Big Bucks

Who are the people in Singapore earning top dollar? And what makes them worth the millions?


SO YOU are a professional and want to be a millionaire?

Then you would do well to eyeball the new 5 Cs that are the keys to hitting the paydirt motherlode in the Singapore job market today.

After speaking to global headhunters, professionals and industry watchers, LifeStyle came up with the 5 Cs of being job-savvy:

Complexity: With businesses everywhere going global, the number of deals cut has mushroomed, and the nature of these deals has become much more complicated. Those with the skills to help seal such deals - especially in private banking, the buying, selling and restructuring of companies and investment innovations - are paid top dollar.

Competitiveness: If you are smarter, work harder and break more ground than your peers, you will earn more than them. On a more global scale, fully awakened China and India are sucking investors and workers away from Singapore, while international talent is competing for jobs here. Whether it is defeating a local rival or beating others to that cross-border deal, you have to play to win.

Centrality: With its sleek infrastructure, solid legal system and vibrant business climate, Singapore is becoming the favoured entry point for investors to Asia, especially for financial services. So if you are based here and work in the hot industries of the moment, your pay prospects are likely to be brighter now.

Cachet: Your skills, expertise and know-how must be in great demand if you want to be a top earner, particularly in a world spoilt for choice and choked with constant change.

Craziness: You will have to withstand an inordinate amount of stress to earn a million-dollar pay cheque yearly, so check that you have the stomach and stamina for it.

Professionals who have the chops to ace these 5 Cs - and have the fat pay cheques to show for it - were propelled into the spotlight last month when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong explained that the salaries of ministers and civil service leaders have fallen to 55 per cent of their salary benchmark.

Since 2000, this benchmark has been two-thirds of the median income of the top eight earners in six professions here - bankers, lawyers, accountants, MNC executives, local manufacturing executives and engineers. The median income for the top 48 earners was $3.29 million.

Last year's income tax assessments showed that, in 2005, $4.29 million was the median pay for the eight top-earning lawyers, $3.72 million for accountants, $3.33 million for bankers, $2.7 million for MNC executives, $2.3 million for local manufacturing head honchos and $0.62 million for engineers.

Compare this to the outlook a decade ago, and there's been almost a doubling in salary prospects in some of these professions, taking into account performance bonuses, allowances and other perks on the job (see tables).

All this has got everyone excited about who among the Singaporeans, Singapore permanent residents and Singapore-based Malaysians here might be among the 48 top earners today.

Mr Brian Yim, who publishes high life magazine Millionaireasia, lets on that one Singapore permanent resident whose manufacturing company is listed here recently took delivery of his US$50 million private jet. And that's just for starters.

Thing is, is it more sheer brilliance or schmoozing that catapults one into this platinum league?

It's a bit of both - and then some - say the five global headhunters we spoke to.

Here are their keys to the treasure chest:

Have good degrees: British lawyer David Miller Osammor, managing director of Singapore-based executive search consultancy Miller Hunter, says law and accountancy degrees from the National University of Singapore hold a lot of water in Britain and the United States.

Get global exposure: International experience is particularly valued by employers today.

This is because business has become so globalised that those who are comfortable with international work would naturally have an advantage over those who aren't.

'Try to work in at least one MNC early in your career. Once you have this on your CV, the world is your oyster,' says Mr Osammor, who specialises in headhunting top-tier lawyers.

Be articulate: So many foreigners are coming in and looking for jobs these days that Singaporeans have to express themselves better if they want to be able to hold their own against such a surge in competition.

Be emotionally savvy: Says Mr Mark Lee, manager of leading global staffing consultancy Adecco Executive Search: 'Apart from being extremely good at what they do, successful top earners are humble and retain a personal touch when dealing with others, be they partners, board members, customers or employees.'

Have a life outside work: Beware, though, of what hobbies or volunteer work you list in your resume. Mr Osammor says: 'If I see on your CV that you like playing squash, that tells me that you are not a team player because squash is a very individual game.'

Tall order? You bet. But the paybacks can be jaw-dropping these days.

Looking ahead, just how sustainable is the current skyrocketing salary trajectory here?

Adecco's Mr Lee says: 'As the talent battle intensifies, we can expect a further upsurge in salary payments as companies compete to attract and retain the cream of the crop.'

But Mr Mark Sparrow of global professional recruitment company Hudson is not so sure.

'It is unlikely that salaries will continue to rise so steeply,' he says.

'Money is only part of what makes a job attractive. I mean, what are you making so much money for... because it funds the lifestyle you desire?'

He thinks employers will start getting creative with the remuneration packages for their top performers, maybe focusing less on salary uplift and more on non-monetary perks that address their lifestyle needs.

Indeed, market experience suggests that money is not the be-all and end-all for even top earners.

Mr Sparrow says: 'The greatest and most inspiring people in history tended to be creative innovators and charismatic leaders.

'So if you can break away from how things have been done before, achieve a level of trailblazing differentiation and can capture the imagination of the market then, inevitably, you will be highly sought after.'