer for investors and workers. This will hopefully attract new business to Singapore. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Wong Kan Seng has noted that one of the things that has fueled Singapore's economic growth is it's exceptional talent pool of candidates.
The new Contact Singapore site features business news, information about relocating to Singapore, s talent spotlight and events calendar. The site is user-friendly and has some additional tools like e-cards, blogs, neighborhood highlights and more.
A 16-month study by women's rights group Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) on workplace sexual harassment in Singapore, has revealed that over half of 500 people surveyed say they had been sexually harassed at the workplace.
One in five was a man - some were harassed by other men.
Just what constitutes sexual harassment differs from society to society, but Aware said it is universally accepted that it is an unwanted and unwelcome act, distinct from flirting. Often, it happens repeatedly.
Harassment can be physical, verbal or visual, and can include unwelcome jokes, e-mail or text messages of a sexually explicit nature, being touched in a discomforting way and, in extreme cases, rape and assault.
On the lack of laws for sexual harassment here, the Government has said, while it is not an offence, victims may file reports with the Ministry of Manpower and the police. Offenders can still be nailed under the Penal Code for the more extreme forms of harassment, such as when they use criminal force.
Despite world economic concerns, Singapore's real estate market has been strong and, thus far, that continues to be true. It's estimated that housing prices will rise 5-10 per cent this year. Singapore has virtually no unemployment to speak of (2%) and for most of the real estate markets, this is contributing to stability. But luxury housing is an area of concern.
Bloomberg.com's Andy Mukherjee reports that the issue is counting on investors who usually seek out premium or "iconic" properties to invest in. Prices are down in this market and foreign investors are reducing the number of units they are buying. Additionally, rental yields are down which, again, inhibits investors from putting as much of their money into real estate in Singapore. There is concern that the need for foreign workers may stall which will directly impact rental returns.
The good news is that Singapore is still an attractive, vibrant place to live and invest in real estate. Loan rates are low, job opportunities high and as long as developers continue to build affordable housing, a real crisis can probably be averted.
So as part of a blog entry competition (good of Samsung to step onto the social media advertising bandwagon), here are my thoughts on the SamsungOmnia.
I visited CommunicAsia last month, and it was just after the iPhone 3G was announced by Jobs. Obviously, any new phones launched during CommunicAsia would be compared to the iPhone 3G.
Samsung, HTC and LG all displayed their latest phones in a big way. Having tested 3 phones, I would say the Omnia SH-i900 is getting very close to the iPhone BUT with its own character.
What stood out for me are: 1. Haptic Feedback - most iPhone users complain that it felt un-natural to press the touchscreen without any feedback. The Omnia slightly vibrates when a button is pressed. 2. Samsung Today screen which looks so much better than the default Windows Mobile Today screen. 3. Auto-rotate feature (I believe it uses the camera instead of an accelerometer), which auto-rotates your images etc when you rotate the phone. 4. It has every connectivity option you would need - 3G, HSDPA, GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, GSM, EDGE. 5. Battery Life - Cnet Asia reviewed that their Omnia phone lasted 3 days under normal usage. Wow! 6. Suite of applications which make "working on the go" seamless - MS Office Compatibility, Push Email.
Being a "PDA" phone, it will easily integrate with your desktop/notebook multimedia files (videos, mp3 etc) and since it's running on Windows Mobile, syncing your existing Outlook contacts / emails / calendar / notes etc will be "one touch" and a breeze.
The Launch event video covers what the phone has to offer, as an alternative to the iPhone 3G.
For the past 2 years, the economy has been on the rise and there were many jobs created, benefiting both foreign and local workers in Singapore. A flourishing 236,000 jobs were created; lowering the overall unemployment rate to a 10-year low of 2.1 percent. However, the job market will be at moderate this year and the government may not be able to generate as many jobs as last year. But Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong is certain that there will still be jobs created for Singaporeans.
After hitting the highest record last year, they need to look at the quality of jobs being created and therefore will find alternative ways to produce new and better opportunities for Singaporeans. The bottom line is, they just need to maintain the momentum in order to lower and lessen the unemployment in Singapore.
During Mr. Gan’s interview with The Strait Times, he mentioned his manpower master plan:
First is to have a 'responsive and flexible' labour market. Since there are a lot of foreign workers in Singapore, the companies can access the skills that they need from the present local talents as well as foreign professionals. Therefore, minimizing job loss in bad times.
Second is to form a 'dynamic and forward-looking' environment. This emphasizes the skills training and upgrading of workforce.
Third is to build a ‘progressive and inclusive’ workforce. This incorporates enhancing the well-being of workers. Addressing and evaluating issues regarding health, safety as well as retirement income.
Apart from these, issues like retraing older workers, considering giving the low-income earners wage increase, and balance between foreign and local workers are also being addressed.
Virtual Assisting is a hot new "work from home" opportunity, promoted heavily by Tim Ferris' bestselling 4-Hour Work Week, the subject of a new e-book by Diana Ennen "Virtual Assistant: The Series" and one of the 15 Hottest Businesses for 2008, according to Entrepreneur magazine.
To be a great Virtual Assistant you need to:
Have a plan of action before you begin: write a business plan that covers things like advertising, pricing, business hours, equipment and supplies you'll need.
Choose an appealing and appropriate business name.
Invest in a great Web site, business cards and marketing materials to be taken seriously.
Be sure your computer equipment is properly upgraded.
Check into appropriate business licensing for your area.
Don't underprice your services! Take into account things like self-employment taxes, business expenses like paper and ink, association dues and time off. VA's in the United States typically charge up to $35/hr.
Try to find a niche market based on your interests and experience: medical, advertising/design, financial and gear your offerings to this group.
Stay current with business trends and continue to hone your skills and offerings.
Virtual Assistants are also called Virtual Professionals and are more in-demand than ever. With skyrocketing gas prices, work/life balance issues and the trend towards outsourcing, it can be a great career field if you lay the proper groundwork and deliver exceptional work!
In case you still have not registered, Unconference Singapore 2008 is on this Saturday at Biopolis, 1130am to 6pm. "Look out for cool new start-ups at the expo area, pitching sessions, an awesome keynote by Microsoft, break-out sessions and of course excessive networking!".
Here's the cool part - "A common event Tee unites the attendees; shows that you been to the event, with the coolness factor of the event tagged to the shirt itself.
This time we decided to take it up a notch, throw in that special personalized factor to the Tee, something that is “Un”common, probably done before but not during a Conference-styled event. We wanted to insert the “user generated” factor into every aspect of the unconference - from the breakout sessions all the way down to the freebie Tee-shirt you get! The post it you see on the back is basically your canvas. Feel free to vandalise. :)
It will be a blast seeing people actually using the Tee the way they should, and even more fascinating to see people doing it the way they shouldn’t! So come early, the Amazing Unconference Tee is not stocked in Amazing numbers!"
See you there. I'll be marking Jorbb.com on my Tshirt :p
App Store has just launched at around 6pm SG Time.
Steve Jobs told USA Today that the Apple App Store will launch with "more than 500" applications Thursday night for the iPhone and iPod touch. Of these, 25% will be free and 90% (of those for sale) will cost $9.99 or less. "This is the biggest launch of my career," said Jobs.
Analyst Tim Bajarin at Creative Strategies said, "When IBM introduced the PC, it was good, but it didn't take off until people started discovering the software." It's these apps then, he adds, that will "dramatically differentiates the iPhone" from Treos and BlackBerrys.
Indeed, while consumers are focused on the launch of the iPhone 3G device, it's the App Store which has analysts in such a tizzy.
@BrainOpera summarises - More than 500 iPhone applications at launch. 34% games (~160), 25% applications (~125) will be free, while 90% apps at $9.99 or less.
A Robert Half study indicates that Australia is not actively recruiting overseas and that Asian countries, including Singapore, are taking international recruiting more seriously. This despite the fact that more people are considering Australia as a potential relocation destination.
50 per cent of Singapore and Hong Kong businesses actively recruit overseas, compared to Australia's 23 per cent. The reasons for Australia lagging behind include a lack of understanding of the legal issues involved, lack of networking among industries, and difficulty obtaining the necessary work visas for workers.
However, there is realization that to continue economic growth, Australia will have to follow Asia's lead and start heavily recruiting globally. There are not enough qualified workers within the continent to meet hiring needs, especially for financial and accounting professionals and skilled tradespeople.
Despite 82% of companies having policies prohibiting personal Internet usage, a recent study shows that everyone, from executives to entry-level employees, is doing it. There is speculation that this is an attempt at work/life balance and many personal issues that employees don't have time to manage at home are being managed at work, though no specific studies have been done to this effect.
A study by Websense shows that 60% of companies have reprimanded employees for surfing the 'net at work, and more than 30% have fired employees for it. However, many of today's workers, accustomed to the Internet being a tool in their daily lives, consider access an employee perk and would risk employee engagement and satisfaction. Image Source Business Opportunities Follow Jorbb on Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook Group.
Lim Swee Say, the Secretary General of Singapore’s National Union, mentioned that if other countries will open its door to foreign workers it wouldn’t only fill the gaps in employment but it will also structure their countries economic stability especially in the business community.
He compared Singapore to Denmark, wherein both are nearing full employment but Singapore still hires workers from abroad, and that made the economy grew by 7.5 percent last year compared to Denmark’s 1.3 percent.
Hiring foreign workers is a big help whether it’s skilled or professionals because they can add up to those talented people that the country already has.
More small to medium business owners feel confident about their economic outlook than are pessimistic. asiaoneBusiness reports that 34% of those polled feel that the outlook is positive for the next twelve months, compared to 20% who feel that it is likely to worsen. Many companies are reporting that orders are picking up and a very small percentage (4%) are concerned about the U.S. economic situation impacting them.
However, these numbers conflict slightly with January's report, when 44% felt optimistic and 14% were concerned the outlook was worse. All in all, most feel that Singapore's economy will remain strong despite the U.S. outlook.
Business owner's were also asked what type of assistance they would like to see. These items included government grants, subsidised loans for start-ups, stronger promotion of Singapore as a place to do business, and loosening up of restrictions and laws on foreign workers.
Salary.sg has published the top 100 paying jobs in Singapore, compiled based on data from MOM Occupational Wages Survey, which is published as part of the Report on Wages in Singapore 2007.
Specialised surgeon - $30,755
Managing director - $24,472
General surgeon - $17,872
Commodities futures broker - $17,464
General manager - $16,667
Company director - $15,513
Creative director (Advertising) - $13,000
Legal service manager - $12,318
Foreign exchange dealer and broker - $11,095
Operations manager (Finance) - $9,808
Legal officer - $9,790
Risk management manager - $9,600
Research and development manager - $9,385
Computer operations and network manager - $9,300
Training manager - $9,000
Computer and information systems manager - $8,930
Ship-master - $8,671
Technical manager - $8,595
Financial futures dealer and broker - $8,447
Personnel / Human resource manager - $8,420
Business development manager - $8,290
Corporate planning manager - $8,290
Fund manager - $8,125
Treasury manager - $8,079
Budgeting and financial accounting manager - $8,000
Marketing manager - $8,000
Power generation and distribution engineer - $7,848
Engineering manager - $7,819
Chemical engineer (Petroleum) - $7,678
Manufacturing plant and production manager - $7,645
Chemical engineer (Petrochemicals) - $7,547
Advertising and public relations manager - $7,533
Advocate and solicitor - $7,500
Operations research analyst - $7,500
Business management consultant - $7,437
Procurement manager - $7,416
Lawyer (except advocate and solicitor) - $7,400
Quality assurance manager - $7,263
Customer service manager - $7,142
Sales manager - $7,100
Logistics manager - $7,050
Operations manager (Commerce) - $6,862
Chemical engineering technician (Petroleum) - $6,696
Automation engineer - $6,680
Instrumentation engineer - $6,616
Book editor - $6,538
Surveyor - $6,523
Industrial health, safety and environment engineer - $6,503
Positive consumer sentiment and the Great Singapore Sale have provided some support for the retail property market in Singapore, according to property consultants DTZ.
It said given the general uncertain global outlook, tenants have resisted committing to higher rents, and this has kept the retail sector stable during the second quarter.
Going forward, analysts said they see at most a marginal increase of 2 to 3 per cent in rents for the rest of this year.
Cushman & Wakefield noted that there is little risk of oversupply as international retailers clamour for a piece of the Singapore market.
And although inflation may dampen domestic consumer spending, analysts said external demand from strong tourist arrivals is likely to offset that.
Mr Han said: "Into the next six months with the F1 arriving in September, we'll only see a higher number of tourists on shore, which will effectively see higher tourism receipts, (a) positive spillover in spite of high inflation numbers over the next six months or so."
With more malls fighting over the same tourism dollar, analysts said malls are starting to work harder to attract customers.
Analysts also said there is no fear that the Orchard belt will cannibalise suburban malls, as they serve different markets.
SimplyNoise's website is so easy to use yet does wonders if you are trying to work / sleep / study / read in an environment that is noisy. Block out surrounding sounds like construction sites, kids playing, busy road just by adjusting the dial until you cannot hear them.
It may sound distracting at first, but your brain will soon adjust the white noise and you'll not notice it at all.
Microsoft, the world's largest multinational computer technology corporation, announced that they already bought Powerset, a search engine that allows people to use phrases, questions rather than keywords in order to get the best result for their web search. How did they do that? It’s because Powerset uses a "natural language processing" or NLP technology in a software platform to better match what the user is really looking for. Basically, it's better than other search engines that find and matches every word you type in the search box.
Powerset recently used their NLP technology in today’s leading website encyclopedia, Wikipedia. By using Powerset's technology; it can essentially enhance the free Live Search service of Microsoft, which is in 3rd place behind Google and Yahoo’s.
Microsoft keeps the acquisition price of Powerset confidential and was not disclosed. We just all hope that they will continue to provide users better search results and eventually beat the reigning Internet search and advertising engine, Google.
AsiaoneBusiness has an interesting online article about the options open to businesses when an employee breaches the IT security policies it has set forth. Most companies have IT confidentiality policies, but this doesn't prevent negligent or unethical employee breaking of the rules.
Most confidential information including pay records, financial transactions, HR information is stored electronically and a saavy employee may be able to utilize this for their own gain. Clearly, once the culprit is identified the first step is termination, but there are more options. Even if there is no confidentiality agreement in place, the company can sue the employee under certain stipulations.
The information used must be, in fact, confidential and there must be an inherent understanding of this by the company and employee. Most importantly, the information must be used by a third party without the companies consent. Often this situations fall under the Computer Misuse Act. Offenses under this act can be punishable by fines or imprisonment.
If a breach is suspected, particularly which could hamper business or make a business's employees or customers vulnerable, a police report should be filed immediately. Charges can include theft, fraud or even trespassing. Companies can also sue for copyright infringement. It's always important to have the strongest IT security systems in place to make such actions as difficult as possible.
They said education should not be restrained within the 4 corners of the classroom. Thus, with the rapid increase of distant learning today, online education became more popular and is one of the many growing industry in the internet today. Online education is very popular especially in developing countries like Asia, wherein students who cannot afford to study abroad, can just go to Internet café's and get a first class education via e-learning.
However, there are a lot of ups and downs like in any other businesses. In late 1990's, they thought online education will be the next big thing, but it failed since a lot of students prefer going to big universities and on a real campus. Today, analysts predict that the global market for online education will rise from $8 billion last 2007, to $26 billion by the year 2010. Currently in the United States, 65 percent of graduate schools offer "distance" learning that can be accessed through the internet by any student anywhere in the world. Recently, U21 Global an online education provider based in Singapore teamed up with Pakistan's government to launch an advertisement campaign endorsing higher education to rural youth.
But how can providers encourage students to enroll and assure them that it would not be boring? Before, its just recorded lectures and notes, but now, providers offer live professors in chat rooms, lecture notes in power-point, and lectures formatted for iPods. Most importantly, gaining friends all over the world is the key to a fun learning experience.
The Information Technology industry has become one of the fastest growing industries all over the world. Singapore, a well-known place for it, opens their arms to Indian workers for their IT, banking and financial institutions as well as telecommunication and the manufacturing sector. Indian IT professionals who are seeking work abroad put Singapore on their list aside from US and UK, since there is a lot of career you can choose from.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) recently made a strategic skills list for people who want to plan their career so they’ll know where and what to job-hunt. After considering consultations made from various businesses and government agencies, MOM found out that there will be a shortage of people with such skills in the future. They also dealt with added consideration to work permit (S Pass and Employment Pass) to those applicants from abroad.
One factor that captivates Indian immigrants to Singapore is the tax policy. Income tax in India is way too high at 33 percent compared to Singapore’s 10-12 percent. If an Indian is working in Singapore with an NRI status, they will only shell out 10-12 percent in tax.
Indian students also choose Singapore as their campus destination. Quality institutions and advantages in locating a job after they graduate are just two of the many benefits they can expect if they will study in Singapore. Today, there are about 86,000 foreign students in Singapore and India is one of the source markets.
Students and working Indians wouldn't feel home-sick because there are so many organizations that are willing to help them settle down in Singapore. Some are Bengali Association, Punjabi Association, and different Indian IT Associations. They dealt not only interest in business but family events too.
Do you know where you’re going to? (Or How to tell if Your Career is heading down the drain)
Dreaming, especially if it is geared towards and advancement in your career can never be considered bad because it gives you inspiration to move on and make plans with your future. However, if your dreams are made of flimsy webs that are not based on reality, if your dreams are without foundation and are nowhere from the possibility of becoming a reality, you may be facing the greatest frustration in your life.
If you have been in your job for long, and you think things are running at the same speed and the same road, maybe it is time to make a job reality check. This is not to disillusion you but reality checks are sometimes necessary to wake you up to see where you are standing in your job, and where you are headed to.
For workers in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries, the competition could be very stiff because these developing countries have started to attract foreign workers as more and more job vacancies are on the rise. If you are a freelancer, a part time worker, a casual or a contractual worker in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries, you cannot relax or feel too comfortable in your job or in whatever field you may be engage in. The world is teeming with highly qualified individuals who would be too willing to snatch up your position from right under your nose if you take things for granted.
Sure, it’s okay to dream and to nurture ambition because these fuel your drive to strive more in your career. Your dreams push you to overcome any obstacles and look for possible holes to crawl through in order to win any challenge that may come to you. However, if you just keep on dreaming and doing nothing about it, your career may be heading down the drain.
It is high time to check if you are dreaming asleep, or dreaming awake and letting your dreams push and prod you to achieve your goals. It is high time to really know where you stand. This can be done by starting to talk to your work colleagues about your plans, and listen to their opinions if what you are planning to do about your career sounds sane to them. You can get thoughts and opinions not only from people in your department but from other divisions, too. If you limit your reality check to your close friends, naturally all you can get from them are positive comments because they may not want to hurt your feelings.
Next, you can check around and see how your colleagues are progressing. If you feel that you are lagging behind, or heading towards another direction, then maybe you can retrace your steps and be in sync with the group. You can be in the lead group as long as you are going towards the same direction and sharing the same goals with the whole team.
The Singapore government will introduce a new long-term pass card to all foreigners residing here beginning from the second half of the year as part of its initiative to enhance national security.
The new pass, to be introduced in phases, will replace the current stamp endorsement on the travel documents and the paper-laminated disembarkation and embarkation card issued to long-term pass holders, according to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) today.
In a statement here, it said those holding the student pass, long-term visit pass, employment pass and dependants pass would need to change it for the new pass.
ICA said the new pass would have better security features compared to the present paper-laminated card and would contain similar biometric features as those in the Singapore National Registration identity card to provide a secure means of identifying individuals and facilitate travel.
The card which will bear the photograph and fingerprint of all cardholders above the age of 15, will enable government agencies such as ICA and the Manpower Ministry to verify the cardholders identity through face and fingerprint matching. The enhanced security features and personal identifiers on the new pass would deter forgery and fraudulent use of the card, the ICA said.
The cardholders would also be able to enjoy expedited and automated immigration clearance at major checkpoints around Singapore if their foreign-issued passports were compliant with the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, it added.
Business parks are set to see occupancy rates go beyond 90 per cent by the end of June this year to hit a new peak, according to property consultants CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).
At the end of March, the average occupancy rate for business parks stood at about 88 per cent.
CBRE said office space shortage and persistent rent increases are driving office tenants towards hi-tech space or business parks.
This has pushed up business park rents by an average of 30 per cent since the start of the year.
During the second quarter, two business park sites at one-north were awarded, which will add over 90,000 square metres of space by the end of 2009.
For a variety of reasons, workers are postponing retirement. The realities of increased health care costs, longer life spans and fewer retirement plans like pensions have caused the majority of current workers to mentally postpone retirement...by about 5 years since 1995. Quality of life issues factor in as well, including wanting to stay productive and continue to make a contribution, but older workers expect shorter hours and more flexibility. Many take on contract or consulting positions instead of full or part-time work.
There were already 500,000 more workers aged 75-90 in 2007 than 2006 in the United States (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Statistics). But the US lags behind Singapore in recruiting these older candidates and significantly behind in the retention of current older workers. Older workers bring a variety of life experiences and attributes to businesses that are harder to find in younger people: loyalty, patience, and a broader sense of the bigger business picture. Additionally, they may have well-established social networks that younger employees have yet to develop.
In the Manpower Ministry's latest wage report released on Monday, the salaries for low-wage workers have remained stagnant for the past ten years.
It is estimated that about 20 per cent of Singapore's total workforce are low-wage workers who earn less than S$1,500 a month and with the soaring inflation, the salaries of these workers have not been able to catch up with the rising costs of living.
NTUC's Deputy Secretary-General Halimah Yacob said there are several factors that result in this phenomenon. Less-skilled workers are running on a different track, compared to the better skilled workers who are able to command higher salaries. There are also retirees who re-enter the workforce at a much lower pay.
She said it would take some time before the full effect of initiatives like the Job Recreation Programme is felt.
The programme, aimed at enhancing the productivity of workers so they are paid better, took on greater prominence about three years ago. And as the momentum for the Job Recreation Programme continues, NTUC is looking to train 20,000 workers this year, compared to 15,000 last year. To find out more on Job Recreation Programme, visit this link.
Text 100, a global public relations consultancy, has just completed an extensive survey of bloggers in the Asian Pacific region and ended up with some unexpected findings. 153 bloggers who target technology, business and news audiences were polled on a variety of topics including how they view PR firms, how they communicate, how much time is spent blogging and more.
A surprising find is that bloggers welcome contact from PR firms or the clients they represent, as long as the contact is content appropriate. Bloggers prefer, not surprisingly, online communication, generally email. Bloggers offered additional input including that PR firms should:
send an introductory email before trying to engage in business with the blogger
know the content of the blog they are referring to
attend blogging events and understand the community
be sensitive to the fact that not everyone blogs professionally and know when to contact the writer
avoid mass-mailing
PR firms and bloggers agree that it is imperative that corporations utilize blogs as part of their media outreach, and thus, become more familiar with the genre and the individuals writing for said Web logs.
Our favourite "ideas" blog - TrendHunter'ssub site, TrendWatching has compiled 41 new business ideas in their "Innovation Avalanche" post.
"There's more innovation happening than ever before. New brands, new niches, new concepts, new products, new services and new experiences are flooding an equally fast expanding number of markets. Just as important, there are more freely available sources to track these innovations than ever before. And all of this is coming to (if not at) you from every corner of the world. The GLOBAL BRAIN has been unleashed, and there’s nowhere to hide for those who aren't part of it."
Check out the post after the jump, or download the pdfhere.
Singapore office rents will climb another 10% for the remainder of 2008, but vacancies are going to surge in the years following that due to extensive building projects being completed. Vacancies are expected to stabilise by 2012. This is reported by Deutsche Bank’s property arm RREEF who also notes that of all commercial rentals (retail, industrial and office), office rentals are the most volatile. Retail is expected to see continued growth for the next four years.
So we went to collect our Singapore GP tickets at the post office and when the staff came out with the 6 tickets, we were wondering why they came out in 3 big boxes!
Check out the unboxing of our Singapore F1 GP tickets. By the way, we managed to fit all 6 ticket packs into 1 box.
