The Big Read in short: Protracted Covid-19 crisis forces some youths to put dreams on the backburner

Each week, TODAY’s long-running Big Read series delves into the trends and issues that matter. This week, we look at the impact of the prolonged pandemic on recent graduates’ job prospects. This is a shortened version of the full feature,​ which can be found here.

• S’pore’s youth unemployment rate was 10.6 per cent in 2020, higher than previous economic downturns
• Youths whom TODAY spoke to had mixed experiences with traineeships
• Economists say that traineeships can help youths gain experience, but challenge for policymakers is to create permanent job roles 
• While the job market is recovering, it could be hard to stand out among a congested pool of jobseekers
• HR experts urge youth jobseekers to be flexible and open to learning about different industries

SINGAPORE — Eager to carve a career in the performing arts, Ms Lili Muslihah had ended her stint with a theatre company in February last year to go freelance — a common route for many in the industry.

“Right after I resigned, the whole situation just unravelled, all the (performing arts) events were cancelled,” said the 27-year-old, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic, which had spread its tentacles here, infecting hundreds and then thousands, and causing havoc to the Singapore economy.

Ms Lili, who graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama at the University of London with a degree in theatre practice in December 2019, took up a gig as a food delivery rider during the two-month circuit breaker period, which began in early April last year.

At first, she hoped she could tide out the worst of the pandemic, but after delivering food for 10 months, she realised that this would not be possible.

Pursuing a performing arts career in Singapore is challenging enough in normal times. What more during what has been dubbed a once-in-a-generation crisis?

Amid the long drawn-out pandemic, the realisation eventually hit Ms Lili, who began to look for a job outside the industry in January, applying for over 100 job openings on various career portals.

It was only in May when she finally received an offer from an industry she had never expected to be in — education. She now teaches English part-time at a tuition centre, earning about S$1,000 a month.

Ms Lili’s story of broken dreams and difficult job search is not uncommon among young jobseekers as Singapore’s economy tries to chart its path in a pandemic-forced new normal.

According to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) latest labour market report for the first quarter of this year, the youth unemployment rate was 10.6 per cent in 2020, when Singapore experienced its worst recession since its independence in 1965.

The figure is higher compared to previous economic downturns — 8.8 per cent during the 2009 Global Financial Crisis, and 9.3 per cent during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) pandemic.

A youth is defined by the ministry as a person aged 15 to 24. TODAY’s interviews with those in the age group as well as recent graduates aged slightly older found that the latter are in a similar predicament.

Like Ms Lili, many of those interviewed had struggled to look for employment. And even though the economy and job market are expected to recover this year, jobseekers from the class of 2020 now find themselves having to compete with the graduating cohort this year. 

Nevertheless, some of those who graduated last year said they were grateful for the traineeship programmes that had been offered to them, since these allowed them to upskill and in some cases, even led to conversion to full-time roles.

TRAINEESHIP WOES AND TRIUMPHS

A graduate who wanted to be known only as Walter had been taking on performing arts roles on a freelance basis, such as providing support at live performances. But like Ms Lili, his lifeline was cut when the industry ground to a halt due to Covid-19.

The 28-year-old graduated from a local university in 2019 with a degree in the arts, and had to work as a food delivery rider during the circuit breaker period. He searched for opportunities at the same time, and found a traineeship with a tech start-up under the SGUnited Traineeships Programme.

The government-funded programme — part of a slew of measures to cushion the pandemic’s impact on the job market — is meant to help fresh graduates develop industry-relevant skills, and they also receive a monthly training allowance.

Walter’s traineeship started in October, and he was tasked with marketing the company’s products, which included managing its social media presence. This was a “360-degree turn” from the industry he had set his sights on before the pandemic.

Walter said that his company did not have a structured training programme, and that he was “thrown into the deep end”, as it was a new role created just for him.

“What I’m surmising is that the firm decided to take full advantage of the programme and tried to open up a position and see if anything comes out of it,” he said. While the programme is a 12-month stint, he has no intention to convert full-time, even if offered.

Walter did not want to reveal his real name as he has not told his employer about his plans to leave the firm.

But there are others who have reaped the benefits of the traineeships.

Mr Andrew Lee, who was featured last year as part of TODAY’s Big Read on the national traineeship programme, had worked for almost a year in his traineeship at logistics and warehousing firm Yang Kee Logistics when he received the good news — that he would be converted to a full-time software developer executive.

“My (initial) thoughts were that software development will be stressful and very fast-paced and I would not have any work-life balance,” the 24-year-old told TODAY earlier this week.

But his traineeship at the firm has proven otherwise. “I’m quite happy as I’m quite comfortable here, and it isn’t so stressful,” Mr Lee said.

The polytechnic graduate said that he had decided even before graduation that he wanted to do software development, but was not sure which industry to enter.

“For coding, I could go anywhere, so I did not have a specific industry in mind such as banking or logistics, I felt like anything would do,” he said. “During this time, you can’t be picky.”

In response to TODAY’s queries, Workforce Singapore (WSG) said that as of April, about 9,200 had joined the SGUnited Traineeships Programme, and that most of these traineeships are still ongoing.

Of the figure, over 680 graduates had been offered full-time conversions with their host organisations, or had found full-time employment elsewhere.

Economists said that while the unemployment numbers during last year’s recession seemed only slightly higher than the previous downturns, this was partly because many youths had taken on temporary positions, many of which were created under government-initiated schemes, such as the SGUnited Traineeships Programme.

In its latest labour market report, MOM said that four in 10 youths in employment were in temporary or contract jobs, and were mostly students who were working on the side.

“In previous recessions, we didn't have the SGUnited Traineeships Programme, and the unemployment rate stood at 9-odd per cent,” said DBS Bank senior economist Irvin Seah.

“(Now) even with the traineeship programme and employment-focused policy measures, the unemployment rate has still hit 10 per cent.

He added that this is only “marginally higher” with these government measures.

“The key question is how are we able to create more permanent roles, and that is the biggest challenge for policymakers today,” he said.

ENTERING A CRISIS-HIT WORKING WORLD

As the economic outlook remains murky, and with the pandemic forcing many companies to rethink their business models — all of which will have an impact in terms of jobs availability and salaries offered — some fresh graduates from this year’s cohort have had to go back to the drawing board when it comes to their job search.

For Mr Muhd Izzdanial, he had found a liking for nature during a final semester internship in the first half of this year with the National Parks Board (NParks).

During the internship, the Nanyang Technological University biological sciences graduate was tasked to organise workshops for youths interested in the biodiversity here, heading out on field trips to nature parks around Singapore.

The 24-year-old also volunteered at butterfly-watching events organised by NParks, among other responsibilities.

“During this job, I began to know more about animals in Singapore and I can name most of them,” he said.

A full-time stint with NParks is one of about 40 job openings that he has applied for since he started his job search this month.

Mr Izzdanial is also open to other industries, such as data engineering or as a laboratory scientist, both of which are more related to his degree.

“(I’m willing to work in) whatever industry to get through this and earn a salary, until I find a better suited role,” he said.

He said his ideal job would involve nature advocacy — teaching members of the public about the biodiversity here.

Apart from getting a job, some fresh graduates are also concerned whether employers will lowball them and “take advantage” of the pandemic to get a good deal.

Melissa (not her real name), who graduated in May with a finance degree from a local university, had initially hoped to be recruited for a data analyst role in the finance industry.

However, the 22-year-old was unable to get her desired job despite making over 400 applications in the months before she graduated.

She suffers from one disadvantage: She lacks the experience that graduates from the past year’s batch, all vying for the same jobs, have.

“Last year, there were also traineeships, so we are also competing with (last year’s graduates) for full-time roles,” she said.

Instead, Melissa found a data analyst role in a different industry. As she was not familiar with the industry, she had quoted a low starting salary, which the firm accepted.

“I then realised what the industry value (for starting salaries) was, but they were not willing to change the terms.”

At the same time, Melissa was accepted into a part-time Masters programme in analytics at another local university, which she decided to pursue in the hope the pandemic would be over by the time she completed her studies.

Upon accepting the offer, she quit her job at the firm early this month (June), after working for only one day, as she “didn’t want to waste the company’s time”.

She did not want to give her real name, nor reveal the industry she had briefly joined, as she did not want to be identified by her former employer.

“I think it is an ethical issue, if it’s a pandemic and we give in and accept a lower pay, when the pandemic is over, the company will tag their salary to your previous salary, and employers won’t understand that your pay was lower because of the pandemic,” Melissa said.

ADVICE FROM HR EXPERTS

Given that the pandemic has now affected a second batch of graduates, it is up to those who graduated earlier but have still not secured full-time employment to find ways to stand out from the crowd, human resource (HR) experts told TODAY.

Mr Adrian Choo, founder of career consulting company Career Agility International, said that it is important for job-seeking graduates to learn more about the industries that they are interested in.

“Be proactive, reach out to talk to people (in the industries), talk to target companies, there’s also always online courses,” he said.

He added that unless a person has studied in a specialised field, such as in a pilot school or medicine, for the most part the degree he/she has obtained will have a “low relevance” to the industry he/she enters eventually.

“Employers want to see the potential, the promise, and in the long run, they want people who can bring potential to the company,” he said. “You have to show me that you have been learning, that you are capable of performing.”

Veteran HR practitioner Carmen Wee said that graduates during this period should not fixate on their “dream” industries if these have been impacted by the pandemic. Instead, they should be flexible and look for opportunities in adjacent fields.

“Those in aviation, tourism, hospitality... they may need to find adjacent skills, move into industries that make use of their skills,” said Ms Wee.

For example, those in the hospitality industry could find work in other industries such as the food and beverage sector which are looking for people with customer service skills.

She added that fresh graduates should take up whatever jobs they can during this period to gain some base experience, as they may not have much leverage over prospective employers as they still lack the skills.

“If these graduates have the skills the market really wants, they would be snapped up by now,” Ms Wee said. “Even if it’s a junior position, you need to start from somewhere.”