‘Entry-level’ job listings that say: “At least 5 years’ track record of delivering results’.
Listed salaries that are way, way below your expectations.
Your family members nervously ask you, “When are you going to find a job?”
There’s no other way to say this: job-hunting as a fresh graduate is tough. It is a whole lot tougher now because the job market in 2024 does not paint a pretty picture.
It’s hard not to have certain expectations about your first steps into the thorny world of adulting. Here are some common expectations fresh graduates commonly have, how they may conflict with the realities of job-hunting, and what you can do to manage these expectations.
#1 “I should be paid $X every month because I have X degree.”
All companies should pay their employees a fair wage based on their skill sets and expertise.
However, if your understanding of a ‘fair wage’ is based on the Graduate Employment Survey, you might be in for a rude shock when you start looking at job portals.
It’s important to remember that surveys and polls usually show the average of whatever figure or statistic they are trying to represent.
For large, highly-competitive industries like tech, the gap between the lowest-offered and highest-offered salaries could likely be so vastly different that the average turns out to be a larger number than what you see companies listing on job portals.
This works both ways: if you’re seeing numbers lower than what you expect, you’ll probably find other job entries with salary figures higher than the average. But how do you land those jobs?
There are generally two schools of thought on what you should do:
- Settle for a lower/average-salaried job, be happy with the opportunity to learn more about your industry in an environment that isn’t school, and jump to a higher-paying job when you’ve racked up enough experience.
- Don’t settle for less, and gain additional qualifications to stand out from the competition so that you can ask for a higher salary.
Both schools of thought are equally valid because they are centered around the same principle: learn more to earn more.
Option 1 is a ‘safer’ approach that will help you learn more about your specific industry, while Option 2 is more of a shortcut that will help you prove your competency in additional skills, making you a more attractive candidate to potential employers.
This leads us to…
#2 “My degree is all I need for a good career.”
Here’s a fun fact: 7 out of 10 Singaporeans aged 17-24 intend to upskill or reskill within the next 5 years.
Basically, if you believe that your degree alone makes you an attractive candidate for employment, you are actually in the minority. After all, when you’re competing with other fresh graduates with the exact same qualifications you do, having additional, relevant skills definitely helps you stand out from the competition.
Studies have shown that upskilled workers feel significantly more confident about making big career decisions like asking for a raise and promotion and that being proficient in digital skills and using machine learning applications will give you much better job security in the current job landscape.
Qualifications aside, a second factor that makes you an attractive candidate are soft skills. Beyond the words on your resume stating that you can do a job, details like how you present yourself, how confidently you speak and write, and your dress sense, all work to convince your employer that you can A) actually do what you say can do B) work well together with your team.
If your soft skills aren’t the greatest, you may be disadvantaged in an already hyper-competitive hiring market. Fortunately, soft skills can be trained! Take every failed interview and unanswered email as a learning point rather than a mark of failure: what can you do better next time? Also, to fast-track your learning, you can always attend courses to help you brush up on your charisma.
#3 “I’ve only sent my resume to the companies I really want to work in.”
If you’re especially passionate about the career path that you’ve chosen, it’s inevitable that you may have a few ‘dream companies’ to work in – companies with a vision that aligns with your own, and a competitive salary and benefits packages.
However, you should not make the mistake of only applying to your ‘dream’ companies! Job-hunting is a numbers game, and casting your net as wide as you possibly can will yield the best results for you – especially this early on in your career journey.
It is important to set standards and goals for yourself – and being clear about the kind of place you want to work for is part of that. However, narrowing this vision down to a few companies will not only limit your chances of finding employment, but also the lessons you can learn from other companies who may not be a perfect fit according to your criteria.
For example: working in a large MNC may look great on your resume in the future, and be your ticket to a larger salary and better benefits, but choosing to work at an SME or a startup in the same industry will likely grant you more flexibility in doing your job, as larger companies tend to have very established workflows and processes instead of encouraging employees to be innovative.
#4 “I’ve reached out to dozens of employers, but I keep getting rejected! Am I unhirable?”
We get it. It’s tough putting yourself out there, and quite possibly for the first time in your life. Your resume may be just a document to the hiring teams of the companies you’ve applied to, but that document is a record of almost everything you’ve achieved in your life so far.
It’s hard not to take constant rejection from these potential employers personally in some way. However, it’s important to keep in mind that there are multiple factors involved in the hiring of a new candidate, and the problem might not lie solely with you.
You can’t control these external factors, but you can honestly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your own application. Questions you can ask yourself include:
- Do you have relevant, attractive qualifications?
- Are you highlighting the right qualifications and achievements in your resume for the companies you are applying to?
- What are skills that companies are currently looking out for? How can you prove you have those skills?
- Do your presentation or speaking skills let you down in face-to-face interviews?
If you find it challenging to objectively evaluate yourself, attending a career workshop could be your best bet. FirstCom Academy holds regular career fairs and workshops where you can learn interview skills, how to beef up your resume, and tips and tricks from industry veterans.
Conclusion
Always remember that your learning journey does not end with your graduation. You will be learning new things, meeting new people, and changing and growing for the rest of your life.
Being thrust into the adulting world may feel intimidating because you no longer have lecturers or classmates to guide you to the right steps. However, upskilling academies like FirstCom Academy provide plenty of effective, result-driven learning courses to help you learn new skills and build connections with like-minded peers.
Above all else, don’t give up just yet! Keep sending out those applications, keep learning new things, and you increase the chances of landing the job you want – it’s only a matter of time.
“It gets easier. Every day it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day —that’s the hard part.”
– Quote from Bojack Horseman Season 2
