In the last year of her university studies, Stacey Tay strategically planned her schedule to include internship stints alongside her university classes. She also meticulously refined her resume to maximise her chances of landing a job after graduation.
The 22-year-old packed her classes into two to three days, allowing her to spend the rest of the week working as a social media intern for Singaporean regional bank, UOB, and as a social media executive for a creative agency startup.
But at what cost? The communications graduate from the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) wanted to ensure a successful application and increase her chances of receiving a call back in Singapore’s competitive job market.
Despite completing two internships during her undergraduate studies, Stacey felt immense pressure to secure a job immediately after graduation. Several of her peers had already secured a job before finishing their degrees, and her mother constantly urged her to find full-time work to start supporting herself financially.
While graduation is usually one of life’s most monumental events – marked by big bouquets, graduation trips, and parties – its joy is increasingly overshadowed by the stress of finding employment.
Despite having several internships under her belt, including a stint at a government agency in Singapore during polytechnic and running a side hustle selling secondhand clothing, Stacey, who now works full-time at a Singapore digital marketing agency, is now part of a growing number of fresh graduates who struggle with the competitive job market.
According to CNA, the proportion of university graduates who found employment within six months of taking their final exams dropped to 89.6% in 2023, down from 93.8% in 2022. These figures were revealed in the annual Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey.
This figure does not only affect Singaporeans in the country but also those who studied abroad.
Take, for example, Gwendolyn Row, a communications and political science major who graduated from the University of Western Australia in December 2023.
Although it has been nearly half a year since completing her studies, the 24-year-old described that she is currently in her “funemployment era”.
Since graduation, Gwendolyn has gone on a graduation trip with her university friends, flown to Melbourne for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, and explored other cities in Australia.
Embracing her freedom in her early 20s, Gwendolyn said, “I think now’s the best time for me to do all that before I’m bound by the constraints of annual leave and other financial commitments.”
Her future plans include going on a road trip around the South Coast of Western Australia.
When she’s not travelling, she works at one of her three part-time jobs to pay her bills and enjoys crafty hobbies like trying new recipes and baking in her free time.
While Gwendolyn is currently making the most of her time focusing on self-development pursuits, she hopes to secure a job in marketing, social media or public relations. Having worked at a tertiary institution for the past year, she is also considering a career in the higher education sector.
“There is definitely societal pressure to secure a full-time job as soon as you graduate. Somehow it’s almost like there’s that expectation that adulting begins the moment you walk out of the hall with your degree,” said the Singaporean who studied in Perth.
However, she is not hammered with extreme pressures to secure a full-time job, given her several part-time jobs in Perth, which support her financially.
With Australia’s strong economy and high standard of living, the minimum wage for part-time work is set at A$24.10 an hour. This makes finding a part-time job in Australia attractive for many, as part-time work gives flexibility to save money while making travel plans.
A similar sentiment is echoed by Marsyitah Roslan, a Singaporean who also studied abroad at The University of Queensland.
The biomedical science graduate studied in Brisbane for almost two years before completing her studies in December 2023. She has since been on a Working Holiday Visa (WHV) and is currently travelling across Australia and New Zealand while awaiting full-time employment.
The 22-year-old, based in Brisbane for the last two years, has been applying for several full-time jobs to see what the job market in Australia is like for herself.
Speaking about her job hunting experience, she said: “I did not expect it to be very competitive in Brisbane.
“I applied for close to ten jobs and [only received] two responses, but I have known people who applied for 40 jobs and only received one response, which is typically a norm here as it is competitive,” she added.
While Marsyitah has not yet secured a full-time job, she attributes this to visa issues rather than her degree or the competitive job market.
“Most companies would not hire me as I am currently on a WHV and in Australia, they would have to let you go after six months of working. It is not ideal for many companies as training would take up one-third of the time already,” she explained.
As the name goes, the WHV is a type of visa that allows foreigners, typically aged 18 to 30, to live and work in Australia for an extended period, usually up to a year.
This gives them the opportunity to earn money to fund their travels while gaining valuable work experience in a sector they are interested in, all while being able to meet diverse people, develop new skills, and explore a different part of the world.
Visa complications aside, Marsyitah is currently working part-time in retail, allowing her to save money. She plans to take the year off to travel before seriously seeking full-time employment when her WHV ends.
Marsyitah, however, isn’t the first and only Singaporean in her 20s to do so. Many other young Singaporeans are venturing beyond our tiny little red dot, embarking on WHVs while waiting for a job opportunity to come their way.
While these Singaporean youths are taking time off for self-development, they are also looking for ways to increase their chances of receiving callbacks.
“When I was looking for a job, I had to redo my resume several times as I felt that it was one of the reasons why my applications were unsuccessful,” Stacey recalled the time she was actively searching for jobs before graduation.
When searching and applying for jobs, Stacey didn’t expect that companies listing positions for fresh graduates would require candidates to possess skills comparable to or better than those of current full-time employees.
“For instance, if I’m looking for a job in digital marketing, company A expects not only for me to be familiar with content creation but also more on technical and business skills set like running paid ads, SEO, and web development,” she added.
Gwendolyn shared similar views when browsing for jobs on LinkedIn and other job portals.
“I’ve been baited quite a few times when I saw ‘entry-level’ jobs and read in the description that they required three years of experience for the role,” she said.
While the topic of unemployment among fresh university graduates can be challenging and sensitive to navigate, it is crucial to encourage more discussions about this issue to foster open conversations and reduce the stigma for those affected.
The guilt felt by fresh graduates, combined with peer pressure, social comparison, and parental expectations, can significantly impact an individual’s mental health.
“Instead of bashing them, giving words of encouragement would be better from friends and family,” Marsyitah said.
She suggested that to address the increasing unemployment among fresh graduates in Singapore and abroad, universities could support their students by partnering with companies and allowing graduates to apply for jobs through their schools.
Despite holding degrees, these three graduates are each pursuing different paths that are guaranteed to improve their character and broaden their worldview.
As the saying goes, we only live once, and taking such risks becomes more challenging as we get older.
So, if you are a fresh graduate struggling to find a full-time job this year, perhaps this is the time to evaluate your goals and choose the direction you want to pursue in life.
While finding a job and climbing the corporate ladder is the “default” for Singaporean society, there are many off-the-beaten-path options to explore. These paths can lead to self-exploration, self-discovery, happiness, and more—all integral aspects of personal development in our youth.
*Editor’s note:
Congratulations to our recent graduates! We would like to note that graduates take many different paths after leaving school, and some of them may place more urgency on securing jobs due to life circumstances such as needing to pay back loans taken out for their studies, or having to support their families.