Originally Posted by Unregistered

Nope I'm a recruiter and I have seen this happening again & again in SG.

I'm not talking about some elite management or graduate program offered here, I am talking about normal Finance/Account/Analyst Executive jobs that can be found in the civil service, stat board, GLC, local blue chips and MNC.

These organizations are not looking for elites, they are just need average/mediocre local degree grads, but reality is that there is a big shortage as a result of this blind rush among many students to "pay tuition fees" in Big4 for the first few years.

The joke is that many of these normal business students with local uni qualifications would have had the same or even higher pay while working lesser hours if they had just joined these organizations straight instead of wasting time pursuing some nebulous concept of "decorating" the CV with a prestigious Big4 or having misconceptions that they will be appreciated in the future for having "wide" exposures and rubbing shoulders with "high finance".

I just closed an opening last week with a British MNC looking for someone to do basic accounts analysis & reporting work. They were prepared to offer local uni grads either fresh or 1-2 years exp in a Big 4. I contacted many Big4 grunts who left school not too long ago, but as usual they were just so hung up about needing to spend first 5 years in Big4 to make it big that they weren't even willing to consider despite this MNC is really very well known for work life balance and good benefits.

In the end a Malaysian guy with a few years exp in a SME manage to get it due to lack of competition. The offer is really good and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up doing better than your typical Big 4 local in the future.

Like I say, foolish and ignorant, many of our local uni grads. As a local I see also heart pain, but nothing I can do also.