Dear The Real Singapore,
I am a recruiter and a Singaporean Citizen. After looking at several professions CVs and how they build their career, it got me thinking about what own career and my past 20 years in Singapore. At the age of 26, I have just graduated from an university after serving 2 years of NS. The question begs, how does NS value adds to our professional experience, and how do start a family before 30 after graduating with a huge sum of student loan?
As various markets start to expand and opening their economy to the world, the global talent pool will start to expand. Indeed, we pride ourselves as a country that could establish business easily, however, we need to understand that the world is advancing. There is an upcoming generation who needs to work by wearing multiple hats, and with improving technology, jobs with become limited. Moreover, the global talent pool is increasing with various countries having better education, and thanks to Singapore great education where foreigners go back to their own country to build experience.
Here I see foreign talents, same age as me, who have 5 years of relevant experience, having started work at 21 and are now managers. For me, at the age of 26 I have less than a year of relevant experience. Here I am
graduating with a sum of student loan, hoping to clear by 30, and by then maybe taking another loan to service my house. By the time I retire, I am probably left with nothing. I find it such an irony, when the government is
encouraging us to build a family early, have kids and yet not looking at the overall picture.
I think many will agree there are several issues to address here, but we should not be looking at each issues individually. Emerging markets will have more educated people sooner than we expected. They will graduate earlier, might even have double degrees/MBAs younger than Singaporeans. Then they will have more relevant experience at a younger age.
The Recruiter
TRS contributor
PS: please watch the video below