Topic: General Posts

Marc,

The best job board for this work is www.devex.com. This job board is always up to date, is accurate in all job postings for all international work. There you will find the companies and international jobs.

Bob Vodzack

Bob,

Thanks for sharing! 

Marc

Hi Marc. I'm based in Singapore and have been living here since 1997. I've dealt with a financial recruiter here named Declan O'Sullivan from Kerry Consulting Pte. Ltd. Their website is www.kerryconsulting.com. You might want to check with them for any financial opportunities.

Good luck!

Michael Courtenay

Michael,

Very helpful... I'll get in touch with him.  Since you have been there 1997 forward, you must enjoy it.  Glad to hear. 

Thanks,

Marc

Marc,

I can't comment on Indonesia or the Philippines, but I have experience working and living in Thailand and previous job hunting in Singapore plus maintaining contact with an American who has run expat job networking groups for Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Unless you are hired in the USA for a transfer to Thailand, your job opportunities in Thailand are most likely very limited if you don't speak Thai and don't have a specific skill set that is in very short supply. There are some exceptions, but the Thai government is pretty tight on work permits and visas for foreigners who are not already resident there. If you have the funds to start your own company, it is easier, but it generally (but not always) requires both a Thai partner and hiring at least 4 Thai employees in order to get a work permit for yourself through that route.

Singapore used to have an arrangement where professionals who met certain criteria in age, education, and income level could get a temporary pass for up to one year to live in Singapore while looking for a job, but I think that program is no longer available. I understand that Singapore is still one of the easier places to get a work permit/employment pass for upper level professionals & executives, but is not as open to foreigners coming there as they used to be. Since the economic downturn the government has been more focused on ensuring that jobs are available for Singaporeans. Banking and Finance, Risk Management, and some other types of consulting may have some employment opportunities. Manufacturing finance/accounting and internal audit in industries other than banking may have a lot fewer opportunities for foreigners who do not already have residence in Singapore. Before spending much time on a job search for Singapore, I recommend you research your employment permit options on the Ministry of Manpower website.

One of the people replying mentioned devex.com. From my experience, Devex is a good source of job listings, but it is heavily focused on government, NGO, and non-profit jobs and contract work. If that is what you are interested in, there are several other job listing resources for that kind of work. Send me an email ([email protected]) and I will send you the urls for the other sources.

Take a look on LinkedIn. There are expat job groups for all the countries you've listed. Some are even specific to certain industries.

Wish you luck with your search.

Regards,

Richard

Richard,

Thanks for your time/effort in responding.  This was very helpful.  

Marc

Marc,

Not a problem. Hope some of it turns out to be useful.

I basically ended up taking a similar approach to get work overseas in 2004. Had an international project with my employer, but at the time the company had no plans to expand with offices outside the USA. I decided that I wanted to stay international. I did not have a country preference, so considered my options based on three factors:

(1) Was the market in the country likely to have a demand for my skill set?

(2) Was it likely that the country did not have enough qualified professionals to fill most of the available job opportunities?

(3) Could I get by initially without knowing the local language?

Considering those points, I narrowed the options to Hong Kong and Singapore, ending up with a job in Hong Kong. However, I was very fortunate because that was around the beginning of the big rollout for SOX compliance to companies' international locations. Since the financial crisis, opportunities seem to have decreased, although there are still some areas where there are skills shortages and job opportunities are reappearing.

If you decide to contact recruiters, I recommend Ambition and Michael Page International. Both have offices in Hong Kong and Singapore and both specialize in Finance and Accounting positions. Ambition in Hong Kong ( http://www.ambition.com.hk/about-ambition-hong-kong) has a Market Trends and Salaries book that you can download and also links to one for Singapore and Malaysia.

Not sure what salary you are looking for, but you may be disappointed, depending on how high level the position is. If you look for a direct hire by a company there, it is unlikely that the salary & benefits will be comparable to what a person on an expat assignment from a US company would get.

Hope your search goes well. I really love SE Asia and will be retiring to Thailand within the next 1-2 years.

Best regards,

Richard

Richard,

Very helpful.... Thanks.  I love Thailand and couldn't think of a better place to retire.

I will start looking into opportunities, from your guidance.

Thanks,
Marc