So we have been back in Singapore now for the last week and a half and I have been busy with interviews, trials, and contract negotiations. The entire process has been quite an experience - a roller coaster really of ups and downs, great changes in opinion on all the places, and general uncertainty on what I want to do and my future. I will now go back and do my best to recount the experiences of these last 10 days in as much detail as possible.
We arrived here in Singapore in the very last moments of Wednesday, January 14th going through customs just after midnight on the 15th. I had three job interviews lined up over the following 3 days and had purchased my interview outfit and shoes only the day before in Bangkok. I was feeling excited about the fact that I was able to line up so many interviews and couldn't wait to get started on the process. But it's a strange feeling interviewing for jobs in a foreign country, where you really don't know how anything works - we have learned heaps about everything in Singapore over the last 10 days!!
Before my first interview on the 15th, with place #1 (I am going to refer to the places by numbers so as I can be more honest that way), I was so nervous I almost couldn't stand it. Elizabeth was drilling me on interview questions, I was practicing my answers, looking up facts about the restaurant on-line, and mostly trying not to throw-up. The interview as scheduled for 2:30, Elizabeth and I had been waiting across the street in the Starbucks for about an hour, and I headed over just after 2:15.
When I arrived at place #1, a specialty cocktail bar, they were closed for service. Many restaurants here are open for a few hours over lunch and then again over dinner, but are not open all throughout the day. The front door was open so I let myself in and wandered back into the kitchen to where I could hear some noise and told the staff that I was there to meet with the manager. I took a seat, as instructed, in the restaurant around 2:20 and waited for the manager to arrive. She walked in maybe 5 minutes later and was surprised to find me there. She commented on how I was early and seemed a bit weirded out that I would be there before 2:30. I wouldn't dare show up for an interview on time - as you would too easily run the risk of being late - and found her reaction quite strange.
Anyways, she got me a glass of water and then sat down with me a few moments later. This turned out to be the strangest interview I have even had in my life. When the manager sat down she started into a 10 minutes talk about the place. This was great an informative. Upon finishing her schpeel she turned to me and said "Now tell me about yourself." Well how vague could that be?! I talked a bit about my background - where I come from, my job history, etc.. - and then feeling as if she wasn't going to ask me to any more questions if I stopped talking I then talked to some of the points she had brought up in her explanation about the bar. After this we had a bit more of a chat - but nothing like an interview - and then she told me she was going to send me an offer including a visa sponsorship. Wow - I was stunned! She hadn't asked my about my experience, my skills, my theory on hospitality, anything. She had, however, warned me that any competitive attitudes amongst employees would not be tolerated - and that she'd be happy to fire anyone who brought negative energy to the environment.
I left and thought, this is great. First interview down and already an offer to come - I'm not going to have any problem getting a job and visa for Singapore. One thing I did find weird, however, is that she was going to send me an offer without us even discussing what I wanted for compensation. (For a bit on this, in Singapore you are paid a salary, not an hourly wage. Plus, in hospitality you typically work 6 days a week, pushing 55 to 60 hours or more. I would like to get paid something comparable to NZ but I know this isn't going to happen. But I also know Singapore is very expensive and I need a good amount of money to make it here. What I would like is at least my NZ salary if I worked 40 hours a week, even though I know I'll be working way more than that.) Either way, I was awaiting her offer.
Later that evening I received an e-mail from place #1 asking about money - how much I wanted - and I made my case for wanted to get paid a comparable amount to NZ. The dollars are almost 1:1, the cost of living is much higher here, and I would be working longer hours for a fixed salary. I sent her all this in an e-mail and crossed my fingers.
Now it was time to prepare for place #2, the front runner in my mind at this time, a large company with 12 different outlets all with totally different themes - much like Parasole in MPLS, with places ranging from Chino Latino to Good Earth to Pittsburg Blue. This interview was at 2pm at one of their outlets. Before hand I had done some research and decided that one of their higher end outlets would be preferable vs. one of their more casual daytime cafes. When I got there I immediatley worried that she, the interviewer, didn't realize I was going to be a foreigner. Although my resume only has places listed outside of Singapore - America and NZ - everyone in the cafe was Asian, she was Asian, and so were all the other people she was interviewing. Was this going to be a problem? Would she immediately dismiss me? (For a note on this - visa sponsorship here in Singapore is very expensive. It costs the company hundreds of dollars/month. Plus, they can only hire one foreign employee for every 4 singaporeans on staff, so the number of available visas could be small or non-existent).
The interview ended up going great! We had a wonderful chat, she already had a career path lined up for me, and once again said she would get back to me soon with an offer. Nice! Second interview down and a second offer on the table! I really couldn't be happier at all now! This was awesome!
When I got home from interviewing with place #2, I had a missed call from an unknown number (this is on my new Singaporean cell phone!). I called the number back and it was the manager from place #1. She wanted to let me know that what I was asking for as far as pay was concerned was very high. A typical employee here in hospitality (as well as accounting or marketing, according to her) gets paid between $5 - $10 per hour. She told me to talk to some other people and get back to her with my pay expectations. I ended the conversation with that.
I could not believe that she wanted me to get back to her with what I wanted to get paid. She already knew what I wanted to get paid, I wasn't going to lower my ask, and anyways, how was I supposed to live in Singapore on $800/month! She's crazy! And, at place #2, the interviewer was not put off by my monetary compensation ask and thus I was not going to lower my ask. If she was going to try and pay me $5/hour I was going to get on a plane back to the US and work there where I could make hundreds in tips every night. I sent her an e-mail a few days later telling her I would not be lowering my ask (after getting an official offer from place #2). At that point, the manager from place #1 responded and told me that she could not pay me that much and was only going to have me on staff as a favor to me (a total stranger) and not because they actually needed the staff. This place was out of the running.
So with interview #2 done I was preparing for place #3. Now when I received the e-mail back from place #3 regarding setting up an interview I didn't even remember applying there. When I went into their website and realized they were fine-dining I didn't even know if I wanted to work there. But what harm can come from going to an interview, right? Now this may have been the shortest interview of my life - maybe 10 minutes. It was rather informal, but still an interview - unlike the first one - and towards the end, the general manager (who I was interviewing with), told me they would be in touch. I was crushed - did I really do that bad at the interview?! Damn it! And then he said he would talk to the executive chef/owner - whom the restaurant is named after - and figure out a time for me to come in for a trial. A big sigh of relief - I wasn't bad. They would be in touch to get me in to see the place. Yay!
So at this point we are on Saturday (last Saturday) afternoon. Being the weekend it was not a waiting game. I had not yet told #1 I wasn't interested, although I had already mentally eliminated them from the running. I was waiting on a contract/offer from #2 that I would be getting in the next week, they were still my front-runner. And I was waiting to hear back from #3 about when I could come in for a trial, although I wasn't sure I really wanted this job. I was hoping I would hear back from #3 about a trial before getting the contract from #2 so I could at least consider them both. I was also hoping the contract from #2 would offer good enough money that I could tell #1 I wouldn't lower my expectations. And I was just going to have to wait until Monday, at the earliest, to hear anything from anyone.
Rest of the story to come....
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