SINGAPORE: With the job market feeling shaky, plenty of workers are second-guessing when to make their next move.
Against this uncertain backdrop, a young professional who says he is stuck in a “dead-end” job turned to Reddit to ask a blunt question many others are quietly wondering about: when is the hiring season in Singapore?
In his post on the r/askSingapore forum, he wrote that he had often heard people resign only after collecting their year-end bonuses in December or January, leading him to wonder if this triggers a wave of hiring in the months that follow.
“Does this mean hiring usually picks up in March and April? I understand it’s a bad job market right now, but I’m curious about what the usual seasonality is. Curious specifically about the tech and finance sector.”
“I’m only familiar with the usual grad hiring cycles,” he wrote, adding that he is a fresh graduate with about half a year of work experience. “So I’m curious how it works for experienced hires.”
“Apply to jobs regularly.”
The post struck a chord with other users, who chimed in with their own takes on whether hiring seasons still exist at all, or if today’s job search has become a year-round grind with no clear pattern.
“I don’t think there is a season now. Just apply when you see something you like,” one user said.
“Honestly, just apply at any season,” another chimed in. “When I applied to roles during the ‘good’ hiring season from Jan-March, I got 0 callbacks last year in 2024. Fast forward to now, I worked on my portfolio extensively and spent a whole month reformatting it, then I sprayed and prayed applications in October for about two weeks and got around 15 callbacks coming within the next month. Just apply any time.”
A third added, “There is no hiring ‘season’. Apply to jobs regularly, keep your resume updated, and strive to crack interviews. Your dream job can come to you anyday.”
That said, not everyone felt timing was completely meaningless. One individual said opportunities tended to cluster earlier in the year. “[The hiring season is typically around] January to April. My past successful job interviews (from first call) were in the months of Jan, Feb, and Apr.”
Another shared, “Over 90% of the roles I applied to in September/October, I got no response for. I suspect the jobs either weren’t real or the orgs weren’t in a hurry to hire. So that was a waste of time. Since late November, I’ve actually gotten interviews, so now might not be such a bad time to apply.”
In other news, an employer shared on social media that her domestic helper had asked to use all 14 days of her annual leave in December to travel to Kuala Lumpur to visit her boyfriend, rather than returning to her home country as she had done in previous years.
“She has a boyfriend who is working in KL, so instead of taking 14 days of home leave, she wants to go to KL for 14 days in December. It is paid leave, and she still receives a full month’s salary even though she’s away for two weeks,” the employer wrote in her post in the Direct Hire Transfer Singapore Maid / Domestic Helper Facebook group.
“Should I allow this? Or should I just change to another helper?”
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