Letter to the Editor | Jobseekers must not be choosy about their first job and salary

Dear Editor,

I refer to The Independent Singapore’s featured news: Recruiter explains why “she would rather hire foreigners than NUS undergrads” (May 4, 2024).

No matter what, the specific recruiter has expressed one of the valid concerns: she noticed that many graduating undergraduates have asked for much higher salaries than the median despite having no working experience.

Another valid concern is that these graduating undergraduates prefer working remotely for at least three out of the six or five working days a week.

In this highly competitive work environment, many job seekers from various universities (locally or overseas) will robustly/acutely fight for a job vacancy.

Hence, the prospective employer will have the upper hand or be in a favourable position (as the supply exceeds the demand) to choose the preferred candidate within their prescribed academic criteria, working experience, and salary bracket.

With that, job seekers have to keep this cruel reality in mind and try not to be too choosy about their first job, salary, and job title.

It will be a different story unless the job-seeking candidate is very confident of his own capabilities and charm or is extraordinarily exceptional.

Nevertheless, the Government of Singapore has actively promoted, persistently advocated for, and strongly supported the importance and benefits of a work-life balance culture for the past decade.

Undeniably, the work-life balance will bring flexibility, productivity, family values and cohesion to a greater extent/height.

The Ministry of Manpower Singapore and NTUC have been jointly launching active dialogues and discussions with employers in various sectors to encourage them to initiate and support the work-life balance model.

This will undoubtedly take years to be firmly shaped, sail off and be commonly accepted by many employers.

In short, I boldly anticipate the work-life balance of the working model and culture will be welcomed, compromised or accepted by the concerned stakeholders in the foreseeable future.

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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