I spotted this at Cockroach’s blog. He read that in a Hardwarezone forum.
Last Friday I went for an interview at this Fabrication plant U..i at Pasir Ris. The fab claims itself as the 2nd largest in the world.
It was a 1 to 1 interview with a fat Taiwanese manager. The Very First thing the manager asked me after my introduction is
Taiwanese Pig Manager: “I see you are a Singaporean. Do you need to go back to serve NS every year?”
I replied Yes, I do need to go back
Taiwanese Pig Manager: “Oh, so you have been going back even during your uni studies?”
Me: “Yes, at least once per year.
Then came the f-up remarks
Taiwanese Pig Manager: “How long do you need to go back every year? You Know, I once have this Singaporean Subordinate. He every year need to go back for like 2 weeks of in camp training, then still need to apply leave every now and then for some kind of briefing talks by NS.”
“Worse, he needs to pass some kind of physical test every Year, so when he trains for his test by running in the night, he will have no energy to do work in the morning, Affect Job Performance. Then if he fails, need to attend RT, waste of company time.”
“If every Singaporean needs to do all this, then I rather don’t hire you all then. 1 year you all will have like a few months no need to work due to NS, And you also are quite old compare to other graduates”
Well… What are my thoughts? The Taiwanese (Pig) Manager isn’t exactly wrong. He made an honest answer and it’s better than just telling someone he is not suitable for the job. The problem here is less with the employer I think.
He or she has all the right to chose who to hire. He pointed out that reservists don’t perform as well as the other because they might not have rest enough. That’s a perfectly sensible conclusion. It’s just like some employers don’t like to hire people who study part time.
I don’t think our government encourage employers to hire people schooling part-time. The whole problem lies with the reservist duties. Perhaps the Singapore government can look into awarding incentives to employers who hire Singaporean men now.
Possibly related:
- Eight things employers need to know about geeks
- end//semester
- Taiwanese fighter jet crashes, kills 2 Singapore soldiers
Tags: national service, work