Went for many myself during the 10 months I was jobless. Most were expecting me to lower my pay (25-30%) and believe me I'm not a high earner. I paid up my car because I saved hard. 20% was already a lot I was going to cut off, but they wanted more, they don't care if I was experienced or ideal for the role.

I gave up after a while, just continued to look and at the same time, did temp job as I prior posted. Once all these 'cheap' roles are filled up, they will look for the others and expect differently.

That said, I finally landed a job. I had 3 jobs which was close in clinching, 1 had 5 interviews, which at the 4th, the ang moh was condescending and I didn't feel like completing the interview and ended there. The other had 3, which I completed successfully but I guess price was the deciding factor as during the first interview HR already asked if my asking can be lower. The boss also mentioned will short list me for the final, it's been, 4 weeks, I guess they already chose others.

The last one, 1 interview, chop chop, boss ok. At night offer already. Signed in 3 days and started in 7.

Perseverance, I guess. It's not that I am aiming a luxury life that I don't want to lower my asking. It's that the next job always looks at your last drawn, not experience. That's the sad thing in singapore - "paying 9-10K" but you meet their expectations at 100% or more, it happens, else, 4-5K only.

For fresh grad, go low, suffer 1 year - that's all I'm asking. Get that 1 year experience, jump and rise.

Market is bad or so I'm told, sometimes we all need to give in a bit. I took a pay cut back to my previous (not last) job. Overall however, package wins the last & previous job. So, I'm not complaining.