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A lot of our friends especially in the US have contacted us lately to ask us about a job opportunity in Singapore they are considering. They want to know what the job market is like and what they should ask for in a salary and if we like it here. I don't know about every job area, for instance I don't know anyone in oil and gas or mining here. What I do know is a bit about the finance, media and entertainment and software end of things. So this is my attempt to share some observations about the job market I've made over the past year while networking and chatting with expats in these fields.



First of all, there's a lot of work here. Growth is constant and money is there for development in tech and entertainment fields. After fleeing the destruction from the financial collapse in the US this feels like another world, untouched by the hardships and apathy in the US job market. Singaporeans are more than a little proud of their position as the world's little island of financial stability and why shouldn't they be? People here are hungry for new ideas, they desperately want designers and creatives to help them get an edge on their competition internationally. They don't always know what designers do or what design costs so that can be a hard area to navigate for creatives. It is really nice to be this appreciated though and we have never felt any tension from our Singaporean peers (compared to the scorn we got in the US for being "aliens" this is really a nice change.)

As for salaries, if you are offered a lower salary and told "salaries are lower in Singapore" by your recruiter this is only a half truth. Salaries for entry level positions are lower than in North America. In fact embarrassingly low. These aren't jobs normally taken on by expats. These are for local college students who have just graduated. They live with their parents while making these meager salaries. These are more like an internship in terms of the job rung and these positions are not often easy places to rise up from given how many people are churned out by the local polytechnics. The positions just above entry level are better but still low compared with the West. I think these salaries must look pretty good after the time people spend making next to nothing. Again most people at this level live with their parents or are packed into apartments with tons of roommates (even if they're married and have kids). The lifestyle of an entry level professional here is more similar to the lifestyle of a college student in North America living on the remains of student loan. The middle to upper end of management, the creative leadership and development roles should be on par or higher than the US (and should be way higher than Canada). If you are low-balled for a position, negotiate and be ready to walk away. I would say to live at a reasonable middle class comfort level here you need a little more than you would in North America so unless you are really desperate I would not recommend going for a salary cut.

Companies are not as generous with expat's relocation packages. Back in what the long time expats call the glory days companies would pay for your rent, your car, your maid, your kids tuition at a fancy school, yacht club dues on top of the moving expenses. It's not hard to get people to move here now and with the rising costs of everything in Singapore the packages have slimmed out. Polling other expats who moved here for management jobs (project managers mostly) they still got the basics: their flights here, packing and unpacking, shipping of a certain amount of their belongings, health plan, a month in a hotel on arrival. It sounds like other things like paying for cultural training and an agent to find you  place to live are common practice too but more typical at foreign companies than Singaporean ones. That said, if you opt to transfer within your company expect bare bones treatment... maybe the flights with some extra baggage allowance and that hotel for a month but that's about it.

So there you go, my view on the work world in Singapore for all of you who were just about to ask.