Letter to the Editor | Do Singapore employers only recognise local university degrees when hiring someone?

Dear Editor,

I read with some puzzlement and disturbance about The Independent Singapore’s Lifestyle article: Job interviewer “told me my 3-yr degree is not worth it since I didn’t study in Singapore” (April 9, 2024).

A university degree merely represents that someone has already achieved a certain academic recognition, standards or accomplishment. But it has nothing to do with someone’s ability, work efficiency, personality, or character, especially on the employment spectrum.

Do most enterprise bosses from the private industry perceive that our local universities’ degrees are generally superior to those of unfamiliar or unpopular foreign universities? This has yet to be found out.

Anyway, a job applicant’s ability, adaptability, character and work attitude can be duly assessed while he/she is on the job.

Hence, prospective employers should focus on key assessment criteria, such as why the job applicant left his/her previous jobs and the frequency of job hopping.

They should also examine the suitability of the job applicant’s physical and mental health condition.

In short, job interviews should be perceived as a rigorous two-way reciprocal assessment process between the potential employee and the prospective employer.

Teo Kueh Liang

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Independent Singapore.

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