STATE AGE REQUIREMENTS ON JOBS ADVERTISED!!

[Mirgen1]

I greatly hope that advertisers for job vacancies state age requirements when they source for the right candidates to fill those vacancies, eg. Computer Programer needed - aged 19 to 26 years old, Secretary needed = aged 18 to 23 years old or general worker needed, all ages.

So that when one see that you need a stenographer aged below 24, an auntie or a grandma won't read on and then as they felt they are qualified, they send you cvs letters, emails.  In the end we all accomplish nothing, just wasting all concerned time and energy which could be better spent more productively.

Personally I have come across a number of cases.  When I stated my age in my email, they don't even acknowlege the receipt!  How can our society be so rude to one another, and to think that we all live on the same island, sink or swim together.  That they will grow old someday as sure as the sun rises, they didn't even take one second to reflect upon! 

I apologise for singing an old song in a new tune and beat, but whether we can come to a Western level of social grace within this century (yes! Year 2100!) remains to be seen.

Senior citizen needs shelter and food as much as a young person. 

So if advertisers who do not state age requirements don't blame us oldies in writing or telephoning them. If you need someone who is younger, please say so!  DON'T WASTE OUR TIME AND YOURS!

Goodnight and Cheers!

[Admin]

I agree that it's harder for older worker to get a job. Quoting the article in CNA http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/234038/1/.html :
"The Manpower Ministry's Research and Statistics Department said that in June this year, 76 percent of its resident population, aged 25 to 64, were employed."
Could it be that the 24 percent unemployed are mostly older workers? Maybe.

According to the same article, Mr. Eng Eng Hen noted: "There are certain industries that have now found out that "actually I prefer an older worker"
Unfortunately he didn't elaborate, which certain industries are they.

[nick2004]

...mirgen, from your ability to write and if you can access this site, i can see that you have a workable knowledge of computers and with a strong command of english, u shld try jobs like proof-reading or form filling at govt agencies.....work that requires at least basic skills in both of the above.....


..the age thing will not b solved in this generation.....in fact, if anything, social graciousness will b lost further in the high pressure driven society of Singapore...

[Mirgen1]

...mirgen, from your ability to write and if you can access this site, i can see that you have a workable knowledge of computers and with a strong command of english, u shld try jobs like proof-reading or form filling at govt agencies.....work that requires at least basic skills in both of the above.....


..the age thing will not b solved in this generation.....in fact, if anything, social graciousness will b lost further in the high pressure driven society of Singapore...

Thanks nick2004! It is one thing to suggest trying for jobs like what you wrote to actually applying for the mentioned jobs. Private or govt agencies are all similarly oriented to employing those they need and not those they feel they employ out of pity.  Would the person responsible for employing or recruiting staff have the courage to divert from the directives and maybe use about a few percentage to recruit 
older workers outside of such directive from the top man, usually the minister himself or his second-in-command?

Woe betide him if any problem crops up with this older new recruit! He could found himself next in line in the unemployed.  You think I am just kidding, you have another thing coming, sir!

When I was working as a gardener in a foreign embassy, one of the staff there had this misplaced sympathy when he saw me struggling with a heavy load.  He called the contractor and according to him, he wanted an 'assistant' to help me along.  Of course the contractor immediately removed me from the job and re-assigned one of his foreign workers for the job.  A younger worker struggling with a heavy burden usually elicit no reaction from anyone at all.  It is just the norm. Actually I was enjoying my two weeks as a gardener; it is just like working out in a gym exercising and getting paid for it! I have started getting a real tan under the sun, sweat buckets from sweeping the large compound, raking leaves, trotting up and down the slopes.

I have a very poor view of some of our employers as well as our government agencies. I am now working part time in a service industry, catering more to the tourist than the locals. I won't go into details but in this company a lot of foreign cheap labour was recruited. They need us locals to probably propped up the local/foreign ratio to satisfy our MOM. I could be wrong, but there is a sneaking suspicion in my mind that if the govt agencies can allow such foreign labour into our society when locals can do the job, and I am not talking about foreign talent, then there are many areas in our job markets that are saturated with such foreign workers.

I have to cut my story short as I have to prepare to leave for my 'work'.  I will continue again tomorrow morning! Have a great day!

[Mr.Q]

Hi mirgen,

I am totally agree with nick, that you have a fine writing skill.

[Mirgen1]

I am back again! Returned nearly midnight after 5 hrs' work, a shower, read the day's news and I am here. You'll probably read this in the morning but while the subject is still fresh in my mind, I think I owe you this little narrative.

Yes Nick, I am able to access this website because I was looking for a job! What about you? You're the one who should be questioned and not me! Haha, just joking!

When there was a hue and cry about why older unemployed persons could'nt even find work as cleaners in food centtres, the govt. agencies quickly addressed this matter by having contractors employing only citizens and PRs. Now just have a look at our hawker centres and food courts! Our older workers can even work long hours for peanuts, compared to employers engaging foreign workers.    These contractors who employed foreign labour have to fork out a levy, quarters for the workers to live and post a monetary guarantee to MOM. Employing a local or a PRs free them from such burdens.

But why do they still prefer to employ those foreign workers? The reasons are and these are just my educated guess; I could be wrong so if any government official happen to read this, please don't sent me to prison or worse prosecute and sue me!

1. Their rate is still comparable to locals because with housing, levy charges, transport, a foreign labourer would come to about   $800 -1000, probably a little more. So why not employ a citizen and pay him that money and save all the heartache and trouble?

The answer: Because the foreign worker can work for more that 12 hours a day! And they don't complain! It is either you obey me or you go back to India/Bangladesh/Indonesia/Phillipines! Many people don't know, but these workers are a ill treated lot and they suffer in silence.  I know because I have worked with them.

2. The foreign worker is compliant, works like a donkey, lives in a pigsty, enjoy no privilege, have no off-day and is really at
themercy of the employer.  And all because of trying to lift himself and his family out of poverty in his own country. So do not envy him. His is a life full of misery, suffering in silence and untold grievances.  Some of them are even well educated, for goodness sake!

So far for the time being. I am going to bed and would like to continue tomorrow, Sunday or earlier if I have the time to write and tell you how I can use computers and post them in this forums. Have a nice day ahead and cheers.

[Mirgen1]

Good morning. I would like to continue from my earlier post on why the govt agencies allow foreign workers into Singapore and why our employers prefer to employ them vs locals or PRs.

3. Foreign workers boost our economy.  Yes, no doubt about that!  Besides imposing a levy on foreign workers, our govt. allow them to come in droves as a result of power lobbying by construction, service, shipbuilding, maids agencies and many other intensive related industries, like factory operators etc.

Take a look at Geylang and you'll understand what I meant by saying that foreign workers boost our economy.  No, I'm not refering to the 'red light districts'!  If you just forbid these workers to come here to work, Geylang will be a ghost town!  Have you seen the area during the major holidays, like CNY when almost all Chinese Malaysians return home to celebrate CNY.  Or for that matter, Little India.  Close the door to the foreign workers from India and Bangladesh and I guarantee Tekka will be deserted and shopkeepers and merchants in that area will cry buckets!

The same goes for other businesses, retail, service and housing agencies.  Many of them depend too long and too much on foreign workers' patronage to keep their ships floating, not to mention their homes cleaned and children cared for!

4. Our govt. wisely or unwisely allow these workers in so that there is an atmosphere of competiveness among our less educated and lower paid vs. the abundance cheap labour from outside the traditional markets (Malaysia, Indonesia and Phillipines}.  Opening the doors to some of the world's most populous countries can solve our problem temporarily, but in the long run, as their own countries prosper and they will, these workers will abundant ship and head for home.  No doubt about that. That's why I think our govt should plan ahead and those in charge need to pick up a horoscope, peer into it and start thinking of a solution. 


5. Most of our employers are not as civic minded as our manpower minister mentioned in an earlier reply by our Admin.  For most of them the bottomline counts.  It is investment vis-a-vis  and tete-a-tete against profit.  Nothing else matters; not citizens or non-citizens, if sink or swim doesn't concern them, all they think about is $$$$ in their bank account at the end of the contract, venture or investment.  It is a rare company who will go out and provide employment for the less fortunate, give them a decent pay and treat them humanely.

There are other points beside those that I want to elaborate upon but I think you'll be bored to read them all!

I have attended and completed a basic computer repair and advance operating system course recently and now I used discards and re-assemble them to go on line.  For some PC parapherals I usually go to Clive Road, just behind Tekka Mall where I can get a lan card for $2.00 and 3.5 gigabytes harddisk for $3 to $5.  Others like sound cards, video cards etc cost $2.00 each.  There is an elderly man dismantling discarded PC and using them to sell as scraps.

Software? No problem! Get them free. Yes free. And it is legal too. Go to search Yahoo! and type ubuntu linux software operating system and when you are at this website, you can fill in a form to request a few copies of this great free OS on a nice looking CD too!  Takes about 3 to 4 weeks to reach you by air mail.  Please remember they are providing the CDs free of charge and they are staffed mainly by volunteers, that's why it takes them 3 to 4 weeks to send you that CDs.  I think they received hundreds of request per day.

What about ISP?  Well in July this year I happened to come across an articule in the (guess it, also free!) TODAY papers that a new Internet Service Provider, QMAX is offering broadband connection (not using our telephone line) for $9.90 per month.  You get a nice looking modem, plug in the power socket, connect it to your lan card and you are on the way!  Members would like to check this system, I think it is now availabe in certain areas in Singapore, like Bukit Timah, Orchard Road, Town Central, Bukit Merah and could cover the whole of the island in a year's time.  No I am not advertising for them, Linux or Qmax!

Thanks for your time.  I would like to continue my experience if you don't find my story too boring.  I will be writing on the much advertised work from home business.  I have one experiece and one pending, the person would be contacting me on the 12th or 13th of this month when he returns from an overseas trip.

Bye Bye and have a nice weekend!

[Mr.Q]

You too have a nice weekend, Mirgen. And no, it's not boring at all, i'm ejoying myself reading what you write.

[Mirgen1]

You too have a nice weekend, Mirgen. And no, it's not boring at all, i'm ejoying myself reading what you write.

Thanks for your encouragement, Mr. Q.   

Sometimes we discard our PC at the first opportunity without finding out what the problem is.  I did that a number of times until I attended a 5 three hour session computer trouble shooting course.  Often the PC fails to start up due to cards, like memory or video cards becoming loose as a result of the monitor being placed on top of the chassis.  Another problem I myself found out recently was accumulation of dust inside the chassis resulting in some cards and their connectors not well in contact.

Sometimes those power cables inside the PC also become loose and if the fan mounted on top of the CPU is not functioning due to a loose power connection, the PC will only boot up and then suddenly shut itself off.  This is to prevent the CPU from overheating.  CPU is the intel chip i.e. Pentium 3 or 4 etc.

Couple of week ago, my nephew wanted to throw away a PC but I persuaded him to give it to me.  He told me that one of his memory cards was damaged; and anyway he was going to upgrade to a more powerful CPU to play his games.  I brought the PC home, opened up and clean away the dust, took out the memory cards and cleaned the connectors using WD-40.  Don't spray on them, just spray a little on a rag and clean the cards' copper edges and voila! the PC runs smoothly now, even better than my other Pentium 3 model. Before you touch those cards, especially memory or RAM, you have to pat your hands on the unpainted part of the chassis to discharge any electricity from your body.  And then only hold the RAM cards by the edges.

Enough about PCs!

Since starting my new part time job a three days ago, I have even seen a lot of evidence of how saturated our job markets are by foreign workers.  From a simple work like sweeping the malls to waiters, waitresses, cooks and even sales promoters.  Most of them are young but I have seen middle age foreign workers as well.  I have said in my earlier post why employers/contractors prefer to employ these people but one thing that I can't understand is why our govt agencies allow them into the country in the first place.
Foreign talent I can accept but these are jobs our citizen or PRs can perform as well if not better than those workers.

My advice for those looking for jobs is to be a little submissive, by which I don't mean physically, but accept the work first, slogged it out without arguing with your new employers about certain benefits, like leave, bonus, promotion etc.  Employers need to see that you can perform first before he decide to offer those benefits that you think you deserve.  The foreign worker never argue with his employer!  That's part of the reason our employer prefer them to our own argumentative citizen. When an employer asks us the expected pay, our reply should not be a certain amount but to tell him to gauge our performance for a week or so and then discuss the issue.

The employer would then feel that he is treated like a boss that he rightly assume he is!  And not like he is in the wet market and bargaining with the fish seller about the price of a kilo of pomfret!  He felt appreciated and you feel that from now on you will need to pull up your socks, work hard and well to get that pay you deserve.  And everyone's ego is soothed.

The prospective job seeker must need to make the first move.  Go ahead, call them and tell them what you can do even if you don't have that paper qualification.  By fate or by luck you can land your much needed job, and if you are not happy with this job, don't resign without scouring around for the job that suits you.

I hope my advice could be useful to some; don't blame me if events turn out otherwise!  Mr. Q himself would be in a much better position to advise you on this and I hope he would comment on this.

Thank you and have a great weekend. Cheers!

[Mr.Q]

Hi Mirgen,

Overall, I agree with what you're saying. Maybe I only want to throw my opinion/comment to even enrich the advices you're giving.

On being 'more submissive':
In my opinion, there are two extremes that Singaporean should avoid to be, too submissive, and to rebelious, unfortunately, I have seen many people showing either one of them.
In my opinion, that will lead us to nowhere,
Very submissive, then we'll potentially be taken advantage of the direct boss (e.g., even though we perform far above expectation, as we don't ask (demand) for anything, then we're not given anything extra as it seems that we're happy with what we're doing and what we get)
On the contrary, too rebelious will also land us into trouble, even though we can perform above expectation. As you said, everybody's ego need to be soothed. Bosses won't be happy even though you perform well, if you seem don't respect him at all (like arguing about how things should be done, even though you are right, you have to give him 'face', right!).
How should we be then? in the middle, you can sound what you want, you can sound idea, or anything, but be tactful choose right time, right moment, the right way, and, as Mirgen said (again), don't step on the boss' ego.
I assume readers knows what i mean... if you don't, don't hesitate to ask me.

[Mirgen1]

Good morning everyone.  I would like to thank Mr. Q for his advice on how to approach and behave at an interview.  It is very useful and prospective applicants/job seekers ought to take his tips seriously.  Once again, thanks Mr. Q.

I would like to revert to computers for a few lines and then return to the subject of hunting for a job.  Please bear with me because it could also help members who are  PC savvy but need to protect their system from viruses, spyware or trojan horse; all these can be obtained free from the internet.

Go to url:- http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc2 save the file on your hard disk and then run it.  While at this website you could also download a free firewall.  This anti virus software can also scan your incoming emails and it updates automatically everytime you are on line.  It even scan you whole 'C' drive while you work.  Unlike other commercial anti virus software which usually ask you to renew your subscription annually, AVG anti-virus is not only free, you can use it indefinitely.

Back to our topic about employment.  Actually when I advised job seekers to be submissive I was targeting more at older workers or those who are semi or unskilled.  For those who are graduates, experienced white collar staff or those in managerial positions, negotiations for pay and benefits  are usually carried out at the initial interview.  These educated job seekers are more than protected by our govt. agencies, while manual workers have to compete with hordes of cheap labour.

I want to relate a personal experience while answering a job ad. posted on the glass panels of a 24 hour Internet Cafe/Mini Supermarket along Jalan Besar.  This experience prompted me to write and post this topic on age requirement.

The ad. was there for months and I thought that I am qualified to apply for this job.  It is for an internet cafe attendant, PC literate, and to call a handphone.  The first time I called, a male answered and told me he was now overseas and could not interview me for the job.

"Please call me in 3 days' time when I return to Singapore, thanks!" and he disconnected!

Three days passed and I waited till after lunch time to call him, giving him time to settle down after returning from overseas.  This time an operator of the telephone company told me that the line is not available and that my number is automaticall paged to his handphone for him to return my call.  Evening came and gone and at about 8 pm. I decided to try again as I reckoned that since he ran a 24 hour business, he should also be available at 8pm.

The first question he asked me is "Yes, I am looking for an internet cafe attendant.  How old are you?  What, you're 61! Sorry, I want someone below 30 years old! Sorry sir!"  And he disconnected! 

He didn't even ask whether I was PC literate or whether I can work night/graveyard shift.  Just like that and poosh! went my chance to work as an internet cafe attendant.  Why do they need a young one to be an attendant?  Are they afraid that I would go to sleep during my shift or worse that I am on a wheelchair!  As far as I know an internet cafe attendant registers and times a customer when he walks in.  He also dispense drinks, hot or cold.  Is that so difficult for an able bodied elderly man to do?

I had wanted to say to the male voice who 'interviewed' me on the phone to state the age requirement in his ads. but the moment passed and since he hanged up so abruptly I just let the issue go.  I am telling the truth.  The ads is still at this internet cafe cum mini-supermarket.  I now pass in front of it quite often in my forays to look for used PC peripherals.

Have a great day ahead.  In next couple of days I would like to go to the 'Work on line' topic.  Cheers!

[semb]

Good morning everyone.  I would like to thank Mr. Q for his advice on how to approach and behave at an interview.  It is very useful and prospective applicants/job seekers ought to take his tips seriously.  Once again, thanks Mr. Q.

I would like to revert to computers for a few lines and then return to the subject of hunting for a job.  Please bear with me because it could also help members who are  PC savvy but need to protect their system from viruses, spyware or trojan horse; all these can be obtained free from the internet.

Go to url:- http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc2 save the file on your hard disk and then run it.  While at this website you could also download a free firewall.  This anti virus software can also scan your incoming emails and it updates automatically everytime you are on line.  It even scan you whole 'C' drive while you work.  Unlike other commercial anti virus software which usually ask you to renew your subscription annually, AVG anti-virus is not only free, you can use it indefinitely.

Back to our topic about employment.  Actually when I advised job seekers to be submissive I was targeting more at older workers or those who are semi or unskilled.  For those who are graduates, experienced white collar staff or those in managerial positions, negotiations for pay and benefits  are usually carried out at the initial interview.  These educated job seekers are more than protected by our govt. agencies, while manual workers have to compete with hordes of cheap labour.

I want to relate a personal experience while answering a job ad. posted on the glass panels of a 24 hour Internet Cafe/Mini Supermarket along Jalan Besar.  This experience prompted me to write and post this topic on age requirement.

The ad. was there for months and I thought that I am qualified to apply for this job.  It is for an internet cafe attendant, PC literate, and to call a handphone.  The first time I called, a male answered and told me he was now overseas and could not interview me for the job.

"Please call me in 3 days' time when I return to Singapore, thanks!" and he disconnected!

Three days passed and I waited till after lunch time to call him, giving him time to settle down after returning from overseas.  This time an operator of the telephone company told me that the line is not available and that my number is automaticall paged to his handphone for him to return my call.  Evening came and gone and at about 8 pm. I decided to try again as I reckoned that since he ran a 24 hour business, he should also be available at 8pm.

The first question he asked me is "Yes, I am looking for an internet cafe attendant.  How old are you?  What, you're 61! Sorry, I want someone below 30 years old! Sorry sir!"  And he disconnected! 

He didn't even ask whether I was PC literate or whether I can work night/graveyard shift.  Just like that and poosh! went my chance to work as an internet cafe attendant.  Why do they need a young one to be an attendant?  Are they afraid that I would go to sleep during my shift or worse that I am on a wheelchair!  As far as I know an internet cafe attendant registers and times a customer when he walks in.  He also dispense drinks, hot or cold.  Is that so difficult for an able bodied elderly man to do?

I had wanted to say to the male voice who 'interviewed' me on the phone to state the age requirement in his ads. but the moment passed and since he hanged up so abruptly I just let the issue go.  I am telling the truth.  The ads is still at this internet cafe cum mini-supermarket.  I now pass in front of it quite often in my forays to look for used PC peripherals.

Have a great day ahead.  In next couple of days I would like to go to the 'Work on line' topic.  Cheers!

Hi, Mirgen1,

I have read through all your posts & you struck me as an honest & sensible guy. What you said above regarding the age problem when applying for a job resonates with me. I too, belong to the older age group....54 this year.

I remembered about 2 years ago when I called up to inquire about a factory production job. The 1st question was 'How old are you?'. After telling her my age, she said 'Oh, we are looking for 35 & below'. Phew! That was fast...less than 1 minute. There were other similar incidents.

Things have not changed since the year 1991. At that time, I remembered seeing advertisements stating that they are looking for 35 years & below. I was in my late thirties then. Once you hit 40 & above, you go downhill in the employment market. I used to be in a middle management job earning a comfortable pay & being complacent at the same time. After about 14 years in the same company, I got restless & quit without a job. Mistake? Anyway, that's water under the bridge. Life after that is basically a lot of ups & downs...mostly downs.

Recently, employers are not allowed to state age requirement in their ads. I don't think it will help much. What will happen is that the older workers will waste time going for interviews just to get rejected! Imagine.....wasted time, effort & money (sometime, taxi fare if they're late or unfamilair with the area). After you have carefully filled out the forms, the interviewer will just say 'Oh, you're are above 35....sorry we're actually looking for somebody younger'. Employers will always get what they want, even in this so-called tight labour market. Every year, there's a new batch of secondary school leavers, poly graduates & university graduates. For the salary of an older & experienced worker, they can get 2 young & energetic workers...ready to be moulded unlike some older workers who are set in their habits.

There's always a ready pool of younger workers. Why did I say that? Well...if you can't get young Singaporeans, there's always young & cheap foreign workers.

So, what about the older Singaporeans? Yah...what about them?

Regards,
Semb

[Mirgen1]

Hi semb,

Thanks for your comment. That was last year's post but I think is still relevant today.

You are correct to say that senior citizens face alot of competition from cheap foreign workers.  The government is going to import more than 2.5 million to make our population 6.5million, so alot of our local young talent are already making plans to leave for greener pastures. Or at least where there are not so much crowd.

Some advertisers nowadays look for 'young dynamic persons to join us' or else 'senior citizen can apply for the job'.  We would like to see more of such advertisement so as not to waste anyone's time.

At the job fair for those above 40 held at the Punggol Community Centre last month, I saw few hundred people queueing up to apply for few available jobs.  I helped an elderly couple, Mr. & Mrs. Cheow to fill up their application forms seeing that they were illiterate and looked lost.  They were looking at a poster advertised by a chain of restaurants looking for cooks, assistant cooks, kitchen helpers and cleaners.  They didn't understand English and they have no cooking experiece. The only work they can do is cleaner.

When I came to the expected salary column, Mrs. Cheow said, "$700 loh." And when I told her the pay started from $800 she said, "Then $800 loh."

When it was Mr. Cheow's turn, he told me he didn't attend any schooling as his parents were poor and at 16 he was apprenticed to the furniture making branch of Diethlem. He worked for over 20 years and became a master upholsterer when he was out of work as Diethlem closed down their operations in the 80s. For the next 20 years or more he worked in various furniture shops turning out sofas, chairs, etc. until recently when he was told not to turn up for work as all these shops started to employ foreign cheap labour.

I didn't have the heart to tell Mr. and Mrs. Cheow they didn't have a hell's chance of being employed as cleaners in this restaurant as I was already being interviewed and rejected earlier by the girl interviewer barely out of school or college.  Her questions baffled me.  What had my educational level, employment history and recent retrenchment got to do with the job of cleaning the restaurant's tables. Is the standard so high that we need a diploma or degree to do such menial jobs?

I next went for the NEA counter to apply for the post of environment inspector.  The lady in charge told me I need to have 4 O level or diploma for this job.  The same old story again! I argued with her that my sec. 4 which I attained more than 40 years ago is equivalent or slightly higher than today's O level.  She relented at last, but needless to say, I was also unsuccessful as a mosquito lavae sample taker.  These jobs would eventually be tendered to a contractor who will just detail a few farm workers from Bangladesh or India to take these mosquitor lavae samples.

Everywhere we go, be it a private or a government agency, the red tape is so thick it is impossible to cut through. And yet our Prime Minister urged us to work. The only work available for senior citizens is security guards where you have to slog a 12 hour shift.  At our age, the MOM is being ridiculous to allow all these agencies to work its senior citizens for 12 hours a day.  Younger and able bodied citizens can work regulars office hours.  It is an upside down world here!

God bless and all the best to you and everyone here. Cheers

 

[Mr.Q]

It really is disheartening to read today's facts as described in this thread, which no doubt is REAL issue faced by Singapore's senior citizens.
When a company/business wants to get rid of older workers, they can always find a good reason: rationalisation. When they want to recruit young workers (ok, foreign or local, but young locals are more 'choosy' in general so almost by default choice goes to foreign workers), they have good reason too, 'business growth'
So, even to get a job as cleaner is not very easy, what are the options? I don't know who can answer, and who should.

I can't give any concrete help, as one of administrators here, I can only let this thread runs here, hoping that somebody from the office will somehow bump into it and come up with concrete solution. That's unlikely too...

[semb]

Hi, Mirgen1,

I have given up on job fairs for the last 2 years due to various reasons. I don't know the variety of jobs they have at the Punggol CC last month but they usually advertised an impressive number of jobs available. Anyway, for those that I went to, I noticed booths from real estate & insurance companies. I don't think many people are interested in these jobs. If they are, they don't have to wait for a job fair. Basically, they just distord the number of jobs available.

It is commendable of you to help the elderly couple in form filling. We need more people like you around.

You mentioned 'few hundred people queueing up to apply for few available jobs.'. I'm surprised to hear that because the newspapers keep on talking about the improving economy & tight labour market. I guessed they're talking about the young and/or well qualified. The middle-aged & the older age group (qualified or not) are the 'beyond help' group, I suppose? They're often told to be less fussy & take on any jobs. The issue here is age. Just because you're old, you have less bargaining power. It's just like saying 'these are the jobs available, you're old...take it or leave it'. It's always easy to sit in the ivory tower & say anything you want. Any jobs means jobs like security guards, kitchen helpers, healthcare asssistants, cleaners & landscape technicians (actually they mean gardeners). Like you said, some of these 12 hr shift jobs are quite demanding. By the way, I don't understand why they turned you down for the environment inspector job. Why do they need 4 'O' levels or diploma to scoop mosquito larvaes? Secondary level not smart enough?

When I was in my twenties, there used to be clear definition of jobs for each category of qualification. For example, if you're have less than primary 6 education, you would most probably be a cleaner or tea lady. For those with 'A' levels or degrees, you might be a manager. These are the two extreme end of the normal job spectrum. As for now, don't be surprised to find among the old cleaners, an 'A' level holder working with a primary 6 educated person. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the less illiterate. My own parents have less than primary 6 education. What I'm trying to stress here is that a lot of still usable-talent is wasted.

Regards,
Semb