09 Jul 2007, ST
Being overly modest is nothing to be proud of. Not especially if it means selling yourself short in the job stakes
By Jessica Lim
A FRIEND of mine - let's call him Joshua - recently had a rather trying time interviewing 20 people to fill several positions at a bank.
A slightly overweight male with sweaty palms seeking a temporary administrative job was asked: What are your qualities?
The graduate from a local university had one: He was extremely honest, he said. His faults? Overly sensitive, did not take criticism well and a bit of a slow-starter.
Maybe he should not have been quite so honest that day - he didn't get the job.
Others swung to the other extreme.
One applicant said he had no faults. This a few seconds after being unable to answer a technical question. He didn't make it either.
The foreign candidates, however, were a different story, said Joshua. They were not bogged down by a weird hybrid of false modesty and low self esteem. And the confident ones did not seem overly so. Overall, they sold themselves better.
So why do perfectly capable and qualified individuals here lag behind when it comes to marketing themselves? I put it down to the self-defeating culture of humility and discretion.
It has been like that for generations.
Each time my relatives are complimented on their children's achievements, they dismiss them as 'nothing' despite being obviously extremely proud.
In contrast, Westerners are raised in more open households. They are - more often than not - brought up to say what they mean.
The result: Locals are sometimes reduced to an inarticulate mess when faced with such plain-speaking rivals.
The advent of globalisation has led to the free movement of people - especially those in knowledge-based industries. It also means all compete on the same playing field.
That terrifies some Singaporeans.
A recent Sunday Times poll of 448 people found that nine in 10 fear their jobs may be taken away if more foreigners come to Singapore.
In 1970, non-Singaporeans made up about 10 per cent of the population. This January, the figure was 25 per cent - about a million people.
The number will probably rise even further with more foreigners being welcomed here.
Take, for example, the Work Holiday Programme, which will start this December. It allows undergraduates and graduates between the ages of 17 and 30 from universities in eight places - Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Britain and the United States - holidaying here to look for a job and stay on for six months.
The hope is that they will find Singapore an attractive place to work and live in.
And it is. For Singaporeans, too. They just need to open up a bit.
A recent Straits Times article cited a 25-year-old business student who lamented that there was no way locals could compete with foreigners.
He is wrong. We can. We just need to allow ourselves to.
Being overly modest is nothing to be proud of. Not especially if it means selling yourself short in the job stakes
By Jessica Lim
A FRIEND of mine - let's call him Joshua - recently had a rather trying time interviewing 20 people to fill several positions at a bank.
A slightly overweight male with sweaty palms seeking a temporary administrative job was asked: What are your qualities?
The graduate from a local university had one: He was extremely honest, he said. His faults? Overly sensitive, did not take criticism well and a bit of a slow-starter.
Maybe he should not have been quite so honest that day - he didn't get the job.
Others swung to the other extreme.
One applicant said he had no faults. This a few seconds after being unable to answer a technical question. He didn't make it either.
The foreign candidates, however, were a different story, said Joshua. They were not bogged down by a weird hybrid of false modesty and low self esteem. And the confident ones did not seem overly so. Overall, they sold themselves better.
So why do perfectly capable and qualified individuals here lag behind when it comes to marketing themselves? I put it down to the self-defeating culture of humility and discretion.
It has been like that for generations.
Each time my relatives are complimented on their children's achievements, they dismiss them as 'nothing' despite being obviously extremely proud.
In contrast, Westerners are raised in more open households. They are - more often than not - brought up to say what they mean.
The result: Locals are sometimes reduced to an inarticulate mess when faced with such plain-speaking rivals.
The advent of globalisation has led to the free movement of people - especially those in knowledge-based industries. It also means all compete on the same playing field.
That terrifies some Singaporeans.
A recent Sunday Times poll of 448 people found that nine in 10 fear their jobs may be taken away if more foreigners come to Singapore.
In 1970, non-Singaporeans made up about 10 per cent of the population. This January, the figure was 25 per cent - about a million people.
The number will probably rise even further with more foreigners being welcomed here.
Take, for example, the Work Holiday Programme, which will start this December. It allows undergraduates and graduates between the ages of 17 and 30 from universities in eight places - Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Britain and the United States - holidaying here to look for a job and stay on for six months.
The hope is that they will find Singapore an attractive place to work and live in.
And it is. For Singaporeans, too. They just need to open up a bit.
A recent Straits Times article cited a 25-year-old business student who lamented that there was no way locals could compete with foreigners.
He is wrong. We can. We just need to allow ourselves to.
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