The futureâitâs something that Singaporeans
are constantly worrying about.
When parents enrol their kids in 28 different
tuition classes, itâs for their future. When couples buy a big flat
they canât really afford, itâs for the future of their future kids,
never mind if they havenât decided whether they want them yet.
And when students spend all their school
holidays labouring away in unpaid internships, itâs not that they
donât have any hobbies or donât need the money from a proper
part-time jobâitâs that theyâre
terrified theyâll be entering an inhospitable job market.
In fact, students are already worried about
getting retrenched when they havenât even started working, given
the scary
retrenchment figures last year.
So students or fresh grads whoâve just entered
the workforce, here are three tips if you want to future-proof your
job and ensure you still have a ricebowl a decade or three down the
road.
Weâve all heard horror stories of those middle
aged PMETs whoâve been cast away like driftwood by their companies
and then become taxi drivers. Now thereâs no way these people donât
have any skills. Of course they do, what do you theyâve been doing
for the past 20-30 years?
The problem is, the higher they climbed on the
career ladder, the more their tasks revolved around managing
people, rather than doing actual work. They started honing their
management skills, while letting their technical skills get
eroded.
You always hear people complaining about how
hard it is to work for bosses who have no clue how the work is
actually done. Well, there you go. When these bosses are let go,
itâs hard for them to find a new job as itâs difficult to hire them
for more junior positions, not just because theyâre more expensive
to employ, but also because theyâre used to ordering people around,
not doing the actual work.
So to fresh grads and students just starting
out in your careers, keep your technical skills sharp, even when
you no longer have to.
When youâre promoted to marketing manager,
make sure you know exactly how those SEO reports are generated.
Engineers, many of whom strive to be managers in Singapore because
thatâs where the money is, should try to stay technically
up-to-date even if they are no longer doing the grunt work. Itâll
make you better at managing people, more useful to the company and
less likely to be let go.
Singaporeans tend to be quite reluctant to accept overseas
postings. They pay for this by sacrificing global or
regional experience, which is often necessary to climb to the very
top of the organisational ladder. People often complain about upper
management being full of foreigners, but they forget that many of
these foreigners have worked in many major world cities, while the
typical Singaporean manager has not.
In addition, there are certain industries
which are underdeveloped in Singapore. For instance, software
engineering in Singapore is mostly a back-end affair, so if youâre
a rookie youâll do your career a big favour by working abroad.
The government
laments the tech talent shortage, but the truth is that most
entry-level projects and salaries just arenât attractive here.
As a younger employee, grab whatever overseas
experience you can. If youâre still at school, itâs often a lot
easier to get an overseas internship than an actual job, so take
advantage of the fact.
Working in an MNC or a local SME with overseas
offices? Check if your company has a secondment programme, and make
it clear to your boss you want to be considered for overseas
stintsâyou might be asked to cover for an overseas colleague whoâs
away.
Itâs not just about getting useful contacts,
although those will certainly come in handy.
The most important thing is that an overseas
stint will almost certainly eliminate your anxieties and misgivings
about working abroad, heighten your cultural sensitivity and
hopefully make you feel more prepared to accept an overseas posting
in future.
It will also make you realise how different
working environments can be from what weâre used to in
Singapore.
And if, like many Singaporean employees sick
of the daily grind, you
decide you want to migrate later on, itâll be easier with some
overseas experience.
Unless youâre in your ideal job right now,
there are probably some shifts youâll want to make in the next few
years of your career.
Maybe you want to work on more exciting
projects (eg. a graphic designer wanting to do more than just
newspaper layouts), work for a different kind of company (eg. a
lawyer wanting to go in-house) or take on different
responsibilities (eg. wanting to move from an engineering to a
managerial job).
Instead of waiting years for your job scope to
expand, see if you can plug some of your skill gaps by taking on
relevant personal projects. This can accelerate your climb up the
ladder as youâll be more employable in every subsequent job.
Thanks to the internet, itâs a lot easier to
start a new project than before.
One of the most straightforward ways is to
start a blog or website to show off a certain area of expertise.
For instance, if youâre an expert in internet security, start a
blog discussing security issues such as choosing passwords.
For those whoâre working in media, tech or
creative fields, the internet enables you to share your work by
maintaining an online portfolio.
Donât wait till your employer gives you more
responsibilities; rather, create your own opportunities by
demonstrating skill and interest in a particular area. Employers
will be then more inclined to step in and offer you
opportunities.
The post 3 Ways to Really
Future-Proof Your Job appeared first on the MoneySmart blog.