SINGAPORE: A Singaporean felt deflated upon discovering that his overseas experience offered him no advantage in the local job market.
Sharing his story on Reddit’s ‘Ask Singapore’ forum on Wednesday (Sep 17), he said he had recently returned after working abroad for several years and had hoped that the experience would “boost his career” to some extent.
However, to his dismay, he found out after attending several interviews that local employers did not view this positively. Some, he wrote, even used it against him.
He claimed that certain employers told him he “doesn’t have enough recent local experience” after multiple rounds of interviews, while others “severely lowballed” him.
One HR professional, he added, even tried to justify the low offer by saying, “Singaporeans already get CPF, so that’s a pay rise.”
The man clarified that he had not been asking for an unreasonable salary and was, in fact, just negotiating for the ‘median pay for his years of working experience for the Singapore market and around the entry-level pay for his sector.’
Disappointed, the man wrote: “This is not what I envisioned coming back. I thought that as a local with overseas experience, I would be in a much more advantageous position coming back.”
“It feels like I’m at a disadvantage compared to my peers who just stayed in Singapore. I made sacrifices to gain overseas experience, hoping it would pay off long-term, but now I feel like I’m paying a high price.”
He also noted that some of the roles he failed to secure (where he reached the final rounds with positive feedback) were repeatedly reposted on MyCareersFuture and were eventually filled by foreigners. This led him to question ‘whether locals are really being considered fairly.’
Wanting to make sense of the situation, he asked the online community the following questions: “How do others market overseas experience effectively when returning to Singapore? Is overseas experience actually valued, or does it sometimes put us at a disadvantage?”
“Am I being too naive, or is this a common challenge for returning Singaporeans? Would really appreciate insights and advice from anyone who’s been through this, and I hope this will help others, too, who are thinking about an overseas stint.”
“Indicate how your overseas experience broadened your perspectives.”
Many Singaporean Redditors quickly chimed in, encouraging the local not to lose hope and pointing out that he could simply be applying for the wrong roles.
One wrote, “If you’re getting feedback that you don’t have enough recent local experience, I think you’re applying for the roles that do not prioritise regional experience. These are the jobs you should be going for where your overseas experience, especially if the country scope are where you’ve lived/work before, will be valued.”
Another explained, “It really depends on what experience you’re talking about and what jobs you’re applying for. If the job needs you to have some degree of local knowledge or familiarity with SEA culture, then yes, overseas knowledge might be detrimental.”
“If your overseas experience isn’t anything special, like you’re doing the same thing over there as what you would here, and that type of experience can be found everywhere in the world, then trying to use it to get higher pay is detrimental.”
A third advised, “Pivot and show that you gain soft skills that are transferable. Indicate how your overseas experience broadened your perspectives, how you are open-minded, able to think out of the box due to the unique experiences or great communication or presenting skills, etc., etc.”
In other news, a concerned employee took to social media to share a troubling experience at his workplace, where a “quiet and friendly colleague” was reportedly subjected to intense bullying by senior staff.
According to the post on the r/askSingapore forum, the colleague was so affected by the treatment that he ended up “crying” after leaving the company at the end of his probation period.
Read more: Employee says colleague ended up ‘crying’ after being bullied by senior staff
