My Thoughts on The Job Hunting Process after Graduation

I wonder how many people out there are in my predicament now. Graduated, looking for a full-time job but yet to find one. We have been using the various job searching platforms: Jobstreet, Job Central, and even resorting to internship portals such as Glints and Intern.sg but not much luck.

Feels like this huh? Dark, cloudy, all gloom and you are looking for that light.

The real world out there is harsh. No experience, no talk. Look at the jobs available on Jobstreet. I actually subscribed to lina@jobstreet.com and seeing notifications from them everyday is a torture, a necessary one might I say. At least for now. Plenty of irrelevant jobs that I scroll through only to delete. Nearly every job has the condition of having at least 1 year experience in the field. C'mon lah, fresh graduates like us need a job that is entry level, if most of the jobs out there require experience and isn't willing to let us learn the ropes, how on earth do we get that experience? We'll talk about internships in a bit.

What's harsher is that for us Social Sciences students (excluding the Econs students), we can nearly never expect to find our degree being listed as one of those they are looking for. All public Unis have their own talent sites but honestly, it doesn't help a lot. I actually looked through every single page and most of the jobs require specialised degrees such as engineering or more generic ones like business. Like I said, barely any will mention a Social Science degree.

Finding another internship after you graduate may be somewhat unwise, simply because half the time internships already pay peanuts and now you are a graduate, even if it is an internship you seek, you will feel that you deserve more than the normal intern rates because the fact is you do. If it offers a chance of a full-time job at some prestigious company that doesn't give out full-time positions except through internships, then it's an entirely different story. These kind of internships are probably the only ones we should be looking at, ones worth our time and effort. If you are not fussy about the pay or location of the company, there are actually plenty of internship opportunities, all you have to do is check out the internship singapore opportunities on Stroff.com. Click here to read about my previous internship experience. 

It's like you are an artist trying to sell your paintings but what you are selling is yourself.

So, if by now you haven't found a field in which you are keen to be working in, it's either you resort to another internship (I have been through like 2 already btw and have taken on freelance writing positions too) or you have to lower your expectations and just accept a passable full-time job. 

A friend told me (both of us being Uni grads) that we shouldn't settle for less than $3k otherwise we might as well not work. I guess in that statement she gave me that confidence booster, that we are worth that amount, after all the shit (do pardon the crudeness) we had to go through to get to this point of our lives. Before that, I was willing to settle for a job around say, mid $2k? Then again, it is by no means easy to find a job offering that pay. It is going to take time and perseverance. 

So with all that said, I am still looking for a job and I have learnt from experience that contacts is vital to landing you that ideal job. It's all about knowing people. When people know you, what you do, how you do it, that's when you stand a higher chance at getting that job. 

A game of chess anyone? Only that you don't know what the pieces can do for you.

Some people just have it all, like this majestic swan here. Beauty is written all over her.

For me, I think I made my job requirements pretty clear and if anyone has any lobangs or know of any job opportunities, do send them my way, I will be eternally grateful. Hear the exaggerating tone? Just had to do that, ok, I will be like seriously grateful. Thanks in advance!

For those who have yet to start looking for internships, it is never too early to start. In fact, why not even start looking out for positions in companies that you might be keen to apply for before you graduate. They say if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, of course plans don't always work which is why they then say that failure is the mother of success. If you are looking for that singapore internship you want to land yourself in, look no further and try out this job portal first. 

I hope you find that rainbow after the storm passes. It will. Hang in there!

All photos are taken by me.