Big Four auditor quits over 10am–2am grind, now regrets it after 30 applications yield just one rejected interview

SINGAPORE: Walking away from a job that drains the life out of you sounds like an easy decision in theory. In practice, it can be one of the most punishing choices a person makes. 

One Singaporean man is learning that lesson the hard way, and he's now publicly wondering whether he made a mistake by resigning from his position at a Big Four auditing firm without another job lined up.

The man shared his story on Reddit’s r/singaporejobs on Sunday (Sep 13), explaining that he quit primarily because of the “terrible working hours.”

His daily schedule, he said, ran from 10 am all the way to 2 am every single day, without relief. By mid-July 2026, he had reached his breaking point. 

After talking it over with his girlfriend, he decided he simply couldn't take it any longer and chose to end his contract.

At the time, leaving felt like reclaiming his life. Now, the decision has come back to haunt him.

In the span of a single month, he applied for roughly 30 job openings and landed exactly one interview, which ended in rejection. 

The odds, he admits, are grim. “Guess who is lowkey regretting that resignation now,” he wrote, capturing the bittersweet irony of his situation. “[When] I got a job, I was stressed. [But now that I have] no job, I am also stressed. Wa diu.”

The pressure is made worse by the fact that his personal plans are not exactly waiting around for his job search to sort itself out. He has a Build-To-Order (BTO) flat due in the fourth quarter of 2028, while he and his girlfriend are also planning to get married in 2027.

Both milestones come with plenty of financial commitments, and neither is particularly far off. “I know, I know it’s not the most ideal,” he admitted, “but I got a few months to land a job.”

Desperate for guidance, he turned to the community for advice, asking:  “I need advice. I'm applying outside of audit roles but relevant to a certain extent. No luck so far. Do I continue applying for such roles or start applying for commercial accounting? I genuinely want to leave accounting as much as possible, but the job market ain’t so friendly.”

‘Don’t regret choosing yourself’

In the comments, one user encouraged the post author to stop brooding over his past actions and turn his attention instead to his plans for the future.

“Move on. There's no point dwelling on or regretting what you did for your own mental well-being and sanity. Job market is simply just tough and volatile lately. Keep trying, expand your options, and keep an open mind. Hope all will be OK for you soon!”

Another told him not to regret his decision, since he had made it for the sake of his own well-being.

“Don’t regret choosing yourself. 10am to 2am every day is really not sustainable. Give yourself some time. Keep applying and don’t lose hope. I wish you all the best! Stay strong.”

A third user said, “Put it this way. If you stayed, mentally you may not be in the best place, and it’ll be a different kind of stress.”

A fourth commenter who also works in audit advised him to “increase the number of applications” he sends out. The user shared that they had applied for at least
“400 to 500 jobs” before eventually landing an offer they were interested in.

A fifth user suggested looking beyond the private sector. “Try government sector?” they wrote. “Saw a lot of postings in various stat boards, ministry, etc”/TISG

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