Overseas Posting .. To Go or Not To Go?

[Quest]

Go for it if you don't have family committment in sg. If u r a bachelor or have grown up children, it will b a v good opportunity - not to b missed.

It is v normal to have an ambivalent feeling whenever a major decision need to b made. So don't worry, your faculties r in perfect order. Hard decision ...

 

[Deadpoet]

Hi all

Got to find a place to vent and rant ... To cut it short, just received orders for overseas posting in indonesia yesterday. Although I have harboured thoughts of it for the longest time, I actually don't feel like going now?! In the past, it's always 'why not me?' or 'why is XYZ going and not me?' ... when it's finally materialises ... getting sleepless nights.

I don't have an option and departure is slated for in less than 3 weeks .. Granted it's only a 2 hours flight each way but I can only be back once every 60/90 days pending project status ... aaaarrggh! Don't know what is holding me back? Don't even have the guts to tell my folks at home ... sigh ..

I think I am really abnormal ... given the fact that the pay+allowance will be substantial :sweat: and probably a bright spark for my career advancement .. :cry:

It's just around the corner. 2 hours flight ... you can come back over a normal weekend!

Be a man! Grab opportunities by it's horn and make it work for you!

 

[kegler]

i dunch mind go on ur behalf .... sian.....i wan to work oversea oso no chance.... go for it !

 

[jsbn]

Hi all

Got to find a place to vent and rant ... To cut it short, just received orders for overseas posting in indonesia yesterday. Although I have harboured thoughts of it for the longest time, I actually don't feel like going now?! In the past, it's always 'why not me?' or 'why is XYZ going and not me?' ... when it's finally materialises ... getting sleepless nights.

I don't have an option and departure is slated for in less than 3 weeks .. Granted it's only a 2 hours flight each way but I can only be back once every 60/90 days pending project status ... aaaarrggh! Don't know what is holding me back? Don't even have the guts to tell my folks at home ... sigh ..

I think I am really abnormal ... given the fact that the pay+allowance will be substantial :sweat: and probably a bright spark for my career advancement .. :cry:

GO! GO! GO AND SEE THE WORLD!!!!

Look at it this way, the flight's just 2hrs away from home, ur accomo's and expenses are covered. U can return home once every 2 or 3mths (which isn't really a long time). U're are probably single.

So, what else is holding u back? Your own comfort zone? I thought NS had already broken that (or at least cracked it). Adaptability problems? I thought NS would have broken it as well. Folks back home? Well, u've been thru the BMT routine of confinement and if u can last that 3mths of straight tekaning, what else can't u do?

 

[Yippy]

I was posted to Ujung Pandang (Sulawesi) for 18 months. I could only allow to return home once every three months. One important thing you may need to pay attention, i.e. exist Tax, about RP 1M. (could have been increased) for every return trip. So, you need to negotiate with your company to include this expenses into your T&C. Any way, it depends on your company's arrangement with Indonesian immigration dept. :dunno:

 

[ricohflex]

Many considerations.

It might be a way for your company to get rid of you.

Upon your return after stint, the company says re-organised and cannot fit you in. Sorry you have to go. Or post to a very much lower paid job within company and totally different from what you were
doing. This has happened before and it is not fiction.

Your belongings in Sing need looking after. They may all be spoiled upon your return years later.

You may actually lose money. If the place you are posted to has extreme high cost of living and you are being paid only very slightly more than your Sing pay.

You may need to adjust to extreme cold or heat.

If you fall seriously sick there or need surgery and the place is not so advanced, good luck. If very advanced and extremely costly, also good luck.. company may not cover you for high medical costs.

 

[Deadpoet]

Well, what else do we need to worry about?

How about death. Death is a sure thing, we just don't know when. It may happen douring the posting?

Every decision has it's consequences. There will be risks. With risks come rewards. The expereince to live in and amoung a foreign culture is a damn good expereince to gain.

 

[user111]

indonesia is a dangerous place:bsmilie:

 

[Sjourn]

indonesia is a dangerous place:bsmilie:

haha,,,so is SG, you can be jailed for sweets (chewing gum) in your mouth..:bsmilie:

 

[itsybitsyspidy]

haha,,,so is SG, you can be jailed for sweets (chewing gum) in your mouth..:bsmilie:

it's not against the law to eat chewing gum. but if you litter later you can be fined. it's the sale of chewing gum which is banned.

 

[vincx]

my 2.5 cents . .

Ricohflex does have some points on the job prospects when you come back. Though I have not re-located, I've been travelling regularly (about 80% a year) for nearly to 4 years and each for a period of 6 months to a year. There're couple of things to consider, but as a whole it is a good career move, provided you go with a open mind to learn (a lot), and to mingle with the locals as this is where the value and learning comes in. There is value when you have cross-cultural/country working experience in your resume.

Couple of things to consider though and you might want to discuss with your employer and get it down in "black and white" or at least in an email.

• Taxes
• Medical insurance
• Accomodations
• Visitations - For your family to fly over to Indonesia instaed of you flying back. Since you will be coming back every 60/90 days, I'm assuming that you will be granted time-off for couple of days during the period you're in SG and is not expected to work. That is the practise AFAIK from my circle of friends.
• Negotiate for company to pay for internet access, this will cut down on your expenses and not eat into your allowance. It will also provide you a low cost avenue to chat (Skype) and do video chat with your family or loved ones.

Some other personal things to consider:

• Do talk to your family and partners if this is your fiirst time away from home so extended period of time, takes a fair bit of adjustment. And if you have GF, then the trusting part might also give you headache, worse if you were to go to "notorious" countries.
• Have to keep in mind that once you come back, you will not be able to keep up wth the life style that you afford over there due to earning power and cost of living differences. I find this particularly difficult to adjust to the first few times I was away for extendned period of time. Come back still unconsiously spend like got extra allowance.
• Mingle with the locals, do not just stick to your co-workers and Singaporeans too much , you learn much more in way of the nuances in cultural and workign style differences.
• Most important, try not to let people know you have a good deal or how much you are paid etc. be sensitive as you are a "foreign talent" there, so they also might be like some of us who do not like the idea that they are paying so much for "foreign talent". Also this will help not to attract any unwanted attention in the way of crimes or peopel taking you for a ride or to take advantage of you money wise.

All in all, go for it. It had did nothing but good things for my career.

 

[vincx]

oh, one more thing, since it is Indonesia be sensitive that there could be a BIG disparity between yours and their earning power. Saying this as there were some FT (US) that we had in a local project some time back, we lunch togather regularly since same project team (small team, 5 person) but they always choose expensive restaurant with no thoughts for us, in the end we ask them go fly areaplane during lunch, it did not help much in our working relationship.