After convincing myself that the US kind of sucks (which it does), Singapore started looking better and better. No more ridiculous temperature and humidity ranges, bad food, randomly patronizing caucasians, and paranoid jingoistic religious right governments. Of course, every place sucks in its own way, it's up to a person to choose which kind of suck he wants to put up with. But seven to eight years in one kind of suck is about enough.
I browsed through some possible jobs. Hmmm, how about Science Center? :P There's another one in data processing. Then I looked at the application forms.
They want what?
Why in the world do they want the entire list of my relatives, my relative's NIRC numbers, and occupations? And every sundry detail of my life including my "Hobbies and Sports"? If my hobby is shopping, do I have to put down "Window Shopping and Cycling on a Stationary Bicycle"? How about "Lazing in Front of TV". Or for the more sports-inclined, why does your employer want to know whether you go sky-diving or scuba-diving in your spare time?
Why do you have to list all your family members in the first place? Are they hiring you, or are they hiring your entire family? That and all your children -- maybe they only hire people with more than four children? And an entire page of yes/no questions ranging from whether you have pimples or not to whether you have been bankrupt before (I'm joking about the pimples part but you get the idea).
Seems like they are less interested in hiring someone who can get the job done, than hiring someone to tell their life story complete with sundry details like whether they watch football or basketball on Sunday. One wonders if anyone who isn't the perfect poster child of Singapore, with shiny teeth, all As, a wholesome marriage and a set of three (or more) children can ever find a job.
That's Singapore for you.
3 comments:
I think it's less about a country, and more about bureaucracy. College application forms also suck - from whatever country. :P
Either that, or the person tasked with making the form up in the first place ran out of ideas for filling space and making it look official.
Y'know, people have commented that even about lucky draw tickets. Why do they ask for your NRIC number on those? Never heard of identity theft, eh?
But I think it's just a case of: (Singaporeans being super guilty of this) "Oh, I need to make a form, har. *takes ten random forms as examples* Lessee what they all include. Name. Ok, include that. Age. Ok, keep that. Race. Gender. NRIC. House phone number. Handphone number. Office number. Car license plate. Hobbies. Committed crime before? Pimples."
And on and on, copying blindly and never thinking about wtf kind of info they really want.
It just turns into a "effort" filter. Those who can't be bothered to jump through these hoops = less people to sift through at an interview.
I used to fall into a depression every time I looked at a college app form. Or one of those stupid government tax forms. Just sooo much effort to fill, you didn't even know where to begin.
Eventually had to con myself saying, "Ok, just take 5 minutes to fill out the easy stuff - name, age, that kinda crap - and then quit. The harder stuff fill out later."
Oh, and are you in Singapore now?
Have you traded ridiculous temperature and humidity ranges, bad food, randomly patronizing caucasians, and paranoid jingoistic religious right governments for ridiculous temperature and humidity ranges, bad food, randomly patronizing mainstream older people, and paranoid jingoistic parental-watchdog government?
:P
I'm still in the States. I'm trying to complete some work before I go but I'm really ill lately from the nasty flu bug going around the office.
I can't stand filling College app forms either, I just kind of scribble some random stuff down and send it off (and you wonder why I can't get in). Job apps in the US are easier, you send them your resume and they can interview you if they are interested.
Singaporean job apps, do even start you have to send them your life story. Haven't they heard of identity theft? :P
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