Got a new job. It's a 6-month contract but so what, it's better than nothing.
My job search was short, but admittedly very frustrating, with many interviews but no offers prior to this company (who are clearly desperate for someone). The main problem was simply how Singaporeans think. "Never come between a Singaporean and a
rule," the saying goes. Well, a lot of job postings in Singapore have
experience requirements; and while in other countries they might take these as
a guideline ("approximately 1 year" for example), in Singapore I
found many companies took this as a rule. So I could have 11 months of work
experience (I have 10) and they would categorize me as having no experience rather
than 1 year. Kind of stupid but that's how it works.
Anyhow, the lesson is that knowing the work is temporary, I've got to keep looking and improving myself. Maybe it's the economy, but it's clear that my qualifications aren't holding well in the current job market.
Wish I
knew where to go with this, though…my personal feeling is that hiring managers
struggle to see me as an effective HR professional if I lack experience in
local HR regulation, since my degree is foreign. So I've been looking into
taking a postgraduate diploma from a local institution. Problem is there's two HR certification institutions in Singapore, and I have no bloody idea which one I
should choose. I've looked into both websites and both ways to certify look like
heavy time, effort, and money commitments. So I've got second thoughts,
especially with this new job coming up.
