F ZINE People Cam: Unemployment Edition
With Singapore’s employment market seemingly in turmoil for fresh graduates these days, we speak to young people to find out where their heads are at when it comes to their professional lives.
Speak to any twenty-something-year-old today and they’ll probably lay down similar gripes about the current state of the job market in Singapore: it’s highly competitive, starting wages are low, and it’s difficult to even get a foot in the door.
Yet, some are choosing to re-frame periods of unemployment as something more positive – enter funemployment, a rare opportunity to live life to the fullest before the perils of working for the rest of their days. We took to the streets to find out what people in Singapore are really thinking about their future careers, and what they value most when looking for employment.
Name: Sarah Adriana
Age: 20
Occupation: Unemployed
The current job landscape in Singapore is…: “Pretty challenging. I haven’t really found a job as I’ve just graduated from school, but the people around me who are actively searching for one are struggling to find a job.
There are many demands in the workforce and I feel sometimes, employers are also unable to meet employees’ expectations, which makes it harder. For many Gen Zs, we want work-life balance too, and it’s quite strenuous – people have to work from the office for all five days and the younger generation doesn’t really enjoy that.”
How long someone can realistically stay unemployed in Singapore: “From what I’ve seen, most people realistically stay unemployed for around six months. Times are tough and it’s not super realistic to stay unemployed as the rising costs in Singapore are hard to keep up with. So I think six months to at most a year, because you can still freelance and find odd jobs here and there.”
Biggest challenge she expects in seeking future employment: “Hearing back from employers. There are always so many people applying for one role, and employers have to look through hundreds of applicants all the time, so I think it’s pretty hard to stand out and differentiate myself from others. That’s one of my fears – taking a long time to find a job, maybe because my portfolio isn’t strong enough.”
Whether Gen Zs prioritise their mental health over career progression: “Honestly, I’d say not really. People around me with heavy workloads that take a toll on their mental health still stay in their jobs because they need the job security and the money. For many Gen Zs, because it’s already so hard to find a job, they’d rather stay in the role, work really hard and tire themselves out than take a break for their mental health.”
Name: Emilie
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
What she and her friends think about employment: “When we have conversations about future employment, it is a bit scary to think about. Many of us still don’t really know what we’re going to do, especially me. I have an idea of what I want to do, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly.”
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “Work-life balance, because it’s important to be able to enjoy your life and work at the same time, and it’s important for your mental health as well. I do think salary is also important but a little less. If I spend a lot of time at a job, I would want a good salary.”
Biggest challenge she expects in seeking future employment: “Being able to put all my time and effort into one specific area, and salary. I don’t want to spend all my time on something just for me to not be paid as much as I would want.”
Thoughts on taking a funemployment break after graduation: “I might consider that. I think it would be quite fun and I do want to experience life after graduating.”
Name: Fazri
Age: 21
Occupation: Unemployed
On the current job landscape in Singapore: “It’s tough to get a job right now. I have some friends with university degrees who still struggle to get a job. In my experience, I realised I’m competing with a lot of foreigners, even for part-time jobs.
When I applied for jobs, they didn’t get back to me even after three or four weeks. My family supports me by giving me validation and sharing their own personal experiences though.”
Pros and cons of being unemployed: “I’ve a lot of free time to figure out what I want to do in life and explore different sectors, but I feel left behind as my friends and family are progressing in life. I feel kinda stuck right now.”
How this period of unemployment has changed his perspective on work or career goals: “It’s made me more adaptable. I used to be very adamant on the courses that I want [to pursue], but as time has passed, I [learned] to be more flexible and delve into different sectors so that I can find better opportunities elsewhere. I don’t necessarily have to stick to a course I’ve already studied in school.”
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “Career progression first. It helps me to gain more experience and insight on the industry I want. Second, salary and work-life balance last.”
Name: Kayna Sondakh
Age: 22
Occupation: Funemployed but working on projects as a freelance designer
The current job landscape in Singapore is…: “As a foreigner, it’s harder to find permanent work. Even as a freelancer, you’re technically not allowed to do that under the visitor’s visa. It’s easier to find part-time work in a school that allows it, but it’s harder to do so outside of that. Last year when I graduated, job openings were a lot more sparse, but people have said that things are looking up this year. I’m looking forward to that.”
On job-hunting struggles: “[During] all of the interviews I’ve landed, we’ve only talked about my work visa and how they would be able to sponsor me – which is quite unlikely. Even from the get-go in job descriptions, they will write that they will only accept applicants that do not require sponsorship. That’s been quite discouraging for me.
To this day, I have sent out 70 cold emails excluding the portals I’ve applied to. I’ve heard back from probably 20, and most of them just say that they’re not accepting people who require sponsorship.”
How long someone can realistically stay unemployed in Singapore: “For foreigners, you can be issued a long-term visit pass which grants you a one-year stay here. After that, you can extend the pass which isn’t guaranteed. A lot of my friends just go back to their respective home countries and look for jobs in Singapore remotely. We also need to think about the cost of living and how viable that is.”
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “Job security and progression, salary, work-life balance. I think job security is very important, and everything else follows.”
Whether Gen Zs prioritise their mental health over career progression: “I think it’s more so that people are speaking up more on it. I feel like every generation will have their own mental health struggles, but it’s just that Gen Zs are more vocal about it.
It’s nice to see that companies are slowly adapting towards it, but I wouldn’t say that Gen Zs don’t think about career progression, especially for those who are experiencing job insecurity.”
Name: Jolene
Age: 32
Occupation: Self-employed
What she enjoys most about her job: “It’s been four years so far and it’s been going alright. I can’t say for sure that I can continue for 10 to 20 years, but we’ll see how it goes. I hope I can but I have to work really hard – harder than at a corporate job.”
On being self-employed in Singapore: “You need a lot of confidence to try being self-employed, to move from a corporate job to doing something yourself.”
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “In my current phase of life, I think work-life balance is most important. Salary and benefits, then job security.”
Thoughts on taking a funemployment break from work: “Not really. I have kids, so I can’t.”
Name: Jay
Age: 20
Occupation: Working in retail sales
What he enjoys most about his job: “I’ve been at this job on and off for about a month and a half, selling designer clothes. I get to work with a lot of brands and designers that I like the work of, and it gives me a lot of exposure to sales and the luxury industry.”
On the current job landscape in Singapore: “For part-time jobs, it’s relatively easy to find. For full-time positions, it can be a bit harder. A lot of jobs require preliminary experience in other roles within the industry, so fresh graduates looking for a job won’t be able to find full-time [employment].”
How long someone can realistically stay unemployed in Singapore: “I would say it depends on their individual abilities, educational background and everything, [so] there isn’t really a set time. But if you can’t find a job, it’s going to be quite hard.”
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “I just finished an internship and from my time there, I felt that the most important thing was work-life balance, followed by pay and staff benefits, and finally job security. Job security is important but I feel that it’s most important to have pay coming in, and the experience to build your portfolio.”
Name: Karina Cahyadi
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “Job security and progression first, because I feel that it would be fulfilling for me to know that I can progress in my career while at the job. The second would be salary as I would want to support myself. Lastly, work-life balance.”
Whether Gen Zs prioritise their mental health over career progression: “I can definitely say there’s a difference between our generation and the generation before us. I think it’s a good thing that we care a lot about the well-being of workers and ourselves. It’s needed to make good progress on what the workplace is like.”
Name: Kasih
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
The current job landscape in Singapore is…: “Tough for creatives like us. But if you look [hard] enough, I think you can find one. I struggle a bit more as someone who wants to work in the arts, [because] I feel like my portfolio is very lacking. Aside from that, I have a diploma, [but] some jobs require a degree, so I [do not qualify].”
Biggest challenge she expects in seeking future employment: “I think it would be hard to be what [employers] need. They will have specific criteria for you and your job, but I don’t know if I can meet that.”
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “I would put job security and work-life balance in the same rank, and salary comes after.”
Whether Gen Zs prioritise their mental health over career progression: “Gen Zs are more vocal about their mental health, but I do feel like we’ve yet to find a balance between career progression and caring for our mental health. But we’re getting there.”
Name: Sharon
Age: 19
Occupation: Student working part-time at a cafe
Biggest challenge she expects in seeking future employment: “The competition. I think there will be a lot of people looking for the same jobs and I won’t stand a good chance.”
How this period of unemployment has changed her perspective on work or career goals: “I often find myself thinking about the different jobs I can do in the future. I don’t have a set goal in mind.”
Whether Gen Zs prioritise their mental health over career progression: “I would think so. I see a lot of Instagram posts about mental health these days.”
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “Work-life balance first and the last would be salary. I want to have fun while working and pursue my own hobbies on the side.”
Name: Raine
Age: 19
Occupation: Student and part-time piano teacher
The current job landscape in Singapore is…: “Hard for undergraduates to land jobs, which means it might be difficult for me too in the future.”
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “Salary first and work-life balance last. I’m interested in doing law and I’m aware that lawyers don’t have a good work-life balance, but they get a pretty good pay. I don’t mind the trade-off.”
Biggest challenge she expects in seeking future employment: “I think there’ll be a lot of competition and maybe because I’m less experienced, I’ll be paid less.”
How this period of unemployment has changed her perspective on work or career goals: “I’ve really enjoyed being a piano teacher because I get paid quite well and my work-life balance is pretty good. I only have two to three students a day, so I get to do things that I really enjoy. When I was deciding on my major [in university], I was considering going to a music school to further pursue this career.”
Name: Shawn
Age: 21
Occupation: Student working part-time in retail
On the current job landscape in Singapore: “It can be quite hard to find a job that you will stay in for long and can see yourself being successful [in] in the future. You need a lot of [prior] work experience to get into a position like that.”
How long someone can realistically stay unemployed in Singapore: “Based on personal experience, about six months. There was a point in time where I felt like I had to take a break from work and just did random things for six months. Afterwards, I realised I [needed] to get my finances [in check] somehow. Living in Singapore, you will definitely need a job.”
Thoughts on taking a funemployment break from work: “No, I think the current job I’ve found is what I’m looking for. At most I’ll go on a week-long holiday just to enjoy with my friends, but towards the end of the week, I’ll already be looking forward to coming back to work.”
Salary, work-life balance and job security and progression, ranked in order of importance: “Work-life balance is definitely number one. Job security and progression is the second one, and the last would be salary and benefits.”