What S’pore lacks is a home market

I refer to this week’s VoicesTODAY topic, “Will Singaporeans get a fairer shot at jobs?”. Companies have various hiring criteria. The ultimate goal is to select talents who can be groomed to take on larger responsibilities in leadership positions.

Singapore has the best environment to seek out such talents. We are at the centre of a growing Asia, with superb infrastructure, pools of bilingual talent, a strong legal framework and a vibrant financial market.

With the downturn in Europe and North America, Singapore is an attractive place for multinational corporations to hire and train top managers.

While this is a perfect hunting ground, Singaporeans may not necessarily be hunted. With the abundance of foreigners who speak English and their home language, such as French, Bahasa and Vietnamese, and who graduated from Western universities, MNCs are spoilt for choice.

The ultimate goal in grooming talent is for them to take up leadership roles in their home countries, the growth markets, or return to the head office. They know the language, the local market, the local and corporate culture and are cost-effective, as they would not be expatriates.

Singapore lacks a home market, and to groom a Singaporean to lead in another country is not cost-effective. In the past, though, Singaporeans were talents to be groomed for leadership positions in Asia. But the dynamics have shifted, given our open-door policy.

I hope the new Fair Consideration Framework will remedy the natural disadvantages Singaporeans face today.