Man in second month of job hunt asks if others are having trouble, says he’s ‘either getting ghosted or lowballed’

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man now in his second month of job hunting took to Reddit to ask if anyone else was having trouble landing a job.

“Anyone having a similar issue? Had to leave a previous role after collecting my bonus, due to the toxicity with management. I’m either getting ghosted by interviewers or low balled. I’m in the IT line. Feeling dejected,” he wrote on r/askSingapore on Thursday (March 6).

In the comments, many users reassured him that he wasn’t alone in his frustrations and reminded him that two months of job hunting is a relatively short time. One said, “Average time I heard from peers is roughly nine to 12 months for rehiring.”

Another commented, “With the recession this year, prepare for 1.5 years in the worst-case scenario. Just take it as a break to smell roses for a while, bah.”

A third user, who’s also in the IT field, jumped in to share his experience: “It’s only the second month. Senior SWE here who also quit without a job last year. It took me about three months of job hunting before getting offers.

“If you’re a junior and/or not in dev, it’s probably even more difficult with more and more tech firms offshoring to cut costs. It’s an employer’s market right now, and there are plenty of clown recruiters out there. Just keep trying, jiayou and good luck!”

A fourth user, who works in the creative sector, added, “Regardless of which industry you’re from, the job market here is cooked. I’ve been applying to regular admin jobs but to no avail. I’ve been looking for work since September 2024.

“Some of my mutuals are working as interns just to have a little stability, and are upset that they can’t even utilise their diplomas or degrees. No fret, man, pick up a part-time job if you have to or spend some time on your hobbies for now.”

In other news, a man took to Reddit to ask if he should accept a job offer with a salary of S$7,300 or risk negotiating for a higher pay.

In his post on the ‘Ask Singapore forum,’ he explained that when HR asked about his expected salary during the interview, he quoted a much higher figure of S$8,000, even though he would have been happy with S$7,000.

Read more: Jobless man gets offered S$7.3K salary after 6 months unemployed; wonders if he should push for S$8K

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