<TABLE id=msgUN border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>
Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Bouncing back from layoff </TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt22 <NOBR>
</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>10:45 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 2) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>19042.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Bouncing back from layoff
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Two retrenchment survivors recall experiences </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Irene Tham
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
Mr Freddie Low, who was retrenched last month, is now upbeat about his new job as an IT manager with SearchWorks, an Asian recruitment agency. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->When Mr Freddie Low's boss called him up last month, he was told to choose between 'resigning' and receiving 'a termination letter'.
The reason given for booting him out: 'Internal restructuring.'
Mr Low, 41, a production operations manager overseeing a team of 40 information technology engineers, chose termination, which came with severance pay. But he was left wondering why he was singled out to be laid off.
'I was the only one laid off in the first round, probably because I was the most expensive,' he said.
The firm specialises in mobile commerce software.
He had never been retrenched in his 20-year work record and he initially felt the stigma strongly.
This loss of self-esteem associated with being made redundant is shared by half of the retrenched job seekers who seek help from Robert Walters, a global recruitment and human resources specialist.
'In the Asian culture, losing a job is like losing one's identity,' said Ms Peony Lim, manager of sales and marketing at the firm. 'And companies want to find out whether you were retrenched because of performance issues.'
About 12,400 jobs in Singapore were lost in the second quarter of this year, double the losses in the first three months when employment contracted by 6,200, the Ministry of Manpower had said.
Employment had contracted for two consecutive quarters, for the first time since the 2003 economic downturn.
Analysts had attributed most of the job losses in the second quarter to retrenchments and employers not renewing the work permits of foreign workers.
In the first half of this year, Robert Walters registered 13,500 job seekers, about 35 per cent more than the figure in the same period last year.
Luckily for Mr Low, he breezed through the three job interviews he attended before snagging an IT manager's job with SearchWorks, an Asian recruitment agency.
'I told them all upfront I was retrenched, and my interviewers did not seem to mind,' he said.
He had, in any case, snapped out of feeling bad shortly after the initial shock. 'I figured I would let my experience speak for itself.'
Before joining the mobile commerce software firm, he had spent 18 years with Polo Ralph Lauren Sourcing, a Singapore-based firm that handles the famous clothing brand's Asia retail operations.
During his 18-year tenure, he had 13 promotions, with the last position as the firm's IT director.
Another retrenchment survivor is Mr Anthony Chew. The 37-year-old was laid off twice in seven years. Each time, it took him less than a month to get a new job.
He has no qualms about telling his employers he had been made redundant. 'It is nothing personal; it's all business,' said Mr Chew, who is now an engineering manager with a global specialist in energy management.
He was laid off in 2002 as the multinational computer maker he was working for had acquired another company and there was a huge overlap in their businesses.
The second time was in 2004, when his then employer, a global industrial design studio, shut down its Singapore engineering department.
Under such circumstances, 'it is really not the job seeker's fault', said Robert Walters' Ms Lim.
[email protected]
</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%"> </TD><TD class=msgopt width="24%" noWrap>
Options</TD><TD class=msgrde width="50%" noWrap align=middle>
Reply</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Two retrenchment survivors recall experiences </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Irene Tham
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Mr Freddie Low, who was retrenched last month, is now upbeat about his new job as an IT manager with SearchWorks, an Asian recruitment agency. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->When Mr Freddie Low's boss called him up last month, he was told to choose between 'resigning' and receiving 'a termination letter'.
The reason given for booting him out: 'Internal restructuring.'
Mr Low, 41, a production operations manager overseeing a team of 40 information technology engineers, chose termination, which came with severance pay. But he was left wondering why he was singled out to be laid off.
'I was the only one laid off in the first round, probably because I was the most expensive,' he said.
The firm specialises in mobile commerce software.
He had never been retrenched in his 20-year work record and he initially felt the stigma strongly.
This loss of self-esteem associated with being made redundant is shared by half of the retrenched job seekers who seek help from Robert Walters, a global recruitment and human resources specialist.
'In the Asian culture, losing a job is like losing one's identity,' said Ms Peony Lim, manager of sales and marketing at the firm. 'And companies want to find out whether you were retrenched because of performance issues.'
About 12,400 jobs in Singapore were lost in the second quarter of this year, double the losses in the first three months when employment contracted by 6,200, the Ministry of Manpower had said.
Employment had contracted for two consecutive quarters, for the first time since the 2003 economic downturn.
Analysts had attributed most of the job losses in the second quarter to retrenchments and employers not renewing the work permits of foreign workers.
In the first half of this year, Robert Walters registered 13,500 job seekers, about 35 per cent more than the figure in the same period last year.
Luckily for Mr Low, he breezed through the three job interviews he attended before snagging an IT manager's job with SearchWorks, an Asian recruitment agency.
'I told them all upfront I was retrenched, and my interviewers did not seem to mind,' he said.
He had, in any case, snapped out of feeling bad shortly after the initial shock. 'I figured I would let my experience speak for itself.'
Before joining the mobile commerce software firm, he had spent 18 years with Polo Ralph Lauren Sourcing, a Singapore-based firm that handles the famous clothing brand's Asia retail operations.
During his 18-year tenure, he had 13 promotions, with the last position as the firm's IT director.
Another retrenchment survivor is Mr Anthony Chew. The 37-year-old was laid off twice in seven years. Each time, it took him less than a month to get a new job.
He has no qualms about telling his employers he had been made redundant. 'It is nothing personal; it's all business,' said Mr Chew, who is now an engineering manager with a global specialist in energy management.
He was laid off in 2002 as the multinational computer maker he was working for had acquired another company and there was a huge overlap in their businesses.
The second time was in 2004, when his then employer, a global industrial design studio, shut down its Singapore engineering department.
Under such circumstances, 'it is really not the job seeker's fault', said Robert Walters' Ms Lim.
[email protected]
</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%"> </TD><TD class=msgopt width="24%" noWrap>
