SINGAPOREANS ARE JUST COMPETING WITH EACH OTHER TO BE CHEAPER

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Someone wrote an email to us sharing how despite studying in an elite school and graduating from our world class uni she is still jobless. She holds a BA without honours. Her article will be out soon.

So is having a degree now no more an automatic passageway to a good job these days?

During my time, when you have a degree from the local uni or abroad, people envy you and your life seems blessed and smooth.

Nowadays, there are all kinds of degrees and some of the private ones are unrecognised by our civil service.

For example, someone told me she only got a job offer of $1800 as her degree is from SIM whereas her colleagues with degrees from the local uni got better starting pay. So does that mean SIM degrees are not as valuable as those from the local uni?

Moreover, I have seen many people with world renowned degrees going jobless for long period when they are in their 40s and some even have expensive MBAs.

Some even remove their MBAs or degrees from their resume while out looking for jobs for fear that they are over qualified for certain position.

We have heard of a classic case here whereby a SMU graduate removed her degree qualification from her resume and got the job with NEA just by applying it with her poly diploma. When she include in her degree previously there was no reply.

So is having a degree these days a handicap if you are jobless or applying for a job that does not require one

What about those foreigners coming in with their third world degrees? Are they better or worse off than us? Do employers now just look at the cost and prefer to hire a cheaper foreigner with a dubious looking degree than pay more and hire one of our own local kind?



Gilbert Goh

*The author is the president of Transitioning.org and is one of the most influential activists around in Singapore.