‘Should I just take it?’: Fresh grad hesitates on job offer after disliking interview vibe

SINGAPORE: A fresh graduate recently found herself second-guessing whether she should accept her first job offer after going through several rounds of interviews. While she’s aware of how competitive the market is and is grateful to have received an offer, she admitted that the role wasn’t exactly what she had hoped for.

Posting on the r/askSingapore subreddit on Wednesday (Sep 3), she explained that much of her hesitation came from the interview itself.

“My first reaction to receiving the offer was not that happy. It was my least favourite mainly because of the vibe of the interview, and I did not really click with the reporting manager. The job scope also isn’t my favourite, but it’s definitely doable,” she said.

“The salary is not really a concern for me because of the industry I’m in; everything is below the country’s average anyway. I think that maybe I’m being too picky, hesitating over a reason like the vibe of the interview.”

Turning to Reddit, she asked fellow fresh grads whether it’s wiser to take the first offer or wait for something that actually excites her. 

“Should fresh grads reject offers in the current job market?” she wrote. “I’m wondering if anyone can drop some insight into what they would do if they were a fresh grad currently. Should I just take the job?”

“You might be better off conserving your energy and mental health until a better offer comes along.”

In the comments, one local said, “The first job is quite important. If you take a poor job as your first, you anchor your entire career’s value around that job.”

Another wrote, “As a CS major, just reject. I have so many friends who picked the first offer they got and then got stuck in a place that isn’t so good.”

A third agreed with this take, saying, “I took the first job that came to me with decent pay. I wasn’t a big fan of the culture and my reporting manager, so it was a disastrous and painful time. Ended up not being able to stay long cause I was just tolerating. You might be better off conserving your energy and mental health until a better offer comes along. In the meantime, try other things that uplift you!”

Meanwhile, a fourth individual advised her to “take the job offer and keep looking,” adding, “During the first three months of probation, the termination period is shorter. You’re also better off searching from a position of strength and with experience. I’ve used existing offers to help expedite some other interview processes, too.”

In other news, a newly hired worker shared online that his first few months on the job have been miserable, largely because his manager refuses to give him even basic guidance.

Writing on the r/askSingapore forum, he said that whenever he tries to clarify where to get data, who to approach, or even understand how certain work was done before, his manager brushes him off. Instead of pointing him in the right direction, the manager simply tells him to “figure it out” on his own.

Read more: New hire says his manager shuts him down instead of helping, tells him to ‘figure things out’ alone