SINGAPORE: A foreign polytechnic graduate took to Reddit to share her growing sense of despair after spending a year and a half searching for a job in Singapore, submitting more than 600 applications, and still being unable to fulfil her Tuition Grant (TG) bond due to repeated work pass complications.
In a heartfelt post on Reddit’s ‘askSingapore’ forum, the diploma holder said that even though she has “quite a résumé” built from numerous part-time jobs and indie projects during her polytechnic years, no employer seems willing to take a chance on her once they realise that hiring her would involve work pass sponsorship.
She went on to share that while she initially focused on roles related to her field of study, game design, the lack of opportunities eventually pushed her to apply to other industries such as “warehouse, F&B, admin, cleaner/janitor work, stalls, hotels, etc.”
“I applied everywhere,” she wrote, adding that she was no longer picky about the type of work, as long as it allowed her to stay employed in Singapore.
Despite her willingness to take on almost any role, she said the outcome was often the same. Employers would express interest at first, but conversations tended to stall or end altogether once work pass sponsorship was brought up.
According to her, this situation has made it extremely difficult to fulfil her Tuition Grant obligation, which requires her to work in Singapore for three years after graduation.
“I’m frustrated, but beyond that, I just feel hopeless,” she expressed. “I’m just lost now. I really do want to serve my bond.”
She also shared that one service company had come close to hiring her and had offered to apply for a work permit on her behalf, briefly raising her hopes after months of rejection.
“It was pending for a good while, and then MOM asked for more documents but never specified what,” she wrote. “I just gave them everything I could. Emails from my poly that say we have to apply for an LTVP, emails from ICA about the confirmation of my LTVP, the support letter I got from MOE to extend my LTVP due to my job search efforts—anything.”
Despite all her efforts, the result was still a rejection. When she checked the status of her application, it read: “Invalid: Work Permit has not been approved. Please talk to your employer or agent.”
Shortly after that, the employer stopped responding to her messages altogether. “Think they ghosted me,” she wrote. “Guess I’ll take this as the last lesson before throwing the towel in. SG has been great for me, so I can’t badmouth it, to be honest. Just these policies can be frustrating.”
“Try to apply for a job at bigger companies.”
Her post drew a range of responses from other Reddit users, including Singaporeans and fellow Tuition Grant recipients who shared similar experiences.
One wrote, “My friends and I were in your shoes many years back. We are in the creative field as well. And my advice is to get friends and acquaintances to recommend you to a job position.”
“It is easier to get hired, and the company is more willing to work extra to hire you due to recommendations. You graduated 1.5 years ago, so I hope that you have some friends in the industry already. Continue to work on your portfolio.”
Another shared, “Sorry to hear. I’ve got a couple of friends on the Tuition Grant Scheme (TGS) who graduated recently, and they’re struggling to find employment too. Apologies if this isn’t much of a consolation, but as I understand it you don’t *have* to serve your bond if you can prove that you’ve made an honest effort to look for employment and have been unable to do secure a job. In that case, the SG govt will just let you go from the bond.”
A third advised, “Hi, my friend was in your position as well. Try to apply for a job at bigger companies; small companies may not want to have the head count or quota or enough funds to hire non-PR/SC.”
“If I remember correctly, S Pass and EP are harder to apply now as they rack up the minimum salary by a lot. And the companies have you pay you at least 5.5k on paper (I think? Maybe higher). Really no choice now the policy became like this.”
In other news, a Singaporean MRT commuter has sparked heated discussion online after calling out an elderly passenger who allegedly rushed to take a seat that had been vacated for a child.
The incident was shared on the r/SMRTRabak subreddit on Thursday (Jan 1), where the commuter posted a photo of the elderly man along with an account of what had happened.
