Singapore jobseeker plans to pause job hunt after 6 months of rejections

SINGAPORE: After nearly six months of sending out résumés and sitting through dead-end interviews, one mid-level finance manager in Singapore is planning to hit pause on his job hunt for the rest of the year.

Posting on the r/askSingapore forum on Friday (May 30), the man shared that he had sent out “lots of applications” since January but received very few interviews in return. Those that he did get, he said, “led nowhere.”

“I thought I was gonna land a job… and for the amount of applications I sent, I don’t think I got a lot of interviews even,” he wrote.

Frustrated, he said, ”I’m going to stop looking for a new job if I can’t find one by (the) end of June and start again next year. Who else has also given up job hunting this year?”

“Keep going and keep trying; that’s the only way to get out of the tunnel…”

Under his post, many users expressed that they understood where his frustration was coming from, having been in similar situations themselves. Despite that, they still encouraged him to keep applying and not give up entirely.

To motivate him, one user shared, “Don’t give up. Last December, after four to five months of searching, I landed what I thought was my dream job. However, I didn’t pass probation due to a company restructuring. After a short break, I started a three-month part-time contract in April through my network. Amazingly, just two weeks into that, I received another job offer!”

Another commented, “Got terminated in January. Landed a new job this week. Sent roughly 150 applications on MCF, five interviews, and three offers. Keep trying; don’t give up. The job market isn’t great, not gonna lie.”

A third said, “I got retrenched in mid-March. Started spamming job applications from the moment I got escorted out of my former office. Lost count of how many applications I submitted or how many interviews I attended, but I got my first offer (a decent one) in late April, accepted it, and started work in mid-May.”

A fourth user added, “This job market is tough; it really takes a toll on one’s mental health. Keep going and keep trying; that’s the only way to get out of the tunnel.”

In other news, a man turned to Reddit on Thursday (May 22) to ask Singaporeans whether financial independence and early retirement, also known as FIRE, is realistically achievable without drawing a monthly income of S$10,000.

In his post on the r/singaporefi forum, the man explained that he had recently been exploring FIRE-related content and was feeling increasingly discouraged. He observed that many of the examples and advice came from the U.S., where home prices tend to be lower and average incomes are significantly higher compared to Singapore.

Read more: Man asks if FIRE is possible in Singapore without earning S$10k/month

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