Foreigners issued with Employment Agency Licence

‘De Luna was actually issued a licence to operate her own employment agency, RSD, in Jul 2010. While still engaged as director of RSD, she set up another agency with her husband, William, without obtaining a licence for it. William was then in Singapore on a social visit pass.’ Quoted from TRE.

The process of bringing in foreign workers to work here involves local knowledge of both countries. At the PMET level there are the Search and Recruitment Agencies and Consultancies. These businesses are similar in nature to student agencies bringing in foreign students to study here. At the executive search level, the recruitment of foreigners to work here is or was not a major business as the number used to be small and at very senior levels or for specialized jobs. The line is now blur with recruitment agencies bringing in huge numbers of low and medium level executives that are nothing different from recruiting workers.

Again this is an area that approving foreigners to operate recruiting/employment agencies will put the local agencies at a huge disadvantage. Our agencies will not have the local knowledge that the foreigners located here will have in their home countries. And these foreigners being here will have local knowledge as well.

The question, why don’t Singaporean agencies operate offices in the foreign countries where the workers are? There is a comparative cost disadvantage here for Singapore agencies. Would it be cheaper for the agencies of both countries to operate within their territories and cooperate in the recruitment process as it was originally done and the cost savings filter down to the workers? Both sides will do their own business and earn their keeps respectively?

There are many agency licences eg recruitment/employment for maids, foreign workers, junior executives, housing agents, student agents etc etc that do not need to be given to foreigners to compete with our locals right here. There is no real value or skills added except putting more competition and even unfair advantages to the foreigners. There is no loss if foreigners are not issued with such licences and our local agencies could thrive or more locals could take up such small businesses.

Limiting such licences cannot be protectionism. Opening them to foreigners to come here will only make life of local small businesses tougher. What or where is the advantage to have foreigners coming here to set up such small businesses that locals are more than adequate to provide. No need foreign talents really.