(9 August 2009 – See the 2009 edition of this list.)
This is the 2008 edition of my annual list of the top 100 jobs in terms of pay (see last year’s edition).
This list is compiled based on data from MOM Occupational Wages Survey, which is published as part of the Report on Wages in Singapore 2007.
As with previous years, the MOM survey does not capture performance bonuses, profit sharing and stock options.
To generate the list, I looked at the third-quartile monthly gross wages of the selected jobs published. Explanation: if you’re at the third-quartile, or 75th-percentile, your pay is higher than 75% of the people.
Here’s the top 100 best-paying jobs:
- Specialised surgeon – $30,755
- Managing director – $24,472
- General surgeon – $17,872
- Commodities futures broker – $17,464
- General manager – $16,667
- Company director – $15,513
- Creative director (Advertising) – $13,000
- Legal service manager – $12,318
- Foreign exchange dealer and broker – $11,095
- Operations manager (Finance) – $9,808
- Legal officer – $9,790
- Risk management manager – $9,600
- Research and development manager – $9,385
- Computer operations and network manager – $9,300
- Training manager – $9,000
- Computer and information systems manager – $8,930
- Ship-master – $8,671
- Technical manager – $8,595
- Financial futures dealer and broker – $8,447
- Personnel / Human resource manager – $8,420
- Business development manager – $8,290
- Corporate planning manager – $8,290
- Fund manager – $8,125
- Treasury manager – $8,079
- Budgeting and financial accounting manager – $8,000
- Marketing manager – $8,000
- Power generation and distribution engineer – $7,848
- Engineering manager – $7,819
- Chemical engineer (Petroleum) – $7,678
- Manufacturing plant and production manager – $7,645
- Chemical engineer (Petrochemicals) – $7,547
- Advertising and public relations manager – $7,533
- Advocate and solicitor – $7,500
- Operations research analyst – $7,500
- Business management consultant – $7,437
- Procurement manager – $7,416
- Lawyer (except advocate and solicitor) – $7,400
- Quality assurance manager – $7,263
- Customer service manager – $7,142
- Sales manager – $7,100
- Logistics manager – $7,050
- Operations manager (Commerce) – $6,862
- Chemical engineering technician (Petroleum) – $6,696
- Automation engineer – $6,680
- Instrumentation engineer – $6,616
- Book editor – $6,538
- Surveyor – $6,523
- Industrial health, safety and environment engineer – $6,503
- Building architect – $6,500
- Transport operations manager – $6,400
- Editor (Newspapers and periodicals) – $6,369
- Marine superintendent engineer – $6,340
- Audio and video equipment engineer – $6,307
- Premises maintenance manager – $6,304
- Personal banker – $6,250
- Chemist – $6,241
- Electrical engineering technician (High voltage) – $6,225
- Business analyst – $6,205
- General physician – $6,173
- Administration manager – $6,150
- Financial analyst – $6,000
- Securities dealer and broker – $5,750
- Shipping manager – $5,721
- Building and construction project manager – $5,720
- Property / Estate manager – $5,715
- Physicist – $5,700
- Editor (Radio, television and video) – $5,658
- Information technology security specialist – $5,646
- Advertising copywriter – $5,600
- Director (Stage, film, television and radio) – $5,512
- Automotive engineer – $5,500
- Naval architect – $5,480
- Chemical engineering technician (Petrochemicals) – $5,424
- Chinese physician – $5,316
- Financial planner – $5,283
- Aeronautical engineer – $5,242
- Chemical engineer (General) – $5,187
- Broadcasting operations technician – $5,178
- Market research analyst – $5,174
- Producer / Director of commercials – $5,150
- Manufacturing engineer – $5,137
- Systems programmer – $5,111
- Actuary – $5,100
- Production engineer – $5,091
- Sales representative (Technicial) – $5,089
- Database administrator – $5,080
- Semi-conductor engineer – $5,035
- Mechanical engineer – $5,000
- Ship rigger – $4,933
- Systems designer and analyst – $4,914
- Network systems and data communication analyst – $4,894
- Sales representative (Medical and pharmaceutical products) – $4,857
- Flight operations officer – $4,801
- Civil engineer – $4,746
- Script writer – $4,740
- Warehousing manager – $4,706
- Materials engineer – $4,689
- Electrical engineer – $4,665
- Credit analyst – $4,631
- Electronics engineer – $4,615
297 Comments
for most jobs, i always believe that we should not focus on the money but in doing what we have to do best.
money is normally the reward for ensuring that you do it well. but if you focus on it as first priority, then you will lose your moral compass. what do you people think?
Yeah mates, after all nothing negative ever came out of doing what you love most. You’ll do it only better.
yes borat, i really loved your movie!
If only everyone was a responsible netizen like surgeon,i’m sure that i won’t have to moderate online comments
Hahaha if people choose not to believe the pay im getting, its up to them.
Honestly, I am happy that I am earning roughly 15K excluding bonuses and ENT.
I can dare say that not many people here earn as much or even near what i am earning now.
Cheers ALL!
Ron
For all you know, Ronaldo could just be a lonely, insecure bum with no friends constantly participating in this virtual world which may just be his only source of entertainment and self-comfort. Think IRC-addicts.
15k is not a lot as a wall street trader or private banker in the past.
So I dont doubt him but try not to make other envious. There are those Singaporeans who think foreigners who dont know where Singapore is are ignorant.
Yeah, the amount itself is not hard to believe. The private bankers and traders I know, until recently, would be really depressed if they earned only 15k per month.
I think he’s just looking for acknowledgement, that’s all. A lot of his self-esteem is hanging on that “15k, 28yrs” mantra of his.
But aren’t we all like that to a degree or another 🙂
Let not be envious of high pay of others and instead work harder ourselves. Even if we fall short eventually, at least we tried and we should have no regrets.
i have an acquaintance who earns $25k a month on average. 24 yo, only ‘o’ levels and she looks very hot. i dun wish to disclose my friend’s occupation though 🙂 btw, i am just an ugly blob who earns $4.5k at 33 🙁 not to flame dear ronaldo, just compare 41 & 56, folks. haha. if ronaldo is a hot dude, $15k is way below market rate.
It is possible to earn 15k a month because when u reach early to mid 30s u can earn nearly 30K a month in the civil service.
Younger officers in the elite Administrative Service — typically top performers in their early to mid-30s — will receive S$351,000 or about 12 percent less.
i believe at the end of the day, it is impt to set aside your pay to invest. I believe I earn more (160k per annum, 34) than my peers but spend considerably less than them (i drive a jap car and still in hdb flat).
I’m no where near those guys at elite administrative service. i constantly need to ensure i stay employed becos i think it is not easy to find a similar pay elsewhere. So, my principle is to work hard and save hard and better still invest wisely. It will not be sunshine everyday for me.
Don’t compare with the elite Administrative Service. There are only about 400 Administrative Officers and Management Associates (387 according to Peter Ho’s speech in 2007).
400 against a labour force of about million (or more), is insignificant. They were the black swans.
These lucky folks got in because they did well in their studies in JCs and managed to impress the interview panel during their scholarship interviews. They were reasonably smart students and more importantly they can speak and present themselves well. That said, there are also a lot of “farmer” scholars who couldn’t become AOs (not lucky enough or chose the wrong scholarships).
If you want to compare, you might as well compare with the thousands of rich kids who inherited millions from their rich parents.
average joe > i dont sell myself short but this only applies to my work professionally in media.
There are many ways to earn 20K or more cash a month. This depends on how far the extend of work the person is willing to do.
I know an female acquaintance who is young, pretty, sexy, has a degree, a good job. She can earn easily more than 30K a month, and majority of this amount dont come from her day job.
In good times, those PRC hostess in night clubs along Havelock Road can also easily earn >15 to 20K a month. The type of work they do are very flexible and provides 100% fulfillment to whichever man who comes to them for casual companionship.
I don’t doubt your 24 yo female acquaintance is earning $25k a month but frankly its not the most difficult job in the world to do either.
We see wall street traders and investment bankers earning loads of cash of more than 50K a month or more even. But where are they now?
Quite sadly, most of them are either bankrupt, facing legal suits from clients, jobless, holding jobs with meagre salaries, or bumming somewhere because their world had came crashing down.
As such, I dont envy them now at all. In reality, they are now having a sad fate, fighting for their cash flow, barely surviving.
People dont look at past glory and performance because it is all history.
We look at what is currently happening now.
Cheers!
Ron
And the cycle continues…
RONALDO: “I’m so great blah blah blah”
THE REST: “No you’re not lots of people are better than you blah blah blah”
RONALDO: “but those people got this and that problem blah blah therefore I’m STILL better blah blah blah…”
Wah this thread is so depressing. Earning average of my cohort sounds likes earning s**t after reading these posts:(
No need to feel depressed. Just continue to vote for PAP and we have more good years for Singapore.
Great Ronaldo! At your age getting 15K, it is considered very outstanding.
*Excluding* bonuses and all the other things also leh. Very very very very very outstanding. Forever 28 yrs also some more. Lagi very very very very very oustanding.
Wow, loser Ronaldo is still at it?
AMAZING! Now, Ronaldo, which intern have you hired to write your retorts for you?
I am certain your small minded brain would not be able to come up with structured english sentences that are winged with objectives. Come on, Ronaldo, spill the beans. I know it’s not you. Your one and only mantra is, ’28 years old earn 15 k,’with a chinki-fied chinese beat to boot.
Best paying jobs is the Tai Tais (not housewives) at home,especially those who can control their highly paid husbands tightly…..
As for Ronaldo (must say something, since u r the angpai here), you are such a joy, this forum will lose its colours without your appearance……I do enjoying reading his posts…so funny.
A important advice to all, live healthily…min or no womanizing, gambling..or other costly bad habits and u will lead a rich life even u don’t earn as much as Ron..
Don’t understand why this Ronaldo character has so much hang-up about 15k at 28 years old. He should look at his annual package. Getting only 30% – 50% bonuses is nothing to rave about. It looks like the annual package is not as good, esp if your media firm is an MNC. There are many rank and file employees, including secretaries, in big local MNCs who got rewarded with stocks as their performance bonuses and became millionaires in 2006-2007 when the company stocks shot up. Does Ron’s firm reward employees with shares? How about pension? AO Scheme is pensionable. One should therefore not measure by monthly salary but by earnings potential in totality.
Also, why boast so much about the high base salary when there are so many young people who don’t even need to work? Of course some are lucky cos’ their parents are rich. Some are smart and lucky – I know one young chap who sold luxury cars and earned a $1m+ commission, which he used to flip properties in 2006-2007 and is now retired. Ron, unless your net worth is in the millions and you have retired at 28 years old, stop boasting.
Aiyah, behumble, as if you don’t know Ron lah 🙂
I mean I think it’s pretty much obvious to everyone here that while this “15k at 28yrs!!!!!!” means he’s done quite well for himself, there are many who have done so much better than him.
But tell him that, and he’ll say that they probably have to work harder than him lah, that they cannot play golf at what time lah, that they dunno some guy with a yacht lah… bla bla bla. Old story lah 🙂
(BTW Admin: can I request that you recognize line breaks in comments? All comments in salary.sg looks like ppl don’t know how to write in paragraphs because extra linebreaks are removed like this.)
privileged, the term ‘farmer scholar’ is an oxymoron. The dichotomy of farmers vs scholars is a concept and as with all concept, it comes with a set of fixed definitions. A scholar isn’t a farmer. And a farmer isn’t a scholar.
A scholar refers to those who studied in top US/UK universities on government scholarships after their A levels.
This means losers who got some local study award on the bill of any of the governmental agencies are farmers. Farmers also refer to local university graduates and non graduates who work in the ministries and any of the stat boards.
Within scholars, there are different ranks and grades. Yes, all scholars are those who attend top overseas institutions. But within the group, there are further segregated into more tiers. There is the top tier of scholars who are PSC’s top scholars- who receive the SAF Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS), SPF Overseas Scholarship (SPFOS) and Overseas Merit Scholarship (OMS). These are three classes of scholars are the group from which the President’s Scholar is chosen. In other words, one can’t be a President’s Scholar and not be from one of these three groups of scholars.
Then there are stat board scholars who are 2nd tier.
Within the top tier of scholarships, the rank is as follows.
President’s Scholarship cum SAFOS
President’s Scholarship cum SPFOS or cum OMS
SAFOS
SPFOS
OMS
This information is widely known among scholars and scholarship applicants, anyone who’s ever been in the inner circle or tried applying for a scholarship.
First if the Ronaldo dude really makes $15K at 28, that’s really good salary, and significantly above what most other Singaporeans make at 28, although it isn’t a gauge on his salary in the longer term until he’s 60.
Second, there are SAFOS and OMS that are not AO, and lets say I know for a fact that they’re not regarded as lesser scholars than SAFOS and OMS AOs by both organisation and co-workers. Also, scholars do not take the AO interview immediately upon return. Majority of them get in at some point of their careers.
Dear insider, how many of these top and second -tier scholars will eventually make it to the Administrative Service? Is there a huge diff in pay between AOs and non-AOs?
insider,
how about the unwritten ranking of rank n file?
bachelor’s entry w/o scholarship upgrading to masters/phd with n w/o scholarship?
Like labrador said, many of top tier scholars (not including those who has left) are AOs. There are second tier scholars who are AOs but far fewer. Stat board scholars simply do not get the same level of exposure or relevant jobscope as compared to PSC scholars. I’m sure you know that ministries formulate policies, stat boards carry them out. There isn’t any policy formulation done at stat board level. No one really wants a stat board scholarship, just ask any top scholarship applicant. But many do take it up after being rejected for a top PSC scholarship. And it pays for an expensive 4-year education so they take what they can get. I dare say it’s a well known fact that almost all stat board scholars are PSC-SAFOS and PSC-OMS rejectees. (meaning they applied for PSC and stat boards and didn’t get PSC)
Why would anyone with brains turn down an OMS for a stat board when the OMS scholar will be the stat board scholar’s boss?
All stat boards come under the authority of a ministry. Eg MTI governs STB, EDB. Mindef governs DSTA. MOF governs MAS and so on. The stat boards execute menially the policies formulated by their parent ministry (done by the PSC OMS and SAFOS scholars there). So essentially, a stat board scholar is doing the sai kang with no exposure to policy making.
Stat boards are also totally independent of each other. Eg when a MAS staff wants to move to say, PUB, he resigns from MAS and then reapplies to PUB. There is no fluid movement for people in stat boards.
PSC-OMS scholars are rotated at the highest level of policy making in various ministries and they switch between ministries fluidly. Their scholar friends they befriended in JC and Yale are stuck at the stat board, with no lateral movement.Do note that the description above for staff of ministries ONLY apply to high fliers like OMS scholars. Their regular rank and file don’t have. I’m just explaining the set-up of ministries and stat boards to you. The privilege doesn’t extend to any tom, dick or harry.
To your second question, the pay between the two isn’t even comparable.
Fair points but a rather myopic view.
Firstly, there are certainly strong stat boards like EDB and MAS which are traditionally more attractive to scholarship applicants as a stint there would make you more marketable to the private sector. Secondly, AOs who spend all their years in Ministries are generally not so attractive to private sector employers like MNCs and banks because they don’t really have client contact or marketable skills which can be picked up at the economic stat boards (with the exception of maybe investment banking and management consulting, which some ex-AOs have broke into but at junior levels). So I wouldn’t say that “all stat board scholars are PSC-SAFOS and PSC-OMS rejectees.” There are very good reasons why some very good scholarship candidates prefer to work at strong stat boards than in Ministry HQs.
Also, if you are planning to work in the private sector, who really cares about whether you are SAFOS, OMS, SPFOS??? All this stratification is created by the Singapore Government to attract many academically-excellent but impressionable 18-year olds who want scholarship prestige but later regret and break bond. What matters in the pte sector is performance and networks. There are many smart people from our local universities who are doing just as well if not better in terms of pay and prospects than SAFOS/SPFOS/OMS. And some SAFOS/SPFOS/OMS scholars may find that they have to start from scratch if they decide to leave the shelter of the Govt and join pte sector since they don’t have relevant experience.
So bottom-line is, don’t apply for scholarship just because you want to seek prestige and money. Apply only if you think it is something you would enjoy doing. Be clear on what you want to do in life. If you are not clear, then keep your options open. Our local universities are great institutions and you don’t have to be a scholar to succeed in Singapore. If you are smart, you can work anywhere globally and not get stuck in Singapore by a bond. 🙂
Hahaha insider2, speak for yourself. Myopic? I know the place of a person who utters the view you just said.
Insider was answering questions to Admin Service and scholarship, so your bit about private sector while inaccurate was irrelevant. But irrelevance is not normally discerned by intellectually incompetent people.
What you said was complete BS because MAS is the stat board with the highest number of bond breakers. You have no idea who you’re talking to, so I suggest you desist from excreting more BS in public.
EDB is one of the better stat board scholarships to end up with, thats true. But i don’t think you knew that when you said that. 🙂 you’re so obviously an outsider looking through a glass window peering in with no first hand info. You said that only by postulating that EDB may have more interactions with private sector companies which is true, because it canvases for investments in foreign countries.
At the end of the day, the facts that Insider provided remains.
EDB, like all the other stat boards does the menial execution work. There is no policy formulation and access is at the lowest level.
Next, it’s patently untrue that OMS being in ministries are at a disadvantage compared to the puny stat board scholars. I know large numbers of OMS scholars who were headhunted by consultancies like Oliver Wyman and McKinsey even before they complete their bond. It’s no secret that AOs and OMS scholars are regularly poached or receive offers. This is because even private sector companies are acutely aware of where the valued harvest is. So they never bother looking at stat board.
Fact is, many high value jobs like investment bankers and consultants are not hired on years of relevant experience, but on brains, aptitude, personality and guts. That’s why they’re frequently hired straight out of Ivy League undergrad schools even without a year of experience. The same way they target policy-crunching OMS.
This is something your myopia failed to let you see.
You also work “anywhere globally” in the public sector. *rolls eyes* I know more than 40 OMS (no, they’re not even with MFA) all over the world, that’s not including the Tied MFA scholars who are lower rung than OMS obviously.
Your attempt to compare farmers and claim they’re “doing just as well” is also quite a joke, since no one talked about private sector in the conversation. Moreover, it’s no secret that the top large private companies (not SMEs) and peak of professional fields here are helmed and captained by top Singaporean foreign grads. The Law Society’s president is from Oxford, not NUS. 🙂 And he represents the private sector of law. So really, I don’t have to go into the Attorney General or the Solicitor General ha. We all know full well that DBS isn’t the only private company with a CEO who graduated from a top university.
I’d also challenge you on your claim that PSC scholars “start from scratch” in the private sector. I just had tea last week with a SAFOS ex-BG who’s now holding a higher rank than farmers his age who worked in the same private company he is in the last 10 years. And I know countless more examples that I know you’re crapping out of your arse.
ALL stat board scholars are PSC OMS rejects. This is a fact. Accept it and you will be free.
So there’s huge pay gap… No wonder the non-AO scholars are called farmer scholars! 🙂
Another curious question: There’re in total about 400 AOs or thereabout. How many fresh ones get into the Service every year? What’s the attrition rate? Or is it the case that once you made it in, you’re set to become at least a million-earning deputy sec?
Insider and labrador, it’s so obvious both of you are AOs. Before your heads hurt from the swelling, I’d like to remind you it’s thanks to your well-crafted policies that we’re the first country to crash into recession. With your “brains, aptitude, personality and guts”, you designed far-sighted policies from your ivory towers that so far led to debacle after debacle whether directly or indirectly, from the MSK disappearance and the otherwise-excellent EMA pricing formula to the town councils’ Lehman-linked but otherwise excellent investment performance and the public transport up-and-down pricing. You and your overpaid colleagues – yeah, we all know you hit $300k/yr at age 32 – can blame the lesser scholars at stat boards for poor execution, but with your excellent IQ and EQ, shouldn’t you have the foresight and oversight to pre-empt failures at the bottom? I bet much of the humongous losses by GIC and Temasek can also be attributed to the highly sought after and always headhunted ex-AOs working as MDs in the 2 firms.
Yes, you better blame your political masters for the boohoos before they start blaming you when GRCs are lost.
The civil service is separate from politics. Our job is to ensure peasants and lesser mortals to work hard for Singapore either by stick or carrot and to encourage mutation in their offsprings to create elites which are usually found among elites parents.
Mutation is why some offsprings of peasants and lesser mortals can end up as elites which has puzzled many elites who are not schooled in Darwin theory of evolution.
dear civil servant
can i know whether mutation works the other way ?
thanks.
dear insider
can we know what is your age ? r u 18 years old ?
thanks.
It is random and unpredictable so eites usually produce elites offsprings (there can of course be exception to the rule) Most peasants and lesser mortals can understand the brutal truth.
Mutations create variation within the gene pool. Less favorable (or deleterious) mutations can be reduced in frequency in the gene pool by natural selection, while more favorable (beneficial or advantageous) mutations may accumulate and result in adaptive evolutionary changes. For example, a butterfly may produce offspring with new mutations. The majority of these mutations will have no effect; but one might change the color of one of the butterfly’s offspring, making it harder (or easier) for predators to see. If this color change is advantageous, the chance of this butterfly surviving and producing its own offspring are a little better, and over time the number of butterflies with this mutation may form a larger percentage of the population.
insider,
thanks for the tip. my apologies for creating such a storm in a teacup. i think that there are many here with some hidden agendas.
anyway, good info and advice for those seeking for lesser scholarships. guess it confirms my view, either join public as the best or try your luck in private. chances are better for non PSCs to get better salary in private than public.
i do not think u are 18.
im kinda skewed towards Darwinian in a way, though outliers do exist. maybe thats why we have sons/daughters of lower strata joing PSC. well, there is a saying in chinese, zhen jin bu pa hong lu huo. If you are excellent in whichever means, money is not really an issue. its just a matter of chance and hardwork.
Labrador, no need to be so hostile. the fact that MAS has the highest number of bond-breakers shows something doesn’t it? Their scholars must be in high demand. They are poached by the banks. And now given this crisis, many are re-applying back to MAS.
EDB does execution work – that is true. The fact that they don’t have much policy formulation does not mean that their work is menial. How can bringing in millions / billions of FAI for Singapore be menial? It requires much intellectual energy in positioning Singapore, meeting investors, etc. Some ex-EDB scholars have even moved on to Goldman Sachs and McKinsey. And their understanding of industries would probably stand them in better stead than OMS scholars who got stuck in irrelevant Ministries.
There are also many non-scholars who are doing well, as long as they don’t stay in Govt 🙂 Of course it definitely helps if they graduated from a top school in US/UK. Your very obsession with OMS/SAFOS/SPFOS scholars is myopic because you completely miss this point that there are many talented people out there with knowledge, drive and the ability to succeed in whatever field they choose without a government scholarship!
btw, the ex-BG you spoke to still needs to start from scratch because he is competing with 70+ over MDs in DBS, and MD is not quite senior senior mgmt yet compared to where he came from.
In life, either u are the best to lead peasants and lesser mortals.
Or u end up as peasants and lesser mortals.
Survival of the fittest.
Another Darwin theory.
This is the some elites evolved from peasants and lesser mortals and fight with those who are born elites.
Anyway, this economic crisis is causing discontentment with the peasants and lesser mortals, time for the elites to do something to make them happy!
exactly, figures do not lie. thats why i like my job.
check up the polls results its not difficult to see the trend in SG.
income disparity is goin to be a big issue. and the perception/truth? of elitism.
time for me to sit back n relax. perhaps get a Labrador? maybe a Golden Retriver is better.
Insider2, my experience suggests that you sound more like an insider than either labrador or insider – who respectively do sound like scholars, though not the most well informed among them. Obviously not MOF or MTI types either, or they’d have quickly realised just how much power EDB and MAS can wield. (MAS is under PMO in any case – window dressing to please the IMF who prefers independent central banks) Unfortunately, informed commentary appeals to few on the internet.
U all scholars very big, lead us lowly civil servants to rule over the peasants and the lesser mortals.
Pls dont fight among yourself and stay to lead us civil servants so we can build a better Singapore for our masters.
Haha pinabonds, are you sure? Go check your facts. ALL ministries answer to PMO. It simply adds another layer between MAS and PMO, that’s all. MAS is under MOF’s jurisdiction. The whole damn civil service answers to PMO. You are funny.
EDB and MAS wield as much power as YOUR pay scale and CEP allow you to see. You see that they wield so much super power from the perspective of your CEP and the level you are at.
Simply put, if any stat board no matter how prominent has as much clout of its parent ministry, they wouldn’t be under the ministries. It is true that different stat boards have differing autonomy. It doesn’t change the fact that even the freest of stat boards come under the purview of its ministry.
All the AOs and AO to be, high fliers fresh out of school are placed in ministries and not stat boards. That is a fact. Why don’t they place their most talented people in the stat boards if stat boards are where highest levels of decisions are made? Don’t kid yourself. Cos you are the only person you can fool.
I have scores of PSC-OMS friends who just attended the annual foundation course (a course only held once a year) that AOs attend. ALL are in ministries.
Even the stat board scholars who manage to make the cut to the course are instantly transferred to ministries to dabble in policy work at the highest level once they pass the interview. Out of the course, less than 2% are farmers. 90% are SAFOS, SPFOS and OMS who are emplaced there automatically, and the remaining 19% stat board overseas scholars.
That is the set up. If you can’t stand it, take it up with Mr Teo Chee Hean, the head of PMO and Eddie Teo, the head of Civil Service, both are President’s cum SAFOS or OMS scholars.
okay okay
we civil servant report to scholar in stat board who report to scholar in ministry who report to pmo.
Even I lowly servant also understand this how come the rest dont. Must be peasants and lesser mortals I guess.
insider2, you are so hilarious you make me giggle in the middle of the day.
Can your farmer friends that you say have the world as their oyster become a MD at DBS immediately “FROM SCRATCH”? Last i heard, all new entrants farmer or otherwise start as associates. 😀
He has a higher rank than people his age who was in the same company in the last 10 years. Which part of simple conceptual understanding do you not get? You also think he’s so old ah? Please lah. People make BG at 34 yrs old. I’m quite sure he’s probably even younger than you. Just that in your world you think BG must have a head full of white hair? 😀
I found all the data you submitted gallingly erroneous.
There are OMS scholars who become consultants at Oliver Wyman, Bane, McKinsey immediately after their bonds. The pay they draw is more than those who failed to get any scholarship and worked in the private sector in the last 6 years they were in the ministries doing the highest level of policy work. The examples of them are dime a dozen.
It’s also a widely known fact to anyone who’s mildly educated that SAFOS are always and frequently poached, and some cases way before their service terms with SAF ends. That is why everyone knows that they regularly become CEO or directors in GLCs. It’s not only widely known among the actual scholars, the people who mix with them, people who attended the top 2 JCs, even regular Joes know about it and freely talk of it on the internet. Am surprised that you seem to have just crawled out of a hole. And its not just Lee Hsien Yang. You really need to get yourself updated with current affairs.
It’s not a work of elitism that high level work is done in some places, and low level work is done others. All organisations and establishments and governments in the world have the same structure. In the US there is work done at the Federal Government and lower level of power and decisions are made at the state governments and regularly overwritten by Federal decisions. I don’t know why it’s a concept you’re ignorant of. It’s the way of the world.
All the shebang you spouted about private sector is impertinent to the prior discussion you joined because we were talking about the civil service. Among the scholars collectively of both top PSC ones and the 2nd tier stat board ones themselves, they know this like they know earth is round, not flat. All the bits you yakked about life outside of it, private sector what not, sounds as smart as saying to me “Yes the earth is round, but in another galaxy, it may not be round”.
You lack critical thinking skills and the ability to crunch information and compartmentalize them. Let me guess, you went to a local school?
I am a farmer, like just like why is why I have nothing against farmers.
But I do have a problem with misinformation.
civil servant, in this world we all report to somebody. There is an organisation set up everywhere. i too, report to my boss in the private sector. Ministers report to PM. Hilary now reports to Obama. So what’s the big deal with reporting to someone when every being in the world does?
There is nothing wrong with reporting to somebody. All of them report to Eddie Teo. When in school, we used to report to teacher who report to principal.
What i will correct is misinformation from people whose view is limited to the ceiling of the room they’re in.
Thanks for sharing the civil service structure with us civil servants. Now we know what goes on in the black box.
Everytime lowly me ask always get funny look like why I need to know.
Next time my offsprings must have mutation so can achieve more than his useless father and become someone big in civil service!
Quote insider2 “the fact that MAS has the highest number of bond-breakers shows something doesn’t it? Their scholars must be in high demand. They are poached by the banks. And now given this crisis, many are re-applying back to MAS.
EDB does execution work – that is true. The fact that they don’t have much policy formulation does not mean that their work is menial. How can bringing in millions / billions of FAI for Singapore be menial?” Unquote
MAS has the highest number of bond breakers not because it’s a place sizzling with fun and energy. Actual president’s scholars gave the intelligence that it’s a downtown. Gettit? The highest number of bond breakers are caused by the fact that many scholars come from well to do families.
I never once said that EDB’s work is not useful to Singapore. We all have jobs to do. Please point out to me it has no use. I said that it does execution work as opposed to policy or plans, which you admitted.
As an analogy, in the Army every platoon and company that fights is crucial because all together they make up the force. It does not negate the fact that they do the execution of part of a larger plan and under policy directive of Joint Plans, Defence Policy Office, Future Systems in Mindef and so on.
MAS’s “power” to quote Pinabonds who’s sweating profusely now, and autonomy only extends to monetary policy. NOT fiscal policy. They do not do policy work.
What I said was stat boards do the execution work. Some stat boards have more autonomy than others, you’re right, but they still come under ministries.
Autonomy level differs from each stat board, which further underlines my other point how they are individual entities which gives its staff no lateral movement.