FILTS: Failed In London, Try Singapore

ORCHARD ROAD, SINGAPORE -- In an exclusive research conducted by CNC over the last six months, it is found that the quality of foreign talents in Singapore can be described with a 5 letters acronym - F.I.L.T.S. - literately stands for Failed In London, Try Singapore.

Although the acronym implies foreigners from the western hemisphere, foreigners from South Asia, East Asia and South of the Pacific also fall into the description.

The research had interviewed 150 foreign talents of various nationalities and various professions. Sixty percents of the interviewed foreigners are from the western hemisphere and the rest are from the eastern hemisphere. Around 80% of the interviewed foreign talents hold employment passes, 16% of the them hold work permit and the rest are illegal foreign workers. A wide range of questions on their experiences, work and personal, before and after they came to Singapore were asked of the interviewees.

Amazingly, 2 of the illegal foreign workers are actually CEO or Director of their current company! They were not given any employment pass or work permit because the business they started here were too small and irrelevant to be qualified for any of the foreign talent scheme at that time. However, today their small businesses have grown into multi-millions dollars operations in and around Singapore. 

Another interesting findings that reinforce the accuracy of the acronym is that 10% of the interviewed foreigners holding employment passes are working in so-called non-exempted positions, such as cleaners, construction workers and restaurant helpers at the time of the interview.

The research found that more than 95% of these foreign talents were not doing well in their homeland and were seeking opportunities elsewhere before they come to Singapore. Four of the foreign bankers revealed that they had screwed up and lost many millions of dollars on their last portfolio. They chose to move to Singapore because they do not want to be embarrassed with a dismissal. Another manager at a local telecommunication firm also confessed that she decided to move to Singapore after she learnt that her embezzling deals in her last company was about to be exposed.

FILTS is not just a phenomenon in the commercial sector, foreign talents in other sectors such as sport also fit the description. A footballer from the South of the Pacific revealed that he has never made it to the first team of the three football clubs he was with before he was scouted by a Singapore football team.

Although the research findings are not entirely shocking to the researchers, it does highlight that the new global economy is not only accelerating the flow of money and information, talents - good and bad - are moving at a unprecedented pace too. "The phenomenon growth of the Internet economy is really amazing. Given this trend of fast moving products and services, and talents, today, we may be seeing in the near future that our HDB flat can be moved to Greenland within one hour of notification!" commented the CNC Research Director from Italy, Dr. Marcus Leonardo.

FILTS: Failed in London, Try Singapore.