Jobseeker ghosted after five interviews, asks locals: ‘Is this normal in Singapore’s hiring culture now?’

SINGAPORE: Five interviews. High hopes. Endless preparation. And then… silence. One frustrated jobseeker turned to social media after being ghosted, asking if vanishing acts like this have officially become part of Singapore’s hiring culture.

In her post on the r/CareersSingapore subreddit on Thursday (Sept 4), she explained that after investing her time, effort, and emotions into the process, the company went completely silent. “[There was] no email, no call, nothing. Is this normal in the SG hiring culture now? Or did I just get unlucky? Curious if others have faced the same.”

“It probably means you didn’t get the job.”

Her post resonated with many Singaporean Reddit users, some of whom said they had also gone through long interview processes only to be left waiting with no response.

One commented, “Went for 15 interviews last week. I made it past six interviews and moved on to round two, then round three and then on to the last round. [Then they told me], ‘We will contact you soon.’ I wasted eight hours, bloody hell.”

Another wrote, “I think so. We, as the shorter side of the stick, should always make public reviews on Glassdoor, etc., to discourage others from interviewing with such companies.”

However, one user noted that this behaviour is hardly new. According to them, companies have long treated silence as a form of rejection.

They said, “It has been like this since I started work in 2006; what are you talking about? It’s the norm that they won’t reply or call you unless you are a fit and they have approved to hire. Don’t be so sensitive.”

Another explained, “It’s common to be rejected even after five rounds, as they usually have several backup options. Just continue applying… sometimes they might get back to you months after nothing; probably their top choice didn’t work out or something. You can drop them an e-mail to check if you want to know if you were rejected.”

A third added, “It probably means you didn’t get the job. Sometimes they don’t reply to you right away cause if you are second in line and the first candidate decides not to accept the offer, they might still offer you.”

In other news, a 41-year-old man was stunned to find himself on the receiving end of criticism simply for admitting that he “wanted to be a father at his age.”

Writing anonymously on Reddit’s ‘SingaporeRaw’ forum on Wednesday (Sept 3), he shared that many of those he spoke to reacted harshly, calling him “irresponsible” for even entertaining the thought of fatherhood now.

“For what it’s worth, the backlash that I am receiving is coming from locals and local ladies,” he wrote.

Read more: ‘Am I too old?’ — 41-year-old man says locals called him ‘irresponsible’ for wanting to be a father at his age