Seniors coping with job transition, boom or bane?

The topic of concern in the main media these few days is about how seniors are coping with job transition. Let me quote a few paras to give an idea what the discussion is all about.

‘A job change is not a disaster, it can open doors to opportunities to new fields…To profit from these developments and best tackle job change, we must first stay positive and motivated, trust in our abilities and believe there are more good years ahead.’

If I were a natural aristorcrat, the above is very meaningful. A job change is opening the door to new opportunities, to better and cosier jobs, to continue to get paid handsomely or even more.  This does not apply to the many PMETs who were laid off. What happened to them is more like this, ‘The next step is to get to work, research jobs of interest, apply for them confidently and not hesitate to seek help in doing so.’  And prepare to send 500 resumes with no replies over a year or more, and then give up.

And yes, how not to be confident when the next job is several notches down the line, from a PMET to a counter salesperson or a waiter. With the kind of experience PMETs have acquired, they must be absolutely confident in applying for the next job if they can get by their ego. This is the fault, forget about ego, a job is a job.  That is what many silly Singaporeans have been told and accepting this dreadful fate. Just be realistic with the expectations and ‘be receptive to other work as well as remuneration arrangements.’ It is not business as usual. All your training, degrees, experience is not worth a half baked, dunno got degree or fake degree foreigners. Do not question their credentials. You are expected to be stupid to accept them as your replacement even if they are fakes, with lower qualifications or degrees from Timbuktu.

Oh this part is best, ‘It pays to approach new jobs with the same hunger as we did our first job, except we have the benefit of experience and wisdom to accompany the application.’  I would say approach the jobs like those jobless from the third world countries. These people never have the same angst as our PMETs in job transitions. Our PMET’s job transition often is a nightmare except for the natural aristocrats when a shop keeper can end up as the CEO of a big corporation. The experience of the third world jobless job applicants is always a pleasure, from out of job to fully employed. From being paid in third world currency, at minimum wage scale to being paid in Singapore currency and at Singapore rate.  They are chasing their dreams and rainbows here but our PMETs are chasing to see who would accept the lowest rung job available, and temporary somemore.

Job transition for the foreign job applicants is such a great thing to happen, but a nightmare and humiliating experience to our PMETs. Why so lidat? Something is wrong somewhere? Something mysterious? Maybe the brains of our PMETs are overused, overtrained and no longer usable.  But must trained some more so that they can downgrade their expectations.

The demand is for clean, young and unused brains from the third world countries. To these third world job hunters, what job transition are they talking about? It is like a trip to paradise, a sweet dream turning into reality, finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.