🎓 Graduating into a recession

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Early bird...

Right now, the Singapore job market is still okay, i.e. it’s generally still an employee’s market. This means that wages and opportunities are growing, and employers are competing for talent in most sectors.

But a recession will reverse this trend. Prospects become limited and wages may stagnate. What can you do?

1. Start NOW. It’s a good thing you’re getting this newsletter more than a half-year before you graduate (assuming it’s your final year) because there’s nothing like an early-mover advantage. Start looking for jobs, brush up your CV, send out applications etc. In fact – just go through our issue on career resolutions from last week.

2. Talk to people who can help you. During a recession, what differentiates you from the next candidate is often whom you know, how visible you are and how fast you move. Catch up with your network, and also remember to make use of resources e.g. your school’s career counselling office/alumni club. 

Also – don’t talk only to your parents. They graduated 30 years ago when phones were the size of bricks. ’Nuff said. 

3. Skills: Most employers don’t care as much about your GPA. Use the time in between applying to jobs to – as gahmen likes to say – UPSKILL. No, seriously, go to Coursera, LinkedIn or, better still, use your Skillsfuture credits and learn skills that your target employers want. 

4. Be flexible: Sometimes, your dream job can wait. Yes, passion is very important, but you cannot eat (unless it’s a passionfruit lol) or count passion. This doesn’t mean take the first offer that comes to you; you should still weigh pros and cons.

Money

1. Budget: Set aside at least 20 per cent of any income for savings, and build that emergency fund. Track your expenses, which shouldn’t go beyond 50 per cent. Sounds troublesome? 1) Use a free budgeting app, or 2) create a Google Form (spend five minutes, create fields for spending type, amount, remarks), fill it whenever you buy something, and it will automatically dump everything into a spreadsheet for you.

2. Save $: There are a lot of things you don’t NEED (e.g., a PS5, your Netflix subscription). Cut them out – doing so also often has the added plus of freeing up your time for other things. For a list of ways to save money, check out our tips on IG.

3. Gig work: Even if you don’t need it, consider doing this to give yourself better cashflow while waiting for a full-time job. If you can find them, consider jobs that give you flexibility and leave you with leftover energy to do job apps (e.g. freelance work, teaching tuition). But beware exploitative platforms.

4. Debt? If you have loans (e.g. study loan), review your plans and consider refinancing your loans to get a lower interest rate (although now may not be the best time to do so…). Repaying debt > investing > spending, especially in a recession. Avoid taking on more debt if you can.

5. Insurance? Chances are, your primary school friend you haven’t talked to in a while will come knocking at your door just as rainy days seem to be here. Insurance is not urgent when you’re graduating into a recession, though it’s never too early to start thinking. Check out some do’s and don’ts here and here if you do, but above all, insurance is protection, NOT investment.

This too shall pass

Recession takes a toll on everyone, and if you’re also applying for jobs and doing gig work at the same time, it’ll be extra stressful. There’s a high chance you’ll get lots of rejections for your applications, and you won’t be able to spend as freely as you might like.

Take a deep breath – a lot of things are not within your control.

1. Prioritise well-being. The first thing we sacrifice (wrongly) is sleep, especially when we get busy. Next comes drinking enough water, eating properly, and taking breaks. 

2. Set up a peer-support group. If there is a recession, you will not be the only one graduating into recession; literally thousands of people across Singapore will. Find solidarity among friends looking for jobs and help each other vet applications and cover letters.

3. You’re still working. Not having a job doesn’t mean you’re not working – everything takes energy, from writing cover letters to editing your CV to taking a picture for your LinkedIn profile. You deserve to rest just as much, so give yourself rest.

4. Your value ≠ market value. Seemingly begging all of Singapore’s employers to give you a job may make you think that you’re only worth as much as you can get paid. We’re all much more than our jobs, and they don’t define our self-worth.