SINGAPORE: The job market’s already a nightmare, and with everyone running on fumes, the last thing anyone really needs right now is advice that feels completely out of touch.
Recently, people flocked to a local forum to vent and share the most absurd statements they’ve heard from older generations. The thread kicked off when one user asked others to dish out the worst advice or comments they’d encountered about the horrible job market.
“What is the most out-of-touch statement you’ve heard regarding the bad job market?” they wrote on the r/askSingapore forum.
“I know many people are struggling with job hunting in this horrible market. On top of that, the out-of-touch statements we keep hearing can be incredibly discouraging. I thought it might help to pool them together so we can at least laugh at them together. What’s the worst thing you’ve heard?”
To kick things off, the original poster recalled being told that “fresh grads and Singaporeans are just too picky because we refuse to work for SMEs.” According to this logic, if all unemployed people simply marched into SMEs and accepted whatever was offered, the job crisis would instantly vanish.
Out-of-touch statements jobseekers have heard
In the thread, one local recounted an encounter with a well-spoken retiree lady who confidently told them, “Just tell the company you are Singaporean, they will hire you.”
Another said that someone once advised them to “upskill with AI.” “Even if you know 101 ways to use AI, it’s not going to help you get a job when there’s no job.”
“Anyone that says the market is not that bad needs to quit their job with no backup and see how long they take to get a new job. It’s not even about skills anymore, it just feels like playing the lottery on whether you will get hired.”
A third shared a pair of classics that refuse to die. “’Just walk in and hand out your resume, companies love the initiative,’” like it’s still 2005. Or the classic, ‘If you’re not getting interviews, your CV must be the problem,’ when roles get hundreds of applicants and ghost everyone anyway.”
A fourth recalled that a “guy who graduated from NTU with first-class honours and has 10 years of work experience, but still draws S$3,100 monthly” told them that fresh graduates shouldn’t be expecting more than S$4,000.
“I’m not even a second upper, and I’m drawing more than 1.5 times his pay as a fresh grad lol. Makes me wonder what those boomers get by discouraging fresh grads like that,” they added.
A fifth added that someone told them, “’You are not desperate enough if you are not willing to take up jobs way below your credentials.’” Example: accepting a full-time job with S$2k salary while having a degree… Another one I heard was, ‘You need to do a master’s if you want to get a job.’”
A sixth user shared, “A career advisor looked at my resume and said, ‘You should go and get a degree if you want a job,’ as if it’s something that I can get within 3 months and also won’t get me in tens of thousands of debt in the first place.”
Others, meanwhile, chimed in to share statements that may not be directly related to the job market but were still painfully out of touch.
One said, “‘Huh how do you survive on S$6,000 a month in Singapore?’ Got this from a Nepo hire whose dad landed him a job right after graduation.”
Another shared, “My ex-boss’s wife: We need people to come to the office 5 days a week. If they really want a job, they’ll make the effort to come in every day. We had a candidate reject the role because of the long commute and cited a 1.5hr travelling time. She immediately went, ‘Nowhere in Singapore takes 1.5 hours,’ and had a laugh.”
In other news, a 25-year-old man has turned to Reddit for advice after his mother began pressuring him to end his relationship, citing his girlfriend’s allegedly “poorer background” as the main reason for her disapproval.
Sharing his dilemma on the r/sgdatingscene forum, the man explained that he comes from a relatively “well-off, traditional Chinese-Indonesian family.”
Read more: ‘She’s poorer’: Man seeks advice after mum pressures him to dump girlfriend over background
