Talent Deficit in Singapore? Of Taxi Drivers and SMEs

I found this article this morning on Today, which drew my attention for today.

Brain Drain? Few worries, say employers.

So i decided to write up something about this… Before I start, I would like to ask the readers one question… Are we hiring too many foreign talents and over-relaxing on our immigration policies?

Look at Singapore today, especially in Boon Lay, it has become little China and little India. I’m not saying it’s bad… but many job vacancies are being filled up by these foreigners. Even students have to compete in schools with them for results. I am from NTU so I understand how it feels like. Some of them really act in a despicable manner and their attitude towards others is really bad.

Should we compete with them or move out? The answer varies according to the industry which you are currently employed in. I guess a really huge impact is our taxi drivers. THEY ARE TALENTS… They can drive like the racers in Initial D. Some of them are really part time racers! However… more and more China people are taking up the jobs of the taxi drivers. Everytime I sit on a cab, I hear taxi drivers COMPLAINING about how the market is getting occupied by these China people. Moreover, taking a cab is a need and not a want, hence there will always be consumers. Taxi drivers earn a living by bringing customers to their destinations.

4 passengers = 1 driver
4 passengers = 2 drivers (unless some guys sharing a cab are so filthy rich/stupid to split themselves up just to make the 2 taxi drivers happy)

The point here is that the market for taxi will become increasingly congested if this thing continues.

Other than this, universities are encouraging foreigners to come over to study as they can earn more from these foreigners. The GOVT are even paying them a sum of money to come over to COMPETE with us as long as they work here for a few years. More and more foregin students = more and more professional jobs taken up by them after they graduate. <- Do correct me if I am wrong. Where else should we go? As the saying goes… “The grass is greener on the other side.” Of course we go overseas. The China people come into Singapore, We GO to CHINA LA! That is what many Singaporeans are doing…

It is the same everywhere because of globalization.Talents outflowing… Besides, with the ever increasing inflation rates, we have no choice but to venture out into other countries. And also, the INCREASING cost of living in Singapore… last week the GOVT put a few more gantries… To own a car is expensive, to drive one is even more expensive. I seriously dunno what the GOVT is up to… hope they are doing a good job with our money. =)

Actually, some companies really complain they got NO STAFF… turnover rates high… Blame this and that.. except for THEMSELVES. I would like to post a question to this companies… Is your management flawed? High turnover rates could mean something you know…

Most of the time, top level management people are old people and many old people resist change. (not saying all old people are bad. U GAVE BIRTH TO US YOUNGER GENERATION! U ROCK!) E.g. I have this friend who is working in this company. I was so surprised that he told me that his company is still using DOS to handle their work. Why? Not because the lady boss is an old umarried woman. But because she resist change. How many of you know of such old people? You teach them to use the internet or the PC… they keep telling you they have no time or they don’t need it… they have got kids <- what has this got to do with learning. And the countless complaints saying that they just don’t know how. It’s not that they don’t know! It’s they don’t want to know.

Robert Kiyosaki once said… Don’t say you cannot do this cannot do that. Ask yourself how can you do it? Cannot = closed mind. Can = Room for generating solutions.

So does this kind of management interest talents to work in their company? No. The managers don’t even want to improve themselves, how would a fresh grad feel about the learning opportunities of the company?

Talents going into such companies would become stagnant too.

Company politics also play an important part of the talent outflow in SMEs. Some companies really have very bad office politics. Which employee would like to be bad mouthed? I believe that there’s none. I guess companies should try their best to minimize such politics to keep all workers happy… although it would be a rather difficult task. Humans are interactive creatures after all.
My 2cents worth for the day.

Should MLM use Deceit and Disguise to Recruit people? - Voice your views.

I just wanna share this with you people. I guess you guys heard about MLM. Some are for them, some are against them. Personally, I am strongly against it. There is this research done by a Dr. Jon M. Taylord (MBA, PhD) on MLM and the pros and cons (more on cons) on MLM.

Here is the link -> The Truth about MLM

Basically, this is also why I started blogging again. I have ranted about MLM and after 1 year… they have come out with new things for me to talk about. =P

Part I

It happened a few weeks back. This is my holidays and I am looking for a job. I saw this ad in Classified.

$7/hr to $10/hr.
Easy Job. Call us now @ *********

It sounds great right? So I called up and guess what?

I asked for the job… the lady on the phone said “We don’t actually provide such jobs. We actually encourage people to take on our sales job which is solely commission based. Would you like to come down for an interview?”

I was suspicious, so I replied, “Is this MLM?”

She told me, “What is MLM?” - MLM people JUST DON’T ADMIT that they are MLM. They ALWAYS regard themselves as entrepreneurs, network marketing people or SLM.

“Ok so is this network marketing?”

“Yes” she replied.

“Ok then I am not interested.” I hung up the phone as soon as she said Y.

Ok… the point here is WHAT THE HELL do you think you are doing by putting such ads on Classifieds? What if there are REAL people who are jobless and they are looking for jobs. When they reach your place, they found out that it’s just another MLM scam. Isn’t it a waste of time and effort? Are you being considerate for posting such ads?

Part II

That’s not the end of my experience with MLM. I just had one experience YESTERDAY.

How do you define an ENTREPRENEUR? I consider myself a semi entrepreneur because I have not launched my stuff yet - in the process of building it.

An entrepreneur is a person who has possession over a new company, enterprise, or venture, and assumes full accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome. - Wikipedia.

I believe that many of you out there are also entrepreneurs. Do you realize that many MLM Salespeople are titling themselves as ENTREPRENEURS too? I was wondering what kind of risks do they inherit? Worse comes to worse, if they do not meet sales target, they get fired?

Entrepreneurs, in my own humble opinion, is when YOU CREATE something of your own and SELLING IT. MLM… on the other hand, basically is just taking something which is already available and selling it at a marked up price such that the profits can accomodate the COMPANY, YOUR RECRUITER and YOU. Is the product which you are selling worth that price? I do agree that it is a great business model… but the way people handling it in SINGAPORE is definitely disgusting. The person who STARTED the MLM Company, is an entrepreneur and not you salespeople.

Part III

I met up with this guy (John - not his real name.) asking me to take up a survey regarding entrepreneurship. Being a semi-entrepreneur, I was more than willing to help. He invited me to a Cashflow 101 workshop for an investment of $10. Having just read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (Damn I am slow, IT IS a GREAT BOOK!), I was excited about Cashflow Board Game - which is to be played at a Workshop in NUS Staff Club last Sunday.

BUT, the FIRST TIME PLAYING IT WAS REALLY BAD. I am the first to start the game and drew an opportunity card (for those of you who have not played the game, I apologize for not explaining because there’s much more stuffs to talk about). The card showed a card selling a stock @ $30/share with trading range $10 - $30. Being a first timer, I did not understand such a rule of the game and I overlooked the trading range because I thought buying a stock was like buying a property in monopoly - @ a fixed price. There was almost no instruction given before I said I wanted to buy.

So I withdrew my decision to buy that stock. Instead of treating me as a newbie to the game, the game master, Aaron (not his real name) slammed me and said “You need to take charge of your life. Once you make the decision you cannot take it back. This is your life. You take charge of it. You cannot like this.” I was like WTF? I’m new right? Shouldn’t I be given a chance to understand this game? I was quite pissed but I kept my cool, and also because they are from a “ENTREPRENEURSHIP” society.

Each turn for one is this game is only like less than 1 min. So I’m supposed to take charge of my balance sheet and cashflow statements within that timing - and I am feverish too.

After the game, I decided to go home. As I walked past the toilet, I heard some of the game facilitators talking… “I guess they don’t suspect.” and I know one of the guys in the club because he is from my school. I know that he is from MLM and he acted quite awkwardly when he saw me.

I was getting quite suspicious. Because from the beginning, the people acted really MLMish, boasting about their achievements and saying that they are ENTREPRENEURS, without stating the business which they are in.

I left that place soon enough and did not join them for dinner, which was at Commonwealth. So, I decided to go home for some research over the Internet and found this. <= Do read it and you can understand the later parts.

So… I realized I was in their initial stage of the scam and having a dress down by a person who they describe as an ENTHUSIASTIC “entrepreneur” (to me he is just another MLM salesman). What entrepreneur? Oh please, save me the crap. _|_ I am really disgusted at how unethical that MLM Companies in Singapore are becoming. Using Cashflow workshops to recruit people. This is how I feel… how about you?

Hello WORLD! - My Own version

Hi All,

It’s been a while since i last blogged. Was a noob back then and did not understand PR. I have created alot of bad publicity, although it was for a cause. Anyway, I decided to create this blog again so that people can share their ideas about anything, including toilet bowl designs to spaceship designs. Just let me know what you wanna write about and I will just do a simple post… You comment.

Share your ideas. Inspire others!

My true vision is to allow entrepreneurs or creative people to think about solutions. I will also be blogging about entrepreneurship. Please read my first post as I am working on it. =)

Cheers,

Ethan

Author of ideasforstarters.wordpress.com