Quick guide to easy employment for new Singaporean graduates

Graduate recruitment programmes are run by employers who want to secure the best and brightest talent, as this comes available from universities around the world. Programmes usually focus on exposing graduates to numerous parts of the business (although this is not always the case) and giving them the opportunity to move and grow within their organisation. The benefits for the employers are significant as many graduates go on to be strong leaders.

It’s a two-way street, though. At the same time as organisations are finding the best graduates for their staffing programmes, graduates should be identifying the best employer for them – applying the same level of rigor to their selection of an employer as they would do to the selection of their qualifications or to the same level of research they’d do as part of their coursework.

So what can graduates to do to ensure they’re ready for their new careers?

At a bare minimum, research the employer – what are the company’s achievements in the past twelve to eighteen months? Has the company expanded, contracted, have there been any mergers or acquisitions? What’s the company’s presence and reputation in the local country, local region, and internationally? Who are the company’s key competitors?

Most graduates will have a fair idea of the sector that they’re looking to enter, too. It’s important to know and understand the sector, and to be able to communicate this with potential employers. What are the trends within the sector? Who are the pace-setters, and what is likely to happen in the next six to twelve months in that sector? What are overall market conditions like in this sector, both locally and regionally?

It’s never too early to begin networking. If the company has hired graduates previously, get in contact with them and talk to them about their experiences. There is a wealth of social networking tools which can help facilitate introductions – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and so on.

Personal and educational networks can be of value - talk to family, friends, lecturers, and anyone who has connections with the company who might be able share some insight on the company or sector. Regrettably, there is often a gap between the image of a sector and its reality – the opportunity to work in a high profile, well-remunerated position may be very appealing to new graduates, but there are hidden costs to the role that an insider can give voice to.

However, these activities pale in significance to the insight and value that can be gained through taking up an internship. Most graduate employers in Singapore also look to provide internships to students who are in the final years of their studies, and have programmes in place which provide exposure to the work environment.

Typically, students who take up an internship ahead of their graduation viewed as being preferred candidates for graduate programs, and students who do additional training in the workplace during their studies are viewed favorably. From the student’s perspective, it is a preview of what to expect in the first years of their careers – how companies work, how people work together, and the expectations of a professional career.

Graduates also need to be patient. It takes time to learn and assimilate in any new environment, and the working environment is no exception. The working environment is going to be markedly different from the education environment. Graduates will be working with a wide range of people who have different skills, educations, are from different generations and operate within an organisation hierarchy, and will need to adapt to this environment if they are to be successful.

Ultimately, being able to cope with the demands of a new job; boils down to exposure. Work experience certainly helps, either through internship or even more broadly from generic work experience throughout study.

- See more at: http://sbr.com.sg/hr-education/commentary/...h.gtkbQrEo.dpuf

Trade Finance, import operation, in banking. I guess they need people urgently

back office document checking?

How do you guys save your rainy day funds? StanChart bonu$saver seems the best so far at 1.88% as long as u swipe $500/mth on credit card. Anything better?

Is it hard and took times for an engineer to find a job in Singapore compare to business and finance ???

3-4k for a small scale property management company.

The cap on the savings that actually earns 1.88% is very low though. Only $25000.

After years of chasing bonus interest deals and opening bank accounts everywhere, I've recently restructured all my bank accounts to keep 99% of my funds in 2 banks. Maybank in My and CIMB in Sg. I have closed all my other accounts in My in order to make it easy to manage things online and when I'm back home. Maybank in Ipoh is near my house and plenty of parking. They also have a small self service branch in Aeon/Jusco where my family usually shops during weekends.

All my S$ funds is in CIMB, plus my home loan. The Star$aver account pays 0.88% (constant, no close ended bonus period etc) and the eligible savings cap is $750,000. Free cheque book also. They were the only bank in Sg that offered a reducing interest rate loan as well, which I took. And their Preferred Banking guys are really attentive. Their main branch at Knightsbridge Orchard is also close to my office.

Having said that I still have a POSB account for salary crediting and the ATM network. I also have a Maybank Sg e$aver account to connect back to my Maybank accounts back in My but only minimum balance to avoid paying fall below fee. I also have a World Partner account at Std Chartered but I only keep it because there's no fall below fees and also no other Internet banking portal allows you to pay any other banks credit card. This is great if you like to credit card surf for promotions. Btw Std Chartered relationship managers are total fail vs CIMB. Maybe too many seriously high net worth customers to attend to, so they ignore the lower end ones.

Convenience and simplicity is the key after a while. One, you don't have time to manage so many bank accounts, Pin codes etc. Secondly if something happens to you, you need to make it easy for your next of kin to get your money (especially if you don't have a will). When my dad passed, he had 15 savings and FD accounts, shares and no will. If I didn't know a lot of bank folks and remisiers from my audit days, and if I wasn't a good forger - it would have been much, much more painful and lots of time and legal fees to move his funds to my mum.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jul 14 2013, 02:04 PM

yea. Documentary credit stuff.

hi, i got an job offer in an engineering firm last week ... however I am still looking for a room around Jurong West/Pioneer area.

mind to assist ?

i get 1.2% at stanchart using normal e-savers... the extra 0.68% is because the $500 spent each month there's no reward points or cash rebates... stanchart offers attractive rates... hsbc only offers 0.9% but that's fd++-

LC checking? have you got the certification yet?

why people keep asking the same questions over and over again, dont they have respect for the big brother of jurong and all lands west in sg?

do contact; https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showuser=64247

he's very influential there...

http://www.cimbbank.com.sg/index.php?ch=sg...er_st_cur&ac=12

Seems that they reduced the interest rate to 0.8% for new accounts now. Still multiple times better than the 0.05% that I'm currently getting at DBS though


credit card points are crappy anyway, lol. plus now manhattan card reduce their cashback from 5% to 3% (but you still need big 3k+ spending in that month to qualify). e$saver 1.2% ... how?

http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/person...dex.html#faqb01

e$aver Deposit Interest Rate (With effect from 1 Jan 2012)
Deposit Balance Interest Rate
Less than S$50,000 0.10 % p.a.
S$50,000 to S$199,999 0.15 % p.a.
S$200,000 & above 0.25 % p.a.

This post has been edited by deodorant: Jul 15 2013, 09:36 AM

the problem is spending 500 every month for me.
starhub bills (my wife and I) + pub does not reach 500 per month.
dun really enjoy paying insurance premiums by month
so i went with cimb.

in m'sia, i have my maybank (for easy access) and citibank (main acc as my family uses citibank)
in sg, i have my posb (for salary), citibank (well, used to be for savings before having CIMB but still maintaining) and cimb.
i went to the cimb at orchard, bside paragorn.
service is a bit screwed up....needed to go twice to open an account and the time i spend there was quite long.
but at least, it opens 7 days a week.

My wife applied a long term visit pass (LTVP) for her mom a couple of months ago. After the application was submitted online, we had to wait for 3 weeks before the approval-in-principle was obtained, and another 3 weeks for the ICA appointment. She got a 3 year pass.

Last week my mom came to SG and so I applied the same for her on the day she arrived in SG. Surprisingly I received an email the next day informing me that the "application is being considered" and we were asked to go to ICA personally on the following day! (the e-appointment was automatically scheduled for us)

Since we did not expect it to be so soon, I rescheduled the appointment to a few days later to prepare all the documents required. The appointment is tomorrow morning so i gotta take a couple hours of time off. Strangely my mom was also not asked to do any medical checkup (my MIL had to).

Hopefully the pass can be approved tomorrow.
I am really not sure why the process is so different for the 2 moms.

received my tax assessment via post today. this time ade 30% rebate much lesser monthly deductible for the coming months

The scope is kinda wide, from LC opening, checking to payment. This is the reason i took this job.
I only have two years experience previously from bills payment function.
The certification is it CDCS you mean? I haven't got that
You from the related field?

Hi guys...i would like to get a singapore driving license...However, i understand that after getting a singapore licence, JPJ malaysia will then automatically revoke your malaysia driving license..

how will this affect me if i should decide to go back Malaysia permanently? will i nid to retake Malaysia license again or no nid? I also understand Singapore driving license is a lifetime validity after fulfilling certain requirement...

It seems different JPJ officer gives different answer.
The Penang Batu Uban branch officer told me as long as I can produce evidence that I cancelled my SG license, I can renew my Malaysia driving license (at JPJ office) without the need to retake exams.

wow just change, 2.50 now

I am not good at finance and I tend to spend more (or give parent, relatives more) if I have more cash in account. So I spend almost everything each month. Other than the basic needs, the rest goes to insurance policies and flexi loan payment. If I really need emergency cash, I can draw out from insurance cash back and flexi loan. I think the interest that I 'saved' is more than 1.88%.

When flexi loan account equal to my loan account I will leave it there to deduct slowly. Buy fund with extra cash.

Wah change at where? Flying back tomorrow need to change some rm. Thanks.