Graduates face grim job prospects
Companies cut starting salaries and unveil recruitment and training freezes as the expected economic downturn begins to take effect
By Sharon Vasoo
IT LOOKS
like tough times ahead for fresh graduates who wish to enter the workforce this
year.
With the
economic slowdown, several employers have already put the brakes on
recruitment, and many more are expected to do the same, in anticipation of the
uncertainties ahead.
Employers
and headhunters are also reporting that starting salaries have fallen by 10 to
15 per cent across almost all sectors in recent months.
Some
graduates are also complaining about having to endure longer waiting times
before they are able to secure a job offer.
A recent
survey by management consultancy RDS Remuneration Data Specialists (RDS), of
237 companies across all sectors, found that 56 per cent had stopped recruiting
altogether, as one of their measures aimed at coping with the economic
downturn.
Of those
surveyed, some 47 firms had decided to implement a wage freeze.
About 50 of
them had introduced multi-tasking or job sharing, while 45 had downsized their
operations and 26 firms had retrenched staff.
These
trends will have harsh effects, particularly on the 6,000 or so National
University of Singapore students who will enter the job market this year.
In
addition, of course, there will be another 3,500 graduates from the Nanyang
Technological University.
Noting the
gloomier prospects, the Singapore Human Resources Institute's executive
director David Ang said: 'It is an employer's market now.
'They are
free to pick and chose. Their criteria have become more stringent.'
Some firms,
he added, had even slashed their training budgets by about 20 per cent.
With a
tighter training budget, most companies are not enthusiastic about the prospect
of signing on fresh graduates.
According
to the institute, companies, headhunters and executive search firms have also
reported a surge in the number of job seekers.
Its members
revealed that for every job advertisement posted on-line or in the classifieds,
there are about 100 or more responses compared to between 30 and 50 during
better times.
The waiting
time for fresh graduates who finally land a job is also longer.
Recruitment
firms note that on average they have to wait some three months longer or more
to secure a job for themselves.
Arts
graduate Eugene Liew, 24, for example, has sent out 30 resumes, sat through
three interviews, and received praise from prospective bosses for his
willingness to learn.
However, he
has not had any job offers since he started his hunt for enmployment last
December.
Little
wonder, since the job pool has been shrinking.
In March
this year, there were 19,755 jobs compared to 26,182 in the same period last
year.
The upshot
of this is that many fresh graduates may have to lower their expectations in
terms of starting salaries or securing 'that dream job'.
Noted Miss
Wang Jing Yi, 23, an NUS arts graduate who majored in economics and sociology:
'At this point in time, we've got to sacrifice a high salary in order to get a
job.''