Anyone jobless for a long time before?

Originally Posted by aplover

I agree with what you stated about not many people have what i t takes to go through an MBA programme. I for sure cannot go through school again. I felt i was wasting time learning rubbish courses where only 20-30% of the courses i did during my undergrad days were really useful. The rest was painful to go through and hard to score. I never was really book smart.

But the key topic here is whether a MBA will truly lift your career. There are numerous articles and studies available online stating the value of a MBA is not as high as it used to be some 20yrs ago. It costs more relative to an avg income earner and the value gained isn't there. Whatsmore MBA courses are tough for sure but reputation of the institution matters more than intensity and difficulty of the MBA. This is what many people fail to realise when they drop a couple tens of thousands on a MBA or masters programme. An avg passer from a top tier ivy league university will have more career uplifting boost compared to someone who studied in a much lesser known institution and got best student award.

There are situations where a MBA might be more justifiable like someone seeking to change industry to the finance/consulting line etc when his/her primary degree was totally not related to this. Sure thing, but in most cases, the costs and opportunity costs do not justify the returns.

I definitely understand where you coming from. For those who have managed to complete their MBA while on a full time job certainly deserved my respect. It also shows to employers that you have good time management, disciplined and are capable of multi-tasking. Moreover, it goes to show others you are hunger to learn and are not afraid of working hard to achieve your goals. Thus, a plus point. Whether or not an employer recognizes or appreciates these, it does not really matter or bother. You are doing it for yourself and not for others. No one can take away your achievement, and I am sure some of these bosses or colleagues do feel jealous of you. Higher education is costing more these days and for those have already finished their MBA, must be glad that the total cost is much much cheaper. Having said that, I think the current root cause for high unemployment in our country is not whether you have MBA or not. We are simply facing a different challenge in our lives now. Nevertheless, one should not give up easily.

Been jobless for awhile and still unemploy despite sending numerous applications and attending interviews.

Appreciate advise and encouragement from those who have faced similar situation before and how do you overcome it, and eventually got your job.

Many thanks.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Been jobless for awhile and still unemploy despite sending numerous applications and attending interviews.

Appreciate advise and encouragement from those who have faced similar situation before and how do you overcome it, and eventually got your job.

Many thanks.

How old are you? Are you married with kids?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Been jobless for awhile and still unemploy despite sending numerous applications and attending interviews.

Appreciate advise and encouragement from those who have faced similar situation before and how do you overcome it, and eventually got your job.

Many thanks.

you need to give more background about yourself for other ppl to give proper advise

e.g what qualifications you have, how many years have you worked before, how old are you, etc.. of course no need to be detailed but just roughly.

e.g the advise to a 25 yr old fresh grad would be different compared to the advise to a person 40 years old married with kids

Originally Posted by Unregistered

A brief summary of my jobless experience. I learnt a lot through the way, and hope I can share with those who are currently jobless and fretting over getting a job.

I was "considered" jobless since May. Didn't manage to get a suitable job until recently, I had 3 job offers all at one shot. No job offer also headache. Now got offer also headache. Imagine, you are so thankful that they are going to give u a job, but on the other hand, you have to disappoint the others while you settle for one that gives you the driving force to work for long period of time.

I landed myself in 2 sales jobs during this period. The problem with sales job is that the income is always fluctuating. You must not hear all the successful stories of being a sales person. I can tell you its really rare. Maybe once in a while kind, or you really work until no day no night. Even before you sleep you still thinking about how you can close your deals tomorrow.

I quit on the first one because I had no control over how I can find new leads. For the 2nd job, there were constant discrepencies in my payslip.

Sales job very easy to get. Very hard to maintain. if you are looking for sales job, you should not fret over interview. Its whether you want or don't want to do. For those who are going for normal salaried worker, interviews are the ones that are hard to get past.

I'm definitely not the best, but I read many books, going to share some thoughts for interviews. Hope it helps.

Thinking as an interviewer
It doesn't matter what you going to say, what matters is how comfortable the interviewer feels with you at the end of the day.

Put yourself in their shoes. You are meeting this person for the first time in your life. You are as anxious as them. Many failed the interview because they cannot assure you that they can work well with you. Countless had been hired and you realised they are after all not the best candidates to work with. It doesn't matter what he/she has done previously, you are just concerned whether you feel comfortable with this candidate coming.

Questions for you as a candidate to think now
1. Is there a need to tell them who you worked for in this past half a year if its just a short time?
2. Is there a need for you to express your deepest emotional thoughts?
3. Have you put yourself in their shoes, and give them an answer that will make them feel comfortable with you?

Qualities that many companies are looking for
1. Eager to learn candidate
2. Candidates who have goals in their lives
3. Candidates who are absolutely clear in what they are going to do in future. This JD doesn't matter, what matters is how they are going to make use of this JD to propel them to their goals.
4. Candidates who show teamwork, communication skills, and better, leadership skills.

Some learning points I made for myself and for you
1. An enthusiastic learner shows that you can be groomed over time and reassures interviewers that you will stay in the job for a substantial period.

You are eager to learn whatever things that comes to you, isn't it? As long as opportunity comes, I'm sure everyone wants to learn new things and start fresh. Now come up with a reason why you feel this job best suits you in your learning. Describe to them the magnitude of your learning capacity in this area. It need not be entirely fake. It can be something that you are now working towards to. Tell them frankly if you are still working on it, that will further impress them and it shows teachability on your side as well.


2. People who does not have goals during an interview is most likely to dislike the job.

Who doesn't have goals? If you do not have one, think of it before going for interview. Make it as relevant to you as possible. In fact, you may find it odd why some people fake them. Its not entire fake though. But if you go in without this 'goal' that you have formulated in your head, how sure are you that you will sustain in this industry? Even if they hire you, you are not going to like the job, because you will be giving the job a 'probation' to show u what kind of goals they can provide you. Who knows, you may quit again for another job!


3. Candidates that show clear direction gives an image boost to everyone around and urges people around them to help achieve it together.

Clear direction is what makes you attractive. You tell the interviewer how you are going to plan your life 3-5 years ahead. If they ask you what happens after 5 years, just tell them 'we cannot foresee so far ahead when there are already huge plans going on in this coming 5 years'. They can understand. Even if your direction is somewhat not similar to the job described, there must be a way for you to link it beautifully so that this job can help you in achieving that goal. (If not why you apply, right?) If there are other job openings that better fits your career path, i'm sure interviewer may even offer you them as well.



4. Keep your emotional judgement and personal problems to yourself. Your image determines how composed you are in your work!

There's no need to show emotional thoughts about your previous jobs or what you are going through in your life. They are uninterested in that. maybe they will empathise with you at that point of time, but it doesn't show professionalism on your side. There are candidates that say I got parents to feed, I got family to feed, I need to start a family etc. I can tell you interviewers are totally not interested in your pathetic life you have painted. Keep your emotions and whine about it to your wall at home. Put on your most professional image and show them you can manage all the things in your life well. Some interviewers may trap candidates by asking them to expose some of these things in your life. Just tell them its private, and they need not worry about it. Thank them for their concerns as well.

Interviewers may trap you by asking 'what do you feel... how will you feel...' reply them by relating the problem to the upper management! Don't make decisions on the spot. It will only tend to show more negative traits about yourself, even if your position is a decision maker role. Always seek advises in the team, even if you have no experiences in doing that before. Rashful decisions and judgement during an interview will only minus marks on your side. Do not say "I don't know", these words should never appear in an interview.


5. job hoppers are no-no to hiring process. Being too frank will land you back to your PC surfing jobs portal all over again.

You need not tell them you have 3 weeks experiences, 2 months experiences blah blah. They are not a show-off. It shows you are incapable of managing your goals, no matter how much previously you told them how clear you are in your life. If asked what happened in the huge empty gap, just tell them honestly you are doing self-improvement, going for a holiday, seeking friends opinion on jobs pertaining to the related industry you are applying for. If they still insist on why so long, you just tell them the longer the gap, the clearer it shows how determined you are when sending that resume to them. Yes, sometimes its really BS. But if this BS work, why not? They will not penalise you even if they find it untrue after a while! Most probably they will go 'walao, you bluff me ah...' and you can shake it off by treating them to a buffet dinner after work.


Of course, there are many other tips you can find online. These are my takeaways during job hunting. I hope it can help many of you out there sincerely looking for job. If there are any add ons, just add to them. Let's share our knowledge together to make our employability higher!

Thanks for the useful information & tips

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Been jobless for awhile and still unemploy despite sending numerous applications and attending interviews.

Appreciate advise and encouragement from those who have faced similar situation before and how do you overcome it, and eventually got your job.

Many thanks.

I think you are not the only one facing this problem. Continue to apply for jobs and take note of all the good tips in the forum.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Been jobless for awhile and still unemploy despite sending numerous applications and attending interviews.

Appreciate advise and encouragement from those who have faced similar situation before and how do you overcome it, and eventually got your job.

Many thanks.

If you own a HDB flat, you can rent out each room for $800 pm. This helps with your cash flow.

If you qualify, you can consider driving a taxi. If you are hardworking and not spending time chatting on internet forums and surfing, you can earn $5,000 per month. But you must work hard.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you own a HDB flat, you can rent out each room for $800 pm. This helps with your cash flow.

If you qualify, you can consider driving a taxi. If you are hardworking and not spending time chatting on internet forums and surfing, you can earn $5,000 per month. But you must work hard.

This is actually true. My dad is a taxi driver. My mum is a sales executive at an SME so she earns only about 2.5k/mth. Both only have N level certs. But they were still able to pay for my sister's university fees and pay off the 4 room HDB flat. I was on scholarship so they didnt have to pay for mine, but they still gave me an allowance of $70/week. Last year, my dad was even able to buy my mum a Hermes bag for their anniversary, he said it was his lifetime goal to buy her one. In a good month, he could earn from 4k-5k. That was about 2 years ago when I was still studying, he chionged on the roads each night to pay off my sister's debts ASAP so that it wouldnt incur much interests. Now that we have graduated and are both working. He is slowing down as he is getting quite old. My sis has just moved out to her BTO but Im still stuck here. They decided to rent out one room and are waiting for me to move out so they could possibly rent out mine as well. The other room is taken up by 2 students 700/mth in total.

So my parents are now earning:
Mother: 2500
Father: 3000-3500(slowed down already)
Me and my sis contribution: 1000(will increase as our salaries increase)
Rental: 700

Total: about 8400/mth.

Not too bad. However, they dont have much savings, CPF is pretty empty because most of it was used to pay for the house. But at least they own a house, and have a roof over their heads, which is the most important thing IMO. They are also still quite young. 54 and 55. So since they are no longer paying for the house and not supporting me and my sis, they can spend the next 10 years or so building up their savings. Even if (touch wood) me and my sis were to pass away before them, I think they are prudent and smart enough to know how to survive.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This is actually true. My dad is a taxi driver. My mum is a sales executive at an SME so she earns only about 2.5k/mth. Both only have N level certs. But they were still able to pay for my sister's university fees and pay off the 4 room HDB flat. I was on scholarship so they didnt have to pay for mine, but they still gave me an allowance of $70/week. Last year, my dad was even able to buy my mum a Hermes bag for their anniversary, he said it was his lifetime goal to buy her one. In a good month, he could earn from 4k-5k. That was about 2 years ago when I was still studying, he chionged on the roads each night to pay off my sister's debts ASAP so that it wouldnt incur much interests. Now that we have graduated and are both working. He is slowing down as he is getting quite old. My sis has just moved out to her BTO but Im still stuck here. They decided to rent out one room and are waiting for me to move out so they could possibly rent out mine as well. The other room is taken up by 2 students 700/mth in total.

So my parents are now earning:
Mother: 2500
Father: 3000-3500(slowed down already)
Me and my sis contribution: 1000(will increase as our salaries increase)
Rental: 700

Total: about 8400/mth.

Not too bad. However, they dont have much savings, CPF is pretty empty because most of it was used to pay for the house. But at least they own a house, and have a roof over their heads, which is the most important thing IMO. They are also still quite young. 54 and 55. So since they are no longer paying for the house and not supporting me and my sis, they can spend the next 10 years or so building up their savings. Even if (touch wood) me and my sis were to pass away before them, I think they are prudent and smart enough to know how to survive.

Thanks bro and much appreciated for sharing the above.

Unexpectedly, I was force to give up a well pay job and I have been unemployed for 2 months now, I have been applying jobs daily but no news. Im in my mid 30s and i dont know what jobs im seeking too. Need to pay house installments and saving are running dry. Got only a diploma, a class 3 licence and a PLRD licence. Not keen in sales job, not interested in technical job and im a road idiot. If not. i would have taken a taxi licence. Im feeling stress and sick of my life at times cos I dont know what I want in my life and I cant tell my family cos nothing much to talk to them.