By: Terence (Transitioning)
I am a 48-year-old Singaporean who is currently driving a taxi. I am a father of 2 very young children, age 5 and 7.
I was formerly a training manager for XXX. I was dismissed for not meeting targets.
However, at this time, no other manager was meeting targets as we were going through challenges brought about by the introduction of the DNC (Do Not Call) regulations in Singapore under the new PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act).
My dismissal was also coincidentally timed with a complain I made to my direct report about racist remarks made against me which I had overhead in a telephone recording between 2 managers who were reporting to me at one time.
To cut a long story short, I was unemployed for almost 1 year. Eventually, I have to settle for a taxi driver position.
I do not have a flat of my own and my family of 4 are sharing one bedroom in a 3-room HDB flat.
I have applied for over a hundred jobs through various job portals including WDA and have been unsuccessful. I was willing to take a pay cut of 30% of my last drawn salary but still I was unsuccessful.
Within 3 months of driving a taxi, I have been nominated for service excellence as a couple of satisfied passengers wrote in to SMRT commending me.
My highest education level is A levels and I made my way up the corporate ladder through much hard work
I was for 2 years the Regional Asst. Vice President for XXX. I have been in the call center industry for over 20 years and have trained over a thousand people from agents to team leaders to team managers and trainers in 6 regional countries including Singapore.
My wife who is an Indonesian PR got employment within 1 week of getting her PR status. WDA seems to be helping her more than me.
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Republished from Transitioning.org.