What it takes for fresh grads to land a job

(From left) Fresh graduates Gan Yi Lin, Muhammad Naufal Nasran and Muhammad Irfan Djuanda.

ST PHOTOS: KEVIN LIM, JASON QUAH

Published Oct 24, 2026, 08:15 AM

Updated Oct 24, 2026, 08:15 AM

Fresh graduates face a tougher job market, with fewer entry-level roles and more temporary work.

Gan Yi Lin used long internships and many job searches to land a marketing-related role.

Muhammad Irfan Djuanda and Muhammad Naufal Nasran also started early, learned from rejections and kept upskilling.

SINGAPORE – Landing a first job has become an increasingly uphill task for fresh university graduates navigating today’s economic landscape.

Amid global uncertainty, employers facing tighter budgets and evolving skill requirements are becoming more cautious in their hiring. Meanwhile, technological disruption has resulted in entry-level roles shrinking across multiple sectors , prompting Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to say recently that the Government is concerned the bottom rung of the career ladder is broken .

The graduate employment survey released in March showed that full-time employment rates have dropped, with 74.4% of graduates securing full-time positions in 2025, down from 79.4% in 2024.

The proportion of graduates actively seeking work or settling for temporary, contract or part-time positions continues to climb.

A higher proportion of graduates applied for jobs but received no offers in 2025, compared with the previous two years, rising to 8.5% from 5.7% in 2024 and 4.1% in 2023.

To stand out in this competitive environment, undergraduates are taking extraordinary measures.

Many begin their job search well before their final semester, submit dozens of applications and pursue consecutive internships to build a strong resume. Others opt for post-graduation traineeships or pivot across industries to secure a foothold in the workforce.

Three recent graduates share how they navigate the tough job market – through persistence, strategic networking, continuous upskilling and a willingness to adapt.

Internship by day, university classes by night

For 1½ years before her graduation in October , Gan Yi Lin, 25, juggled a daytime internship with evening classes.

The marketing graduate from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) opted for night classes, switching from the day classes with which she had started her four-year course, so she could pursue full-time internships during the day.

Gan Yi Lin, 25, juggled daytime internships and evening classes to gain work experience. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Gan Yi Lin, 25, juggled daytime internships and evening classes to gain work experience.

She would work from 9am to 6pm, first at DBS Bank for six months, then at Temasek Trust for five months. Temasek Trust manages philanthropic assets from Temasek Holdings and other donors.

After work, she went home to attend online classes from 7pm to 10pm, three or four times a week.

“On the days when I had assignments due and had to work full days, it got quite crazy and intense,” says Gan, who also has a marketing diploma from Temasek Polytechnic.

What kicked off this “internship marathon”, as she describes it, was a university internship stint from January to June 2025 at Globish Academia, an educational company in Bangkok, where she realised she lacked practical experience.

“There were many times I felt that I had delivered good work, but when feedback came in, the comments were angles that I did not even consider. I realised I was lacking and wanted to be better,” she says.

For example, when she helped to prepare marketing materials for an English course for Thais , her supervisor pointed out that the language used was too complex for her target audience. “It was common sense, but I never thought of it. I did not consider that my target audience was not that fluent in English,” she says.

She explains that doing consecutive internships was partly to beef up her resume and partly driven by FOMO (fear of missing out).

She was motivated by fellow interns she met when she returned to Singapore.

“They were very capable and did well at their jobs. They knew exactly what was expected of them and that inspired me,” she says. “I want to be a problem-solver, to be the person who can think of different solutions when there is an issue,” she adds.

In April, weeks before her last assignment submission and the end of her course, she started applying for jobs, sending out 70 applications over the next four months.

When she did not get offers, she pivoted to other sectors and diversified the types of companies she applied to, sending out 10 to 15 applications daily.

She also tried for a cabin crew role with Singapore Airlines and got an offer in May. But she eventually decided to give herself more time to secure a marketing-related role.

Her persistence paid off in July when a recruiter found her resume on online job portal MyCareersFuture and invited her to apply for an operations executive role at a ride-hailing company. After two interviews, she received an offer and started work in August.

Three months into her job, Gan says she is enjoying her work and feels grateful for the real-world skills developed during her internships.

“I realised what you study and what happens in the real business world are different. More than creating campaigns, marketing is soft skills-centric, creating connections with people you work with,” she says. “Building these soft skills is important and has helped with my full-time role.”

A head start in job applications pays off

Muhammad Irfan Djuanda, 25, began attending career fairs in his second year of university when he was searching for internships.

Starting early gave the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) graduate a competitive edge, allowing him to understand recruitment timelines and employer expectation.

“I took the opportunity to ask about interview processes and application timelines so that I would not miss any opportunities,” he says.

Muhammad Irfan Djuanda, 25, applied to around 50 jobs and took seven months to secure his first job. ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH

Muhammad Irfan Djuanda, 25, applied to around 50 jobs and took seven months to secure his first job.

ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH

As a result, Irfan, who studied engineering systems and design, started applying for full-time jobs in September 2025, even though he was due to complete his university course seven months later.

“I found out that many of these applications start in September and are reviewed on a rolling basis. So, I wanted to apply early because once the positions are filled, they would not consider any more candidates,” he says, adding that he expected the search to be lengthy and unpredictable.

Irfan says he applied for 50 jobs and received 15 e-mail rejections, with no response from most of the others.

After the first rejections started coming in, he became discouraged and paused his search. “It took me one to two weeks to recover from it because I didn’t want to face the prospect of a rejection again,” he says.

He decided to change his mindset and treat every rejection as a learning opportunity and every interview as a training ground.

After each interview, he would reflect on his performance and identify areas for improvement.

Over time, he compiled a question bank to prepare for future interviews. “I noticed that the questions were similar. The structure may be different, but the answers they want to get out of it are the same,” he says.

For instance, he prepared for questions like “How did these projects help you?”, “What skills did you pick up?” and “What did you learn from these projects?”

“That really helped me because with every interview that I went for, I gained confidence and performed better,” he says.

Alongside full-time roles, he applied for internships as a contingency plan post-graduation.

“I believe gaining practical experience is important in preparing for the working world, rather than sitting idle waiting for the next job application window,” says Irfan, adding that the two internships he took on – in the building technology and banking industries – which lasted four months each, helped hone his soft skills, particularly stakeholder management.

His efforts paid off. In April, before he graduated, he got two job offers – from a statutory board and a private company. He accepted the statutory board’s offer and started working in August as a product manager.

He is not resting on his laurels, continuing to upskill by attending courses in project management, critical thinking and cybersecurity.

“Continuous learning helps me work more effectively with stakeholders and make informed decisions to ensure that the product meets users’ needs,” he says.

Search for a job continues after traineeships end

In September 2025, Muhammad Naufal Nasran started an eight-month internship with airline alliance Star Alliance as part of his university coursework.

Naufal, who studied air transport management at Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), was attached to the company’s loyalty department, where he supported day-to-day stakeholder management.

Muhammad Naufal Nasran, 26, completed two traineeships with Star Alliance, but could not get a full-time job there. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Muhammad Naufal Nasran, 26, completed two traineeships with Star Alliance, but could not get a full-time job there.

He described the attachment as a positive experience, with strong mentorship and opportunities to develop his presentation, data-analysis and project-management skills.

“I worked together with the member airlines and their respective frequent flier programme teams to ensure operational standards are met for a smoother customer experience for passengers travelling within the alliance,” says the 26-year-old.

Naufal felt that he learnt beyond what was taught in the curriculum. “In school, we cover modules like airline business or airport operations, but not much about alliances per se. So this was a good step to broaden my horizons,” he says.

Appreciating the work culture, he had hoped to secure permanent employment at Star Alliance. “They treat us as mentees rather than interns, offering guidance and supporting our professional development,” he says.

Although he hoped to convert his placement into a full-time position upon graduating in October, he was unable to do so.

To stay with the company, he inquired about traineeship opportunities and secured a five-month stint in the customer experience team, gaining exposure to airport and transfer operations.

Despite navigating complex technical systems and terminology, he says support from the team helped him to contribute meaningfully.

The new placement connected his previous work in the loyalty department with the airport and transfer team, providing a broader picture of the passenger journey.

When asked why he chose a second traineeship within Star Alliance rather than search for a permanent job elsewhere, he says: “I was determined to convert to full-time because I feel I had guidance and mentorship here.”

Towards the end of his traineeship, there was an opening for a full-time project manager role. He interviewed for it, but the position went to a candidate with more experience.

“I was disappointed, but I learnt that experience does matter. So it is up to me t o learn continuously ,” he says.

Naufal is now looking into courses on dataset creation, dashboard development and project management certification.

He has expanded his job applications across the aviation industry, but may include supply chain and management jobs down the road.

He remains optimistic, even though conversations with friends and family have given him some perspective on how challenging the job market can be. “Hearing about people sending out more than 100 applications, but receiving only a handful of interview invitations has made me realise that the process may take time,” he says.

He is trying to focus on what he can control, such as improving his resume, tailoring each application to the job description and looking for roles that match his interests and strengths.

“I believe everyone has his or her own timeline, and there is no single path that everyone has to follow,” he says.

Jane Ng is a senior correspondent who covers parenting, education and lifestyle stories. She writes a regular column, Minor Issues, where she mulls over her parenting dilemmas.

Employment Claims Tribunals

Universities - Singapore

SIT/Singapore Institute of Technology

（左起）应届毕业生 Gan Yi Lin、Muhammad Naufal Nasran 和 Muhammad Irfan Djuanda。

ST 照片：KEVIN LIM、JASON QUAH

发布于 2026 年 10 月 24 日上午 8:15

更新于2026年10月24日上午8:15

应届毕业生面临着更加严峻的就业市场，入门级职位减少，临时工作增多。

甘宜琳通过长时间的实习和多次求职，最终找到了一份与市场营销相关的工作。

Muhammad Irfan Djuanda 和 Muhammad Naufal Nasran 也很早就开始工作，从拒绝中吸取教训并不断提高技能。

新加坡——在当今的经济环境下，对于刚毕业的大学生来说，找到第一份工作变得越来越困难。

在全球经济形势不明朗的背景下，面临预算紧缩和技能需求不断变化的雇主在招聘方面变得更加谨慎。与此同时，技术变革导致多个行业的入门级职位数量减少，促使总理黄循财近日表示，政府担忧职业阶梯的底层结构遭到破坏。

3 月份发布的毕业生就业调查显示，全职就业率有所下降，2025 年毕业生获得全职工作的比例为 74.4%，低于 2024 年的 79.4%。

积极寻找工作或接受临时工、合同工或兼职工作的毕业生比例持续攀升。

与前两年相比，2025 年申请工作但未获得录用通知的毕业生比例更高，从 2024 年的 5.7% 和 2023 年的 4.1% 上升到 8.5%。

为了在竞争激烈的环境中脱颖而出，大学生们正在采取非常规的措施。

许多学生在大学最后一个学期之前就开始找工作，投递数十份简历，并连续实习以打造一份出色的简历。另一些学生则选择毕业后的培训项目，或者跨行业发展，以在职场站稳脚跟。

三位应届毕业生分享了他们如何应对严峻的就业市场——通过坚持不懈、建立战略性的人脉网络、不断提升技能和愿意适应变化。

白天实习，晚上上大学课

25岁的甘怡琳在10月份毕业前的1年半时间里，白天实习，晚上上课。

这位毕业于新加坡社会科学大学 (SUSS) 的市场营销专业毕业生选择了夜间课程，放弃了她最初四年课程中的白天课程，这样她就可以在白天进行全职实习。

25岁的甘怡琳白天实习，晚上上课，以此积累工作经验。（海峡时报照片：KEVIN LIM）

25岁的甘怡琳白天实习，晚上上课，以此积累工作经验。

她每天朝九晚六工作，先是在星展银行工作了六个月，然后在淡马锡信托工作了五个月。淡马锡信托管理着来自淡马锡控股和其他捐赠者的慈善资产。

下班后，她每周三到四次回家，从晚上 7 点到 10 点参加在线课程。

“在那些我需要完成作业并且要工作一整天的日子里，情况会变得非常疯狂和紧张，” Gan说道，他还有淡马锡理工学院的市场营销文凭。

正如她所描述的，这场“实习马拉松”的开端是她在 2025 年 1 月至 6 月期间在曼谷的教育公司 Globish Academia 进行的一次大学实习，在那里她意识到自己缺乏实践经验。

“很多时候我都觉得自己的工作做得不错，但收到反馈后，我发现有些评论的角度是我完全没有考虑到的。我意识到自己还有不足，想要做得更好，”她说。

例如，当她协助准备面向泰国人的英语课程的宣传材料时，她的主管指出，所用语言对目标受众来说过于复杂。“这明明是常识，但我却从未想到。我没有考虑到我的目标受众英语水平并不流利，”她说。

她解释说，连续实习一部分是为了丰富她的简历，一部分是出于害怕错过机会的心理。

她回到新加坡后，受到了遇到的其他实习生的激励。

“他们能力很强，工作也做得很好。他们清楚地知道自己该做什么，这激励了我，”她说。“我想成为一个解决问题的人，一个遇到问题时能想到不同解决方案的人，”她补充道。

四月份，在她提交最后一份作业和课程结束前的几周，她开始申请工作，在接下来的四个月里发出了 70 份申请。

当她没有收到录用通知时，她转向其他行业，并扩大了申请公司的类型，每天发出 10 到 15 份申请。

她也曾尝试应聘新加坡航空公司的空乘职位，并在五月份获得了录用通知。但她最终决定给自己更多时间，寻找一份与市场营销相关的工作。

她的坚持在7月份得到了回报。当时，一位招聘人员在求职网站MyCareersFuture上看到了她的简历，并邀请她申请一家网约车公司的运营主管职位。经过两轮面试，她收到了录用通知，并于8月份入职。

甘女士入职三个月后表示，她很喜欢这份工作，并对实习期间培养的实际技能表示感激。

“我意识到，我所学的知识和真实的商业世界并不相同。营销不仅仅是策划营销活动，它更注重软技能，在于与同事建立联系，”她说道。“培养这些软技能非常重要，也对我的全职工作大有裨益。”

在求职申请中抢占先机是有回报的

25岁的穆罕默德·伊尔凡·朱安达在大学二年级时开始参加招聘会，当时他正在寻找实习机会。

早早开始求职让这位新加坡科技设计大学 (SUTD) 的毕业生获得了竞争优势，使他能够了解招聘时间表和雇主的期望。

“我借此机会询问了面试流程和申请时间表，以免错过任何机会，”他说。

25岁的穆罕默德·伊尔凡·朱安达（Muhammad Irfan Djuanda）投递了约50份简历，花了七个月才找到第一份工作。（海峡时报摄影：JASON QUAH）

25 岁的穆罕默德·伊尔凡·朱安达 (Muhammad Irfan Djuanda) 申请了大约 50 个职位，花了七个月的时间才找到第一份工作。

《海峡时报》摄影：JASON QUAH

因此，学习工程系统和设计的伊尔凡从 2025 年 9 月就开始申请全职工作，尽管他原本还要 7 个月才能完成大学课程。

“我发现很多这类申请从九月份就开始了，而且是滚动审核的。所以我想早点申请，因为一旦职位招满了，他们就不会再考虑其他候选人了，”他说道，并补充说他预计招聘过程会很漫长而且难以预测。

伊尔凡说他申请了 50 份工作，收到了 15 封电子邮件拒绝信，其余大部分工作都没有回复。

在收到第一批拒绝信后，他感到灰心丧气，暂停了求职。“我花了一到两周的时间才缓过来，因为我不想再次面对被拒绝的可能，”他说。

他决定改变心态，把每一次拒绝都当作学习的机会，把每一次面试都当作训练场。

每次面试结束后，他都会反思自己的表现，并找出需要改进的地方。

随着时间的推移，他整理了一份题库，为未来的面试做准备。“我注意到面试问题都很相似。虽然结构可能不同，但他们想要得到的答案却是一样的。”他说。

例如，他准备回答诸如“这些项目对你有什么帮助？”、“你从中获得了哪些技能？”以及“你从这些项目中学到了什么？”之类的问题。

“这真的对我的帮助很大，因为每次面试我都更有信心，表现也更好，”他说。

除了全职工作之外，他还申请了实习机会，作为毕业后的备选方案。

“我认为，与其坐等下一个求职窗口，不如积累实践经验，这对进入职场至关重要，”伊尔凡说道。他还补充说，他曾在建筑技术和银行业实习过两次，每次为期四个月，这有助于提升他的软技能，尤其是利益相关者管理能力。

他的努力得到了回报。四月份，在他毕业前，他收到了两份工作邀请——一份来自一家法定机构，一份来自一家私营公司。他接受了法定机构的邀请，并于八月份开始担任产品经理。

他并没有止步于已取得的成就，而是继续通过参加项目管理、批判性思维和网络安全课程来提升自己的技能。

他说：“持续学习帮助我更有效地与利益相关者合作，并做出明智的决策，以确保产品满足用户的需求。”

实习期结束后，求职之路仍将继续。

2025 年 9 月，穆罕默德·瑙法尔·纳斯兰作为大学课程的一部分，开始了在星空联盟航空公司为期八个月的实习。

曾在新加坡理工大学 (SIT) 学习航空运输管理的瑙法尔被分配到该公司的客户忠诚度部门，负责日常的利益相关者管理工作。

26岁的穆罕默德·瑙法尔·纳斯兰曾在星空联盟完成两期实习培训，但未能获得全职工作。（海峡时报照片：凯文·林）

26 岁的穆罕默德·瑙法尔·纳斯兰 (Muhammad Naufal Nasran) 完成了星空联盟的两项培训，但未能获得一份全职工作。

他将这次实习经历描述为一次积极的经历，实习期间他得到了很好的指导，并有机会发展他的演讲、数据分析和项目管理技能。

这位 26 岁的年轻人说：“我与成员航空公司及其各自的常旅客计划团队合作，以确保运营标准得到满足，从而为联盟内旅客提供更顺畅的客户体验。”

瑙法尔觉得他学到的东西远超课程大纲。“在学校里，我们学习航空业务或机场运营之类的模块，但很少接触到联盟本身。所以这次经历很好地拓展了我的视野，”他说。

他很欣赏星空联盟的工作文化，希望能在那里获得一份正式工作。“他们把我们当作学员而不是实习生，为我们提供指导，支持我们的职业发展，”他说。

虽然他希望在十月份毕业后将实习转为全职工作，但他未能如愿。

为了留在公司，他询问了实习机会，并在客户体验团队获得了五个月的实习机会，从而接触到了机场和接送业务。

尽管需要应对复杂的技术系统和术语，但他表示，团队的支持帮助他做出了有意义的贡献。

新的岗位安排将他之前在客户忠诚度部门的工作与机场和转机团队联系起来，从而更全面地了解乘客的旅程。

当被问及为什么选择在星空联盟内部进行第二次培训而不是在其他地方寻找永久职位时，他说：“我决心转为全职员工，因为我觉得我在这里得到了指导和辅导。”

在他实习期即将结束时，公司出现了一个全职项目经​​理的空缺。他去面试了，但最终这个职位给了另一位经验更丰富的候选人。

“我当时很失望，但我明白了经验的重要性。所以，我必须不断学习，”他说。

Naufal 目前正在研究数据集创建、仪表盘开发和项目管理认证方面的课程。

他已将求职申请范围扩大到整个航空业，未来可能还会申请供应链和管理方面的工作。

尽管与亲朋好友的交流让他对就业市场的挑战有了更深刻的认识，但他依然保持乐观。“听说有人投递了100多份简历，却只收到寥寥几个面试邀请，这让我意识到求职过程可能需要时间，”他说。

他正努力专注于自己能够控制的事情，例如改进简历、根据职位描述量身定制每份申请，以及寻找符合自己兴趣和优势的职位。

“我相信每个人都有自己的人生时间表，没有一条所有人都必须遵循的道路，”他说。

Jane Ng是一位资深记者，主要报道育儿、教育和生活方式方面的故事。她定期撰写专栏“小问题”，在专栏中探讨她遇到的育儿难题。

就业索赔法庭

新加坡大学

新加坡理工学院