Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi

I thought i share my expeience here. Age 36 and male. Out of job for a whopping 18 months and today still searching for a full time job.

Graduated with an engineering degree and work in a US manufacturing plant in 2003 before economic crisis forced it to close down in 2005. Then move on to another european MNC as a trainee where i got involved in various facet of work such as HR, engineering, logistics and key account in 2007. I spent 2006 completing my masters.

Then came the call to serve in a large ministry as part of their policy team in 2009 which i thought would be relatively more stable but that was a drastic mistake. In the 2nd year of my work, I was threaten daily to terminate my contract just because some one think i was not a right fit for the job. And while foreigners protect themselves as you have seen in other pte ltd, this is one where the locals 'kill' one another. Finally after the general elections where almost all the ministries changed their minister, i was finally forced out by expiry of contract.

The irony is: With experience in local, US and european companies as well as being involved in regional work made me even more difficult to find work. Recruiters would cite my limited experience in engineering as well as HR as a stumbling block and my experiences in the civil service do not apply to pte sector.

I cannot apply to other ministries as all information are shared within the common system. How I know? cos i had a brief involvement in recruitment in the minitry. Did u know that when you apply a job in careers.gov.sg, every recruiter can see all your past applications. Is it any wonder why a stat board may suddently ask you if you are applying for any other jobs at the moment? They know.

How i survive? I rely on odd jobs to keep me alive, not forgetting some debts that had to be paid. I took up part time jobs advertised in gumtree, focus group discussions and took on as many mystery shopping assignments as i could. I even went for astrology reading such as zi wei dou shu and vedic astrology which coincientally reveals that I am at the lowest point of my life and made worse by loss of job.

If this is part of destiny i would have to accept, but it had not been easy. The wise words of dont quit without a job still hold true and I would urge everyone to follow that.

Until today, recruiters comment that my age hold a barrier as companies are not willing to consider entry position despite my experience meeting the requirements and my age is certainly not enough for the senior positions. It is real roadblock and I am really at the corss-roads of my life.