SINGAPORE: After spending the past five months searching for a new job without much success, one Singaporean jobseeker is now considering returning to her former company.
Posting on the r/askSingapore forum on Thursday (Aug 20), the jobseeker said she had resigned from her previous role in the fragrance industry because she wanted to switch careers and move into the medical and healthcare sector.
“My previous role was in a fragrance R&D laboratory, and I thought I wanted to move into healthcare because that was something I had been considering for a long time,” she wrote.
However, the career switch has not gone quite as planned.
She said she had been attending job interviews since March and had received a few offers, but none had really met her salary expectations or sparked much interest.
“The salaries offered were also either lower than or around the same as my previous basic salary. Is this the norm for diploma holders who are in the science industry? Please let me know,” she asked.
On top of that, many of the healthcare positions she considered required rotating shifts or a 5.5-day work week, something she did not think she could “commit to long-term.”
‘I miss my old work’
As her period of unemployment stretched on, the woman said she gradually began missing her old workplace and the fragrance industry.
Eventually, she decided to reach out to her former manager.
“I texted my ex-manager saying that I missed working with them and jokingly asked if there were any openings. I honestly didn’t expect anything to come from it.”
“Recently, they actually asked if I would like to come back. Now I’m really torn as hell. The main reason I left was because there were no bonuses or 13th-month salary, and I felt that I wanted to explore other opportunities. My previous basic salary was below S$3k but they’re willing to increase it by around 15% if I return.”
Deep down, part of her is tempted to go back. Not only is the workplace conveniently close to home, but she is already familiar with the work and the people there.
At the same time, she worries that returning could mean giving up on the career change she had originally hoped to make. Her family, she said, is “pretty 50/50 about it” as well.
Her family is also “pretty 50/50 about it,” leaving her at a crossroads.
Seeking advice from fellow users, she asked: “Would you go back in my situation or continue looking for something completely different? I’d really appreciate some honest perspectives, especially from anyone who has left a job and later returned to the same company.”
‘Go back, and keep looking with a higher last-drawn salary’
In the thread, plenty of users told the woman to just bite the bullet and go back to her old workplace. With no other job offer on the table and a 15% pay bump waiting for her, many felt there was little reason to turn it down.
One Redditor said, “Just go back. A 15% increment is even more of a no-brainer. You also don’t have another option, no? Next time, throw only when you have an offer. Also, on the career change, there’s nothing to give up since there’s no acceptable offer on the table. How do you give up something you don’t have?”
Another told her to put her pride aside, writing, “Is it because you feel embarrassed or whatsoever going back? Pride can’t put food on the table. Awkwardness for 1 week and stability for months to come. Just go back…”
A third advised, “Go back, and keep looking with a higher last-drawn salary, which you can use for negotiations. Having said that, if you leave that fragrance company in less than a year, just be prepared that it’ll probably be the last time.”
In other news, a foreign national from China who has lived in Singapore since he was two years old has shared his uncertainty about his future after his family’s applications for permanent residency (PR) were rejected several times over the past decade.
In a recent post on Reddit’s r/askSingapore forum, the man explained that he had grown up in Singapore, with his father holding an Employment Pass (EP), his mother on a Work Permit (WP), and himself on a Student’s Pass.
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