Hidden talent, foreign talent, unwanted talent

I came across this letter in EE Times few days back - someone wrote and commented about American born engineers not being able to get a job in their home country USA, and losing these jobs to foreign engineers. Ahem, ok...so it's not just Singapore's problem, or maybe some Singaporeans' issue. Many Singaporean, including myself, have been complaining (it's a Singaporean thing to complain) about too many foreign talents (or foreigners) coming to Singapore and "rob" the locals of their jobs. Well, our local garmen says ....foreign talents help job creation. How true is it? Yes, if the REAL TALENT comes, and comes with the setting up of a new multi-national company or a regional branch that creates more employment opportunities. But if it's just another employee (may it be an IT programmer, accountant, or consultant), I DEEPLY believe there's already a LOCAL TALENT out there, waiting to be discovered and uncovered. Just like the mentality "the grass is always greener on the other side", we tend to think 喝过羊墨水 "the person who has drank the foreign ink" tends to be better. Sigh!

Wake up! Companies! HR! It's time to discover that hidden talent in your company and train them young, train them well. Train them to be the next manager or supervisor to lead the team, rather than getting another person (probably another company, or another country) to be that key leader.