I refer to Age Discrimination Public Sector Worse for Degree Holders?
Someone asked me why the psychological barrier for entering public sector is below 30 and not 28 or 32.
I recall one of my friend who went to ITE. After studying in ITE, then National Service for 2 years, then 3 years of poly, he made it to NTU and by the time he graduated, he was already 29 years old.
In fact, his course was actually a 4 year course but he crammed real hard to finish his studies in 3.5 years and luckily, he graduated before he turned 30.
At age 29, he told me that this was his FINAL LAST chance to get into public sector.
At that time, he told me that upon graduation, he received 2 job offers. One in public sector and another one in an MNC foreign bank.
In fact, the MNC foreign bank paid well and was a few hundred dollars more than his public sector job.
He told me that he actually preferred the MNC foreign bank job as it was something that he studied and specialised in, compared to his public sector job which handles customer complaints. As a fresh graduate, he was rather pampered and told me in confidence that he may not have the empathy to handle his emotions well to understand public's problems.
But yet, he said he chose the public sector job as this was his last chance to enter before he turns 30. He can join private sector anytime but for public sector, it was his only chance.
Why is 29 years old your last chance to enter public service?
Is there any evidence to refute that?
I just visited IRAS Level 1 Tax Officers to settle some of my taxes last month. The tax officer was a lady who cannot be more than 25 years old. Curious, I asked her if all her colleagues joined IRAS as fresh graduates. She said as far as she knew, all of her colleagues joined IRAS as fresh graduate. The rationale is that once you hit above 30, HR will have difficulty benchmarking your experience with their framework.
I am already 35 years of age. I remember that when I was 30, my job interviews with public sector plummeted like a stock market. Before 30, I was able to be shortlisted for any public sector job interview.
After 30, it was the age when even the uniformed groups such as SPF and ICA find you too old to run after criminals. Therefore, I do suspect that most HR in public sector benchmark theirs to these uniformed groups.
In addition, most HR departments keep records of your interviews. If you are shortlisted for the position and find you not suitable, they will hold your particulars for at least a few years so that if you re-apply again, they will not shortlist you. For a job seeker, it's a sniper's mentality - one shot one kill. Said the wrong things during interview and you can forever lose the job.
This would explain why it is much tougher for a 30s mid career PMET to find a job compared to a fresh graduate.
So for Mr Heng Swee Kiat, who said that there will be policy changes coming up, if you are reading this, this is one policy that you can fix easily.
I am sure those career counsellors in e2i will breathe easily. There are just too many retrenched PMETs in e2i for them to handle already.
CJ
TRS Contributor