A pass UOL business degree, fresh grad, 2.7k start, perm role in telecomm industry consider ok?

any uol students here managed to find an internship at a bank?

i went to GS for interview last month but unfortunately wasn't chosen

Foreign banks got so big because of excessive leverage, fraud, manipulation, market rigging, money laundering, just do any simple google search and you can find easily all he adverse news as mentioned. Due to lobbying, giving political incentives to push for agenda like the gramm leach bliley.
Go find a job in local bank. Highest capital, traditional lending operations. Once these foreign banks selling their operations in Asia, as seen in stanchart and rbs example. Local banks will have higher advantages to reach out to the next great empire, china!

But that's where all the good money is made!

i did apply to local banks too, yeah it's true that they have a wider variety of positions. dbs had so many that i ended up being confused

Don't just come in and type nonsense please. I know of graduates from SIM-UOL being hired by UOB and KPMG.
What an idiot.

Seriously, we all know their career progression is limited in the banking industry. They are frowned upon there. This is a fact. They will be hired by banks and other financial firms but may receive a lower pay than their local counterparts

^looks like this loser got pawned by some sim guy at work, so can only go online forum to rant

You obviously are not in the finance industry. And China's growth has slowed down to a minimal since 3 years ago.

Got pwned and promoted ahead of him, rank higher, pay much higher. Haha

Typical mainstream presstitute brainwashed "intellectual". Ang moh da best!

Good
 

Its good offer. I have a 3rd class honors and was offered 2.3k from one of the largest accounting firms. I will grab it with both hands if I was in your shoes. Do you have any prior exp?

They may receive a lower pay at first but the rest all depends on their work performance and attitude. If a local grad with "higher starting pay" performed badly as compared to a sim grad with "lower starting pay", who do you think will progress better 10 years down the road? Those local grad who thinks that they are so much superior and yaya papaya everyday in forums bashing other sim grads only shows that they are lacking confidence and need to put down others in order to make themselves feel better. They won't be able to make it big in the real world. The rest who are humble and low profiles are the ones who will be respected and make it big in the real world.

Judging from this post, this idiot must be from one of the local Uni who have not seen the real world yet. i have heard of a smu law student giving out flyers to residents at sentosa cove hoping to get sponsorship for a car which he cannot afford. This is based on a true story published on the news and unlike some stories fabricated by local uni grads about those "lucky" sim grads pouring coffee in accounting firms and sucking dicks to get high paid jobs. Can't imagine our so called "elites" in local uni are writing dumb posts on the forums as seen from the above example. What a worrying sign for singapore's future. Very soon foreign talents from China India Philippines and Indonesia will be flooding our job market, save your own ass first!!!!

Hopefully some genuine advise
 

Hi everybody, i am intending to take up uol econs & finances part time studies this year.
Read alot of comments about the importance of the experience however
I am wondering if a diploma holder from other field get into financial sector?

Currently taking a short break from my ord and will be looking for a job soon.
Just not sure what type of jobs i can be looking for considering i have totally no relevant background to finance stuff.

just do sales of financial product lor, like insurance, credit card, general credit & loans etc.

if u really want to join proper banks MAP, MO or FO then dun waste time on PT private degrees, even FCH from the local uni find it hard to get in.

first time checking out this thread, can't stop laughing at those non-uol students coming here to bash sim people. These people should be glad that they live in the internet era, at least there's an avenue for them to rant and make themselves feel better

wow @ some of the bashing responses haha. I must be 1 of the outlier cases drawing high 4s with a non-sales role in a bank.

I must've sucked lotsa **** to get it, right?

Its been about 1.5yrs since i graduated from uol and started working. i've seen my fair share of capable individuals holding pte degs / local u and vice versa.

My honest opinion - local u peeps are generally more forward looking and able to perform in what they're suppose to do. In comparison, fresh pte deg holders r generally more... lacklustre in terms of work, but very good at dept parties, gatherings, etc.

Individual mindset and attitude plays a huge part. "street-smartness" can get you a bit further, but still largely you need to have what it takes for ppl to b convinced.

If you guys wana level the playing field, then start moving yr ass and make it happen. don't ask how and where, its your bloody life no one is obliged to help u at all.

Wow, I had no idea UOL degrees were so frowned upon. A little history about my career:

I ORDed in 2008. I have a diploma in mechanical engineering from a local poly. I learned very early in poly that engineering was not for me, so I enrolled in UOL Bsc. banking and finance part-time, hoping that I could eventually land a well paying banking job. In my first year, I was working odd admin jobs here and there and getting paid like $7/hr.

In my 2nd year, I got myself a non-sales job with a certain foreign bank. I remember my basic pay was $1.8k then. With allowances it was around $2.2k.

As a consequence of bad time management, I graduated with 3rd class honours. I thought I could juggle work and school, but hell was I wrong. Despite my lousy grading, a month or 2 after graduation, I landed a job with a foreign bank and was drawing just under $4k. I guessed it helped that I had good references from my previous jobs.

A year in, I was tired of the drudgery and office politics, and quit. I've had it with banking. I left to found a tech startup with some friends. We were young, ambitious, and hungry. The drive wasn't enough to offset the inexperience though. Just 2 years later, we were out of business. When the storm blew over, I had less than $1,000 in my bank account.

However, during my startup years, I had established a good network of business owners. A few phone calls away, and I was back in the game, running my new consulting business. Yes, I had failed at my startup, but the skill sets and experience I had acquired made me invaluable to other business owners.

Fast forward to today. I consider it a bad month when I rake in $10,000 or less a month. In a good month, I have made $30,000 to $40,000. Who would have thought that I would have this kind of earning power at 29 years old? Certainly not me. If you see me on the streets, you would never have guessed I'm capable of that. I drive a cheap Japanese car, fully paid up. I have few expensive possessions and I don't eat in fancy restaurants.

Don't limit your career choices. It doesn't mean you have to work in an bank just because you have a degree in banking. It might sound cliched, but life truly is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get.

If you are young, forget about the mere pittance of a salary you will get at this stage. Focus on learning and acquiring skills. Live below your means, and yet be generous to others. Treat everyone with sincerity and respect, even those you hate.

When you have acquired the right skill sets, don't worry about getting jobs. The jobs will come to you. Maybe you won't even want to climb the corporate ladder anymore. Maybe you'd want to own the corporate ladder and have others climb it.

- A UOL graduate

This whole thread is like a ding-dong between pro and anti SIM grads. A wave of response one after another condemining SIM UOL followed by another wave one after another of supposed SIM grads who claim to have made it big with fantastic career. Sometimes I wonder if its just 1 or 2 person talking to each other.

A response
 

Aft reading some of the posts, I want to contribute.

Here's some of my friends who work I'm banks
A) a dip grad from tmc working as senior analyst in a foreign ang moh bank
B) a dip grad from shatec working as credit analyst working for a local bank
C) my ex boss (no longer a banker) has only a string of pte dip n deg( not even sim) was earning more than 10k doing audit in a local bank( he worked more than a decade as rm)
D) a USA grad working as analyst in an ang moh bank... She was some wat an elite coz she's from the better jc

I know a lot of local grads r trying to get into banking now but have no chance

But now I know it's harder to b a banker...
All these people got into banking way way way before the financial crisis...

True story

I swear to god that it's true.

Ya I took it up already, make do first. Em I wouldn't say exactly relevant experience. Maybe alittle.

There are SIM grads who really went out there and made it. Heck, I have friends armed with only ACCA and N levels but earning way more than his peers in the same age group (28y.o).
Although, they are not in the banking sector but still doing finance in major O&G / maritime sectors. Not hard to guess which company,just along Beach rd or pasir panjang rd there's only that few big coys.

But we / the SIM grads or soon-to-be grads have to acknowledge these points:

1) Prejudice against pte / DL grads are usually frowned upon and they do not have equal standing with local grads, even if companies constant preaching about equal opportunities,etc.

2) Pte grads are often exploited and/or hired at a lower cost than their local u counterparts. This is debatable, heavily dependent on hiring manager's POV and HR's policies. It is a known fact that many companies have different pay structure for pte grads, not just limited to public sectors.

3) Pte grads capability are usually perceived to be lower of their local U counterparts. i.e Pit a NUS FCH vs an UOL FCH, NTU pass vs an SIM pass, etc. This is very much debatable, but whether you believe it or not there's some truth in it.

4) Lacking in presentation skills. Could be from presentation in meetings to individual level of conversing with others in proper sentences, without stuttering entirely or adding in singlish to 70% of your sentence.

These are some of the points I could think of now. I'm sure there will be heroes coming and rebut me saying, "BS, im earning xxx" or " my brother's gf's sister's bf's cousin is an UOL grad drawing 8s in goldman".
Whatever floats your boat but my point is - pte grads already have disadvgt against local ones. Not the end of the world, and you shouldn't degrade yourself cuz of that. Sometimes, just take a deep breath, chill out and look at the broader picture realistically. You'll b able to see more, and not just being myopic, focusing on the wrong things.

- From somebody who graduated from SIM 3 yrs ago, not at the top echelon of earning power yet. But not too shabby for somebody who only has 3 years of full time working exp.

Your points are hardly sound.

1) Is it considered discrimination if an employer promotes a polytechnic grad over an O-level grad? No, it is not. It is the employer seeing that a poly grad has more potential, more skills and is overall smarter and better due to his education than the O-level grad. Same thing applies to a local uni grad vs a pte uni grad. Not all degrees are the same. Like that we can all cry foul and say that employers are paying Oxbridge grads thrice what they would pay normal grads mah. But basically, its because not all graduates are the same. Some graduates are just of a better calibre than others. Most employers want to retain these talented individuals in their company, hence they give them a higher pay so that they wont jump ship.

2) Same thing applies. Is an Oxbridge grad worth the same as a 'graduate' from a 9-month distance-learning degree course? No, they are not. Hence, the difference in pay.

3)Once again, is the capabilities of a FCH Oxbridge grad the same as a graduate from a 9-month distance-learning degree course?

4) I thought SIM grads are always harping on their street-smartness and outspokenness? Shouldnt that make presentations a whole lot easier for them?

Fact is, not all grads are perceived the same way. Even in the same university, a FCH graduate from aerospace engineering might not be seen in the same way as a FCH graduate from mechanical engineering. Even if they both have the same relevent skills for the job.

The only way you can break out of this mold is to PROVE yourself to your employer that you are better than your colleagues. There are tons of SIM grads that have done so. But there are also many who have not, and then harp on how they've been discriminated from a job. Wanna know whats discrimination? When you apply for jobs and get told that they want 'chinese-speaking' only in a country where the official language of administration is English. That's what true discrimination really is.

dude, I think no. 4 is just you lah. My friends and I all have no problems with public speaking. yeah we do speak singlish but we control it according to the situation

As a fresh grad, an employer would obviously take local U over private U. Take it that one does have anything under their belt such as a CFA or other certifications, fresh grad to fresh grad, private U candidates will have a harder time finding the type of employment they want. I say this because a lot of business students always want to aim for a banking position which is a joke to begin with seeing as how these people have to idea what the business organisation entails and what is the job scope.

That being said, SIM love to pride themselves on being street smart. Lets face it, if you have good academic qualifications, you wouldn't need to latch onto these intangible qualities to try and feel relevant to society. You will never hear SMU NTU NUS business students claiming they are street smart even though they are. These people know that to get a foot through the door in the finance industry, they have to more than being loud mouths.

SIM people, be humble and ask yourself. Its simple
Didn't make it to local U? Fine, you aren't smart enough. Go private U.
Go private U, employment prospects not as even.
So face it, your not smart enough. Be it genetic or lazy, you are where you are today, accept it and move on. Stop harpering on the fact that you see yourself as equal or more to local U students.
Seriously, just admit it. "I didn't study hard enough". "I just can't". "I'm not smart enough"

I find it pretty disgusting that people are unwilling to accept their flaws and try to bring themselves up with arrogance or bring others down with jealousy.

I totally agree, I played to much in JC and ended up with terrible grades and hence was forced to go SIM.

However it has been 5 years since I graduated and I now work in a bank and have a local NTU grad with second upper and NTU masters working under me muhahaha. And all I have is still my crappy UOL 2nd lower.

I am currently still studying but am freelancing for various platforms. Hopefully once i graduate my base pay will be bumped up by the projects I did. More xp = more money

Hopefully =X

For every one "success story" you have in SIM, you can easily find ten from each of the local U.

Having said that, I am seriously doubting the authenticity of this post.

its starting all over again...

another local grad who has to resort to online forums to relieve stress after seeing himself losing to a sim guy

Yalor. LSE Clementi Campus is the best number 1.

No12345 doesn't matter after u clinch your first job.
Hard truths but quite a large share of local u with average results end up in sales job as well. Those jobs highly sought after, I would say a growing portion got in with the right connections.
In life, study hard is good but not everything.
So unless you have stellar academic results.
Else that paper merely puts the student with a slightly better chance of dream job.
With that, I still think that connections play a huge role than paper
It's about both eq/iq and luck

I'm a uol grad in a bank FO, peace out

I like how nowadays, middle to high income people call it 'connections' or 'networking'. Somehow trying to justify the way that they got the job was super legitimate. Back-door corruption is what it is. Its the reason why Singaporean companies are not as competitive as foreign ones. Government's fault? Nah, they practice it all the time in private companies as well.

Don't be mistaken, I am not born with a silver spoon.
Just trying to bring out a point that having the right network is essential in the corporate world deg holders are everywhere in sg, therefore it's important to distinguish yourself from others

HAHAHA. That's what they all say. "Im not born with a silver spoon, my parents not very rich." It doesn't matter, the fact is, many of you use your 'network' to get jobs instead of actually earning them fair and square, same goes to many local uni grads themselves.

Gotta agree with point 4 on the lack of presentation skills. Especially true for SIM UOL where there's literally no presentation at all! Pretty sure this is a major minus point for these people. No way you can compete with local uni grads on that. Either way, good presentation and communication skills are very important, both outside and inside the corporate world.

there's nothing wrong leveraging on your network to find a role and in fact it's probably the best way for a company to find suitable candidates, quickly. i must imagine you have a hard time with your network, or simply jealous that other people (and SIM grads) do it better than you.

imagine you manage a team that is short-staffed and your trusted subordinate recommends and vouches for a candidate that he/she personally knows and had worked with, into your team. of course you are free to draw straws from the newspaper/internet applicant pool.

that said, i've seen less-deserving candidates land roles in which they simply perform with such mediocrity and 2nd rate attitude, and frankly does someeeeewhat validate some of your cynical view of "networking". but know that referred-candidates will always be "pressured" not to be a disappointment.

also nothing wrong being born with a silver spoon - end of the day, it's you who should make the most of what you have, rich or poor, network or no network, and not blame the government or go SIM-bashing on those who do better than you.

Fact is, it is an immoral affront to the value of meritocracy. And no, you cannot deny this fact. No matter how much 'advantages' it may have. A totalitarian dictatorship has a TON of benefits! But that does not mean its the right thing to do. I was not born with a silver spoon, so I might be biased in this sense. But I have never nor will I ever reduce myself to make use of connections. I've gotten to where I am with my own effort and will. Even my tuition pees were paid for on my own. I doubt many SIM grads are 'doing better than me', but that is purely subjective, a teacher can love what he does and I would respect that and say that he is successful too even if he earns much less. Im not here to bash SIM grads, in fact, I detest local grads that use these despicable methods too. Yes, you can 'suggest' to your team leader, and yes, people have 'suggested' such things to me, and I have also promptly denied them of promotions and bonuses just based on that lack of ethical standing.

This thread is going way off topic. Can we stop the bickering and get back on topic please? Insecure local and SIM grads, the reality is that SIM degree is discriminated upon and that is the truth.

I want to know if any UOL grads managed to get into management associate programs at banks or managed to secure an equity or fixed income analyst position. What are your honors and starting pay?