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The invisible red dot in the room

The saying goes “the elephant in the room…” when there’s something that needs to be discussed, but it’s so large and obvious and obviously incongruent that no-one can bring themselves to mention it.

Singapore isn’t an elephant, it’s a “red dot” – but nevertheless, I’ve read a couple of articles recently that were obviously relevant to Singapore, and yet this island wasn’t mentioned.

The most recent is this article in the Times about Dubai, and its rise as a financial capital. I’ve mentioned Dubai as a rival to Singapore before, if you’ll pardon the rhyme. Obviously, it sees the need to diversify away from dependence on oil, and is choosing to go down the road of developing as a financial centre. Key quote:

Dubai has another incentive to succeed in what may be a winner-takes-all game to become the Gulf’s financial capital. Unlike Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, it has scant reserves of oil and gas. To be assured of success, it must be financially clean, and accept principles of accountability, transparency and regulatory rigour. Its development in the past decade has been extraordinary and proves that the Middle East is not, by definition, a basket case. To continue to be a model for the region and the world, it must continue to invest in integrity.

No natural resources, just people; a reputation for integrity, incorruptibility, and the rule of law. Where have we heard that before..?

So if Singapore now has a rival competing on its own turf, it needs to be making the most of its only resource, namely people. Another article that made me think of this regards China, in The China Vortex: Where’s the Fantasy, Creativity and Imagination In China?I know, it’s just about gaming. Yes, I know it’s about China, not Singapore. I know, Singapore is throwing lots of money at developing its creative industries. And yes, I know, Singapore is also trying to attract world-class industry leaders to set up shop here. And yet, and yet… I’m not convinced yet. I hope it will work, I really do. I know for sure that there are lots of bright and talented young people here… but there are so many obstacles in their way, in the shape of ‘B-Arkers‘, the middle managers who don’t contribute much and can’t see beyond “the way things are done”, who fear change and resist it, who try to stifle anything that changes or challenges the rules… These people exist worldwide, of course, but the type seems firmly entrenched here….

Outsourcing yourself…

An interesting piece in the Guardian discusses the increasing trend of British managers and skilled workers moving to India, where there’s a growing skills shortage…

China jobs board

This is interesting – via the Asia Pacific Headhunter, I’ve learned about NewChinaCareer, a  board advertising jobs in Greater China and APAC for English-speaking professionals. It seems to have some big-name companies on board. Definitely worth a look if you’re an English-speaker looking for work in China.

All about India

A lot of India-related topics appeared in the feeds today…

My fellow blogger from my MBA cohort, Cogito, hasn’t posted much on his Indophiles blog for a long time; I guess being married now has something to do with that, eh Cogito? However, the Indophiles RSS feed twitched in its sleep or something, and sent out a whole bunch of articles dating back a couple of years. It was opportune, because the last article discusses nanotechnology, currently much on my mind after reading the Diamond Age. Cogito links to a Red Herring article (subscriber-only, unfortunately) about Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia, who now plans to establish a nanotech city in north India…

The prominent UK thinktank Demos has just published a series of reports on innovation in Asia: The Atlas of Ideas. The four papers (one on innovation in Asia generally, and one each on India, China, and South Korea) are 10 pounds each, but there are other free downloads. The press release for the paper on India says:

“Many Indian policy makers believe that the UK is in danger of complacency, with most young Indians now choosing the US and Silicon Valley over the UK.”

(Also interesting is that apparently the researchers also spent time in Singapore: why no paper on innovation here, I wonder…?)

Meanwhile, Information Week inform us that Accenture now have more staff based in India than they do in the US:

The tipping point is here. For the first time, a major Western outsourcer will have more staff in India than in the United States, as Accenture says it plans to increase its head count on the subcontinent to 35,000 by August.

However, there is still some hope for those in Europe and the US who are willing to chase opportunity, as quantity of employees in India doesn’t necessarily equate to quality – or, these days, affordability. Asia Times discovers that executive search firms in India are fielding more and more queries from Westerners who, with their greater experience at senior levels, combined with the increasing cost of local staff, offer attractive value for money if they will relocate to India.

All of the above applies more or less accurately to China as well, of course, but the language difference complicates things more.

A vanished niche

Who killed the webmaster? asks (Yet another web development blog), with a fun discussion of the same on Slashdot. Hehehe, readers, I was a webmaster. I had that title on my business card for a while. It was a fun niche job to have in the mid-to-late nineties and early noughties, created because the skills were rare and it was still possible for one person to know enough about them all. Then database design, CSS and graphic design, targetted on-the fly dynamic content, search engine optimisation and so on all grew more and more complex while good software design made it possible for more and more people to do at least one area on their own without needing a dedicated webmaster. Soon, the role vanished, replaced by project teams of area specialists… It was fun while it lasted, though.

A steppe too far

I got a phone call from an unfamiliar number a couple of days ago, just as I was about to go into an important meeting. It turned out to be from a company I had applied to for a teaching post during my job search earlier this year. They were wondering: would I be interested in a post teaching business studies… in Mongolia?

Hehehe. I didn’t have to think to hard. Quite apart from the fact that I’m working, I wouldn’t fancy Mongolia. Too many people have told me about their trips there, and about the bitter cold most of the year, and the dreadful, dreadful food… Still, for a moment, I did think of one of my favourite films, Urga, and of the steppes – and it’s still an ambition of mine (one I’ve had for a long time) to sleep in a yurt far out on the steppes, away from any civilization.

That will have to wait for another time, though; I’ll take a holiday there sometime. For now, I’m staying in the tropics! If nothing else, though, it shows that sometimes companies really do keep your records on file…

Rent a laowai

Wonderful title… Another gem from the That’s Beijing classifieds!

Hello to all foreigners of all nationalities,

We all know that this is China and occasionally in China being from another country is a very desirable thing, if you are a foreign national from any country we want to put you in our database and find part time “face” jobs for you.

A face job is a job which requires no skill other than being friendly and being a laowai. Occasionally companies want a foreign face to go to meetings and conferences or to go to dinners and lunches and smile at the clients and shake people’s hands.

There are job opportunities for girls who are pretty and for men who can look good in a suit. This is a great way to make cash in the evenings or to travel and have all expenses paid trips around china while getting paid up to 1000RMB per day.

For foreigners in Beijing it will not cost you anything to register, just send me your CV and I will put you on our list, when jobs come up where someone matching your description is needed we will call you with the details.

Why not register???
This is a company run by expats for expats.

Any companies interested in viewing our database can also contact us and we will come to you with our client list.

Hope to hear from you all soon.

Regards
Sophie.

rent_a_laowai@hotmail.com