Singapore man sends over 1,000 job applications, lands only 11 interviews

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean jobseeker, who has been unemployed since late 2024, said he was starting to wonder whether companies were “simply choosing cheaper candidates” after submitting more than 1,000 applications and landing interviews with only 11 companies—about one to two interviews a month.

“I’m only asking for S$4,000, which I honestly don’t think is unreasonable given that I have over two years of [marketing] experience and a degree,” he wrote on r/singaporejobs.

He was studying part-time and left his previous job due to family reasons. After quitting, he used that period to overload his university modules and graduated from the Singapore University of Social Sciences in December 2025 with a Digital Communications degree and a GPA of 3.85. He then began applying for jobs soon after.

He said around 40% of his applications were submitted through LinkedIn’s Easy Apply feature, while the remaining 60% were made through Workday or company career portals, which he described as exhausting due to the need to create new accounts for different employers.

“The interviews themselves are draining too. Most companies have multiple rounds, and every interview requires hours of research, preparing answers, and learning about the business. Some even give assignments that take several hours to complete. The frustrating part is that I usually make it to the second or third round before getting rejected or ghosted,” he explained.

“I’m honestly feeling really discouraged,” he said, adding that every interview cycle drains a lot of his mental energy as “by the time one ends, I’m already preparing for the next.”

While he used to look forward to interviews, he now almost dreads them because of the effort involved with no guarantee of an offer. What’s worse, he said, was how his lack of energy often shows during interviews despite subconsciously trying to “look enthusiastic”.

He added that doing GrabFood to pay the bills also took a toll physically.

“The longer this goes on, the more burnt out I become, and the more I forget what I have done in my previous job since it has been so long,” he said.

“I really want to get back into the corporate groove. I felt like I missed out so much. I won’t be keen on internships given my work experience. I am also tired of MLM organisations messaging me. So much false hope. All I want is a proper job,” he added.

Some commenters who also work in marketing said that, given the current job market, employers may be offering lower salaries than what he expects. One said, “S$4,000 is reasonable for a local university but they may offer S$3,500 in this job market…just take it, get the experience and move up later lor.”

Another who worked in the industry for 10 years even advised to lower his salary expectation further, saying, “S$4,000 is a bit high in this market…try S$3,000 or even S$2,500 just to get a job…I once managed a marketing executive from SUSS also with three years of experience…she only earn S$3,000 by the way. Just telling you the reality in SG, not the so-called uni surveys nonsense. Of course in bigger companies maybe they pay better and near the median.”

Others, however, have decided to quit the industry altogether. “Maybe there’s a chance it [marketing] might come back if the AI bubble bursts, but who knows what happens then?” another commenter said. /TISG

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