People always envy folks in government service and the public sector because we seemingly have “iron-rice bowl” jobs and are well-taken care of by the government. Well, I’ve learnt the very hard way this isn’t true: we are as susceptible, if not more prone, to being let go if anything were to go wrong on the job. Believe me, if you were doing things that were highly visible to so many, and given how the government seems to adopt a “cover backside” approach to dealing with ever-rising public complaints, it’s easy to become a target and become the next to start packing your desk at work. I am a 38 year old PMET with vast experiences in both the public and private sectors, and I hold an MBA and a bachelor’s degree from the National University of Singapore. While I didn’t go to the top schools, I guess you could say I was among the top 20-30% of my batch in terms of academics, having gone through the full PSLE-O Level-A Level route to university. I joined a government organization in 2010 as senior officer in a mid-career switch, and I was in the limelight for a while because everyone who knew me was of the opinion I could rise through the ranks quickly based on my experiences and maturity: for a while too, it did seem that way, as I was asked to head projects very quickly– prominent projects– that would ‘add visibility’ to my track record, in the words of my senior directors. Then disaster struck as a training exercise went wrong, and we had a fatality. The trainee who died was a promising young officer, and the family raised hell over the issues of training safety and such, and complained all the way up to the powers that may be at the Ministry.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 07:23:59 +0000
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