Listen Carefully to MOM

Published on February 5, 2015 in The Wall Street Journal: Expat:

The Wall Street Journal recently launched WSJ Expat, their hub for expatriates and global nomads, and recently published my piece on obtaining work passes as a foreigner in Singapore. Here’s a snippet:

If you don’t have the luxury of being a dependent, the easiest way to gain permission to work here is, unsurprisingly, to apply for jobs with firms willing and able to obtain a pass for you. Since a company’s quota for foreign workers depends on the nature of its industry, the overall size of its workforce, and the ratio of foreign to local hires, even if you manage to ace all of your interviews, you may still find yourself unable to actually get to work.

Read the rest HERE!

Top Eight Places to “Work from Home”

Published on December 1, 2013 in the Singapore American Newspaper:

In this modern day and age, “working from home” can mean working from almost anywhere if you play your cards right. Plus, a change of scenery can do wonders for your creativity and motivation, whether it’s writing an article, putting together a lesson plan or organizing leads on Salesforce. When I get bored of my apartment’s four walls, here are my top eight places to work from home (in no particular order):

7-8

3-4

5-6

1-2

As a final note, I want to say that while there are reliable hubs of strong WiFi to be found throughout the city, it is far more convenient to transform your smartphone into a WiFi Hotspot. Not only is it safer than connecting your laptop to a public network, a Hotspot relies on Singapore’s ubiquitous 3G signal (meaning it can be employed just about anywhere). There are plenty of YouTube videos and how-to guides on the internet to walk you through setting a Hotspot up and, trust me, you will be thrilled you did. Now get back to work.

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