i guess u have been out of touch with the job market or a fresh grad

Hmm i think SMU's degree is a general bachelor of social science rather than a psychology major like NUS or NTU.

Also I guess we can rule out most private university grads except the top performers when it comes to government jobs (no offense, just seems to be the way it is).

So let's say NUS/NTU or recognized overseas US/UK/AUS university degree with second upper honors...still such a dire situation to fight for those psychology jobs?

Yes, it is still a dire fight. Firstly, any bachelor of arts or bachelor of social science degree is considered a general degree. The only specialised degrees are engineering/science or medicine. Meaning B.eng, BBM, BS. The curriculum in all three of the big universities are almost all the same. So none of them are 'ahead' of any other in terms of psych. The only difference would be in NTU where you are directly put into psych whereas in NUS and SMU you take a sem or two to decide your major. But in the end, the number of pysch modules taken are almost similar (except for some NUS grads who do not take the honours year). SMU psych grads have a slight edge if they decide to go into the finance and business jobs but that's not what we're talking about here, we are talking about psych-related jobs.

Private university grads do push the competition. Even if they dont get govt jobs, they still get pte sector jobs, hence pushing out local grads. These local grads then try and move into govt jobs hence creating a competition there. As for overseas university grads, I'd say that they create a lot of competition when they come back as well. It even worse now. Most of the eurozone and Australia are capping their foreign workforce due to a larger right-wing push. So you will see more and more of your peers who went overseas to study coming back for a job. Last time, it wasnt so bad, overseas grads could at least get their first jobs overseas and would only come back(if they chose to do so) when they've racked up some experience. No such luck now.

As an anecdotal evidence. I have two such friends who graduated from NUS FASS without honours this year. That would be in May-June. Both in psych. None have gotten any jobs yet. Not trying to be a fear-monger or anything. But dont just bet on your degree. Ensure that you have certain extra skills to entice your employer into hiring you.

ur frens whom have not found jobs, did they only purely look for psych-related jobs or did they also try for semi-related non psych jobs ? (business analyst, admin, etc)

n im sure everyone knows even a degree is not a safe bet anymore after what PM Lee said during his rally speech

Well looking ONLY at psychologist jobs in the civil service like MINDEF and MOE etc. a good honours degree specifically in psychology tends to be the minimum requirement. An engin or biz grad isn't going to get any interviews if he applies to be a defence psychologist.

Then there will be some psychology grads will decide not to pursue psychology related careers upon graduation too.

Psychology is probably one of the more useful FASS majors, behind econs. Definitely better prospects than philosophy or literature. There's virtually no job ad that specifies applicants must have specifically a philosophy or literature or history major.

Regarding your without honours friends...well I think that'd be a problem regardless of major.

I'm not a psychology major but been job hunting for civil service jobs and those are my observations from scouring the job ads for months now.

You see, the problem is EVERYONE knows that. It doesnt take a monkey to know that psych is one of the more useful arts/humanities majors behind econs. But BECAUSE everyone knows that, everyone heads for psych degrees. Why? Simple. In terms of degrees, you could say that there are three tiers of difficulties. At the top would be engin and sciences. 2nd would be biz/acct. 3rd would be the arts/humans/social sciences. Im ignoring medicine/law for now. Anyone would want to do something easy BUT also profitable. Hence they choose the most 'useful' social science degree, thus the large numbers of students taking psychology. Look at the numbers that NTU takes in for psych, its more than English or sociology or History. Same goes to NUS FASS. Most FASS students want to major in econs or psych. Lastly, look at the private institutes. They DONT even offer things like philosophy or literature or Histoy or Linguistics because students want to do psych instead. Yes, there are MORE jobs for psych grads then there are for literature or philosophy grads. Definitely. However, the proportion of psych grads graduating severely outnumbers the number of positions that are available here. Heck, even Chinese Literature has a higher employment rate than psychology :

://.moe.gov.sg/education/post-secondary/files/ges-ntu.pdf

Its smart of FASS not to publish the employment rates of their different majors though.

Yes, it's definitely a tough situation, but my point is that it's no tougher than any other major when it comes to general degrees. Having access to more specialised niches can only ever help, never hinder.

At the end of the day the fact that there is too much supply just means one has to make sure he has good honours at the very least....a fact that holds true in any field nowadays.

I emailed the HR person about my psychometric test taken couple of months ago because I hadn't heard from them, and she said 'most probably still processing', and said I can let her know if I want to apply for other posts.

Is this legit or just being politically correct and a nice way to say I didn't make it?

my friend in mindef social media department, seems like a good job. can order nsfs to do things, only have to work longer hours when near important events date, the rest of the time quite relaxed. earn quite a lot also.

Anyone able to get in touch with that Yvonne lady from MINDEF HR or anyone else in the same department to respond about job application status?

I think everyone there must've disappeared for year end holidays...

Dont bet your luck on getting a reply in december bah. Most HR departments are usually run by NSFs with a few DXOs at the top. Because they work the NSFs so hard during the year, alot of them still have quite alot of leave towards the end of the year. And if they dont clear the leave, the DXOs on top will get fked by somebody higher. So december is the time when everyone is clearing leave, so probably things will get much slower.

Has anyone gone for the psychometric test more than once in a year?

I got invited for the test again after making a new application but I took it in September already. I suspect I did not do very well for the test when I took it in September, thinking of just applying for the test again. Will they just ignore the new results when/if they realise you did the test before?

Anyone here know about Defence Psychologist recruitment?

I am studying psychology in Australia and graduating soon. Been monitoring job vacancies but have not seen any vacancies for psychologists at all for quite a few months on the DXO website...do they only hire from things like career fairs at NUS or other 'exclusive' channels?

Has anyone went for a test 2 weeks ago and been called up for an interview? I know it is close to the end of the year and everyone is clearing leave. But just wondering if there were any, and for what position

I've applied for a few executive positions in Human Resources but I have yet to receive any notice about any interviews, had applied once in October and once in November. Does this mean I'm not considered?

Notification period
 

I applied the post of logistics exec on the 26 Dec 2014, now is the 30 Dec and still no news at all (be it phone call or email). I obtained my degree from Murdoch University (through Kaplan) and have 3 plus working exp in PSA international. Can anyone tell me is this good or bad news?

Notification period
 

I applied the post of logistics exec on the 26 Dec 2014, now is the 30 Dec and still no news at all (be it phone call or email). I obtained my degree from Murdoch University (through Kaplan) and have 3 plus years of working exp in PSA international. Can anyone tell me is this good or bad news?

I think I mentioned something about this on this thread a few pages back. Dont bet on getting a psychologist job. Unless you're really outstanding ie. ANU/Umelb/Usyd High distinction honours. There's just too many psych grads competing for VERY FEW psych-related jobs. Yes, I've spoken directly to mindef's career personnel who told me that psychology and defence policy are the two 'hottest' jobs, in her words. Meaning that the ratio of applicants to available opportunities is sky high. Advice? stay in Australia and get experience. Unless you are from on of the top few universities that I mentioned, its going to be hard for you to compete against the local grads. Seeing especially that psych and counselling jobs here are mostly provided by the govt, they will prefer to hire local graduates.

Unless you're okay with working with non-psych related jobs. How are your statistics? Most psych students in sg, especially NTU ones take up around 5-7 stats modules, making them pretty flexible in finding jobs in our data-centric world. Or you could try working in HR like many psych grads do.

i also applied for some positions in Oct but no reply til now. last week i sent an email abt my application but still no reply. but my friend applied for some positions different from mine in Nov and she received an email to go for the psychometric test in less than a week. but she was rejected after the test. i guess have to wait :/

I took my psychometric test in Oct but no reply at all until now. Not even rejection, so I suppose that's a good thing?

Anyway I emailed the Yvonne lady from HR to check, she told me should be 'still processing' and if I want to apply for any position just drop her an email.

I did so last week to express interest in 4 positions, and she replied to confirm the order of my preference, but nothing else since then.

Probably year end lull where no one wants to do work/nobody is around to conduct interviews.

For many reasons staying in Australia is more or less out of the question for me.

I'm pretty interested in organisational psych and the government sector is one of the main employers of organisational psychologists, hence my interest in a MINDEF job. I was also hoping I could get a government sponsorship to pursue my Masters somewhere down the line. But it's worrying that I don't even see any ads for MINDEF psychologists, whereas for the other ministries (MHA, MOE etc) I at least see ads that I can try applying for.

HR is my backup plan I guess, since there's some overlap with organisational psych, but I really want to stay in the psychology field.

Are you in psychology yourself by the way? Would appreciate more opinions from people in the know.

Also, about local graduates, do you mean Unisim grads will have an edge over me too? Since I understand the government does send its staff to do Unisim degrees for upgrading.

My fiancé is in the psych field. I'm in social science, trying to break into public policy when I grad soon. MOE takes in those with experience from what I can gather. Even to apply for NIE masters in counselling or masters in applied psych requires applicants to have 2 years of work exp. Unisim might still be untested waters, so my opinion is without any backing. but IMO, unisim grads may be preferred down the line. Lots of govt employees are sent to unisim nowadays to get their degrees. Especially mindef personnel. As the number of unisim grads in govt agencies grow, so will their preference or biasness for them. On top of that, unisim grads have one thing most fresh grads don't, which is experience. They study part-time and have time for a full-time job or at least time for multiple fruitful internships.

My fiancé herself interned under MOM, under the statistics division. I've had friends that interned at MHA, under psych. I would be cautious with MHA if I were you. Even though it is a ministry, from what they tell me, its a very very hostile place. MHA is a cesspit. Protocols and directives are all not followed. My friends who interned under MHA had to wrestle with the school and the organisation to get their salaries, which was only given out months after their internship was over. As compared to MOM which was on the dot. Im not sure how and why a ministry is allowed to run in such a way. I guess us humanities/social science people are that disposable.

Govt does sponsor for Masters. But you will usually have to get into a local program. Unless you are an overseas scholar. So you will have to look at masters programs at NUS/NTU and their psych masters programs also happen to be very competitive.

What's your major? Just curious. Speaking of public policy, any opinions on the International Relations masters program at RSIS?

And what area of psych does your fiance work in?

I've done some snooping on linkedin and many government employed psychologists do get to do their masters in the UK, I believe because local psychology masters programs are severely limited - only NIE's applied psych and NUS's clinical program.

RSIS and LKYSPP are great schools. But dont jump the gun and take your masters there yet. Get a govt job first and then see if they will send you there. You might end up wasting your money and time doing post-grad there and not getting a job in the civil sector.

NTU does have an MA in Psych. But its more geared towards research, not applied.

I'm in Philosophy, concentrating mostly in ethics, hopefully trying to get a job in ethics committees in govt hospitals or universities. Second major in political science but im concentrating more in public policy and administration rather than international relations and politics.

Edit: She's in one of the local universities under one of their counselling dept. But not a full-fledged one yet. She's applying for the next NIE intake once she has enough experience.

Would have been great if they would just notify us if we are not being considered rather than being left hanging.

Hopefully now that it's january things will move faster... people should be going back into work mode and coming back from year end holidays.

Yeah i agree... Guess what, i got a reply on 02 jan to the email regarding my application in oct. She said that she was away hence the late reply. Anyway she said that successful applicants would be notified within 2 weeks. Which means i am rejected.. Waited 2 mths and nt even a rejection email sent.. Zzz...

you mean the yvonne lady?

i asked about my psychometric test in oct after a couple of months no reply...and she said no reply means still processing and i can let her know if i want to apply for more positions...which i did and she acknowledged.

did she say outright you were rejected?

Nt yvonne... Its michelle. She didnt say outright that i am rejected, just that shortlisted candidates will be notified in 2 weeks’ time from their application date.
And also as the selection process is highly competitive, only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

I guess my case is slightly diff frm yrs.. I am not shortlisted for the psycho test, just applied only. But i expected my application to be unsuccessful cos i saw the job was alr taken out frm the list of vacancies after i sent her the email.

When did you submit an online application? Psychometric test should come afterwards.

has anyone who sat for the psychometric test this month heard back yet?

Hi, anyone completed on 25 ques out of 60 in test 1 and yet able to be called up for interview?

I submitted my 1st application in oct...i think for those who r shortlisted, they will receive an email within a week to go for the psychometric test. My fren did.

Hi,
Anyone know what might be the starting pay for female, 24yrs, fresh grad with 1st class hons from recognised Oz uni, for the psychologist position. Does MINDEF normally offer salary that is commensurate with experience + qualifications or will it be base don expected pay?

Also, I have to wait about 3 weeks to take my psychometrics test and I understand from reading other posts that the overall process is about 3-4 from application to job offer. Was just wondering if it is possible that if I manage to get through all rounds *cross fingers*, that the vacancies may already have all been filled up by then? I saw someone posted went for third round interview then told no more vacancy.

Finally, anyone knows the full process for psychologist position? after psychometric test, how many rounds of interviews + any written tests? what kind? before job offer.

Thanks in advance to any kind soul who can provide some advice!

You mean the entry level Psychologist position? Are you a member/did you register to be a member of the Singapore Psychological Society?

Hi, yupp the entry level one. I understand when they ask for tertiary they also accept diplomas for those so I wonder if the pay is fixed for the position or will commensurate with qualifications?

Unfortunately, I am not a member. I want to register to be a member but it seems one needs some form of referral from current members. I have written in to SPS but as expected they haven't replied. And it takes a whopping 3 mths at a minimum to get approval anyways. On MINDEF side they asked me to go ahead and apply for the position first.

Yeah SPS is pretty much all over the place. I was quite surprised to see that the job advert actually listed SPS membership as a 'requirement' to apply.

I'm not a MINDEF psychologist so I can't help you with your specific queries about pay and interview but I'm quite sure that diploma holders don't qualify for that position and that they only consider good honours graduates from recognised unis.

the wait is torturoussssss

Distance or on-campus? Exact uni? I can tell you that mindef throws alot of applications in the bin very quickly. Especially for jobs with high number of applications like defence psychologist or defence policy. I do my share of shredding everyday. Yes, these applications need to be literally shredded so that sensitive info wont be leaked out. DL degree holders without anything more than 5 years exp get binned without my boss even looking at it. For on-campus Oz we usually stick to the top 3. Being ANU, Umelb and Usyd. The rest gets thrown out most of the time.

Im an NSF clerk working for a certain dept. Though it might not be the same dept that you applied for. I'm not too sure if my place is the only one that deals with psychologists but I highly doubt so.

If you're applying at this time, you have better chances. Usually if we get tons and tons of applications during the May period like last year, everything gets thrown out other than local universities. There are no oxbridge/harvard or top ivy schools that apply for psych jobs either from what I've seen so far. There were tons of Oz uni applicants that had to be thrown out though. Especially Distance-Learning ones. There are just too many applications for a very limited number of jobs, sometimes 4-5 openings can get around 100 applications. So the main groups of applicants are NUS/NTU/SMU. Oz on-campus and Oz-distance learning in that order of preference. During this period before graduation, your application might get a good look. But if you apply anytime between May and August, it will be very difficut.