My relocation journey for a new job at Carousell amid the pandemic
The pandemic disrupted many sectors as countries scrambled to keep the coronavirus under control by shutting down borders and ordering stay-home measures. In March 2020, the Singapore government required work pass holders, with certain travel history, to enter the country to apply for entry approval. This extended further as the pandemic worsened globally.
For me, I was based in Malaysia when I applied to Carousell for a role in Category Marketing. When I first spoke to the People team in May, the Talent Acquisition Associate told me to wait for about a month, as there was no clarity on the role due to the pandemic. I was pleasantly surprised when the People team got back in exactly a month, and my interview process was kickstarted.
I received the job offer after five rounds of interviews (yay!). I was prepared to wait for a long process for the approval of my employment pass. I heard from my friends who work in Singapore that it usually takes between two to three weeks. But to my surprise, I was amazed at the pace in which Carousell executed it. The team knew the process very clearly. They applied for an IPA within a day of me sharing the relevant documents, and I received it in a week! That must be the fastest ever!
The challenging part was yet to come! Due to the pandemic, there were new travel regulations across Malaysia and Singapore. Carousell surprised me again! They had a dedicated team for identifying the process with Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and clearly laid out the steps for travel, quarantine, etc via email. Once my start date was finalised, an entry approval from MOM was issued. People team connected me with a relocation agency, who ensured I got a comfortable place to stay during my first 30 days (including seven days of mandatory Stay Home Notice (SHN)) in Singapore, as well as booked my flights.
During the process, I would get a message every day from one of the People team members to check if I was having any bottlenecks and if I was doing okay. I was so comfortable and never felt lost at any point in time.
People team also prepped me with a checklist on the list of documents (e.g. entry approval email, health declaration form etc) that I had to carry during my entry into Singapore. All my trivial doubts were clarified, right on time (even if a website link didn’t open, always People team to the rescue)!
The immigration process at the Malaysia and Singapore airports were super smooth since I had all the documents with me. There were temperature checks at both the ports (entry & exit) and all the documents were verified. Post immigration at the Singapore airport, there is a team of government officials waiting to brief you on the regulations and assign you the electronic monitoring device to ensure we don’t leave our quarantine facility.
After boarding the vehicle that took us to our SHN facility, we met someone from the relocation company at the service apartment to handover the keys. A nice welcome kit from Carousell was waiting for me at the apartment already (which had a travel guide, SIM card, and MRT pass for me & my husband). I was super impressed and felt welcomed.
Some of the things I had to do was register my new number on the MOM website, do regular temperature checks to report to MOM daily, and do a COVID swab test. As we couldn’t leave, the People team helped to arrange for meal delivery to our service apartment during the SHN period.
There was also a clear on-boarding process on work essentials for me from Day 1. I had my work email configured before my start date itself so that I could access all portals from the first day. It did not interrupt my everyday work and I was able to be part of all essential work meetings while in parallel coordinating with the People team on my travel to Singapore. I’m also thankful to my husband for being supportive through the whole process and standing by me when I was transitioning to the next stage of my career.
While all of this seems like a lot of things to do, I felt it to be without any hassles. All thanks to Team Carousell who kept track of me until I arrived at the designated apartment for my stay in Singapore. I wish every company could do this for their employees. It made me feel super special and also speaks volumes about the kind of culture at the organization. They definitely lived out the core value of Care Deeply.
My learning from this experience is that it is very important to be well prepared and aware of everything around you, especially when you make such big moves and decisions. It wasn’t easy for me and my husband, but we took the plunge, as I felt confident with the support given by Team Carousell. While it was the People team’s first experience as well, they ensured that it was FLAWLESS and every aspect was covered, without a single miss.
Having been in Carousell for a few months now, I am still as excited as I was at the start in contributing to the mission of inspiring everyone to start buying and selling. Doing category marketing, I get to highlight the amazing deals and opportunities across our verticals such as Autos and Properties, encouraging others to make secondhand the first choice whenever possible.
