‘Don’t skimp on soft skills’: Singaporean highlights key to staying competitive in today’s job market

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man recently shared his views on why many young job seekers are struggling in today’s competitive job market.

In his post on the r/SingaporeRaw subreddit, he said that a lot of locals nowadays focus too much on developing their hard skills while completely ignoring their soft skills.

This, he believes, is costing them valuable professional opportunities. “If you are currently a developer, for example, being technically skilled and kicking ass at LeetCode is, frankly speaking, going to get you nowhere,” he said.

“Let’s be honest, you are never going to outbid the foreigner with your technical abilities if what both of you generate is a static output.”

He then encouraged young locals to improve their communication skills by speaking more clearly, softening strong or unclear accents, and strengthening their bilingual abilities.

Picking up a third language, he said, could also give them a competitive edge, especially in client-facing roles or global companies.

He added, “Learning how to hold a conversation and being good with people will reward you far better with regard to your future career path.”

“[And] present yourself more confidently, even if you have to fake it. Do these things well and target more client-facing-oriented jobs. Since these roles essentially represent the face of the company, they are much less incentivized to let a foreigner do them. Don’t skimp on soft skills.”

“Singaporeans should not be forced to compete with the entire world for jobs in their own country.”

His post sparked a lively discussion among Reddit users, many of whom agreed that soft skills remain undervalued in both Singapore’s education system and its professional landscape.

One user, who shared that they’ve worked for over 20 years across small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and multinational corporations (MNCs), said, “I totally agree with you. The problem, unfortunately, is that soft skills aren’t something that is easily and readily learnable in a pinch,” they wrote.

“Sure, if you make a conscious effort, you can get better at it, but the best way to cultivate it is from young, while children are at school and learning to interact with their peers and teachers. Too bad MOE (Ministry of Education) only chooses to focus on technical skills, which, as you pointed out, will always be a race to the bottom when comparing with our other Asian neighbours.”

Another commented, “Yup—there’s always someone who can do hard skills for less money in Vietnam or India. Yes, people may argue that it may likely be of less quality, but that doesn’t matter—if a company can hire five people in country X for the same price as one person in SG, then they’ll go with the five.”

However, not everyone was on board with this line of thinking. Some users pushed back against the idea that Singaporeans need to constantly adapt just to keep up.

One wrote, “Sorry, but Singaporeans should not be forced to compete with the entire world for jobs in their own country. I am against the current trend of cheapening labour (and hence people) and voted accordingly in the recent election.”

In other news, a local employer took to social media to express her frustration after discovering that her domestic helper had been spending most of her time on social media instead of fulfilling her duties at home.

Posting anonymously in the Facebook group “Direct Hire Transfer Singapore Maid/Domestic Helper” on Tuesday (July 29), the woman shared that she had reviewed footage from her home’s CCTV system and was shocked by what she saw.

Read more: ‘What to do? Please help’ — Employer frustrated after learning maid spends 80% of her time on social media