Need advice on career as fresh graduate

This kind of bullsheet negative post just want to put down people who are not good at taking exams. My degree not even honours and GPA 2.7, now after 7 years making 200k

Originally Posted by froth_lord

I think you've got to strike a good balance between what you like as kind of general hobby interest and what the actual labour market realities are. I am a recruiter in the IT industry and I can tell you with confidence you continue like that almost guarantee you will still not have a IT job even if given 1 more year.

First let's start off with your actual interest:

IT-related stuff like desktop support/servers/IP/LAN (not programming) - Quite honestly this kind of stuff is considered in the market as super low skilled even by offshore BPO standards. What this means is most of such jobs have either been offshored to BPO vendors in India/Philippines and are generally entry level even for them.

Of the few such roles still remaining in Singapore, most are also taken by expereinced Indians and Pinoys S-Pass holders with degrees from third tier university where standards are about par with our higher NITEC. The market is so depressed with supply far outstripping demand that even our local dploma and higher NITEC folks are avoiding this space as it's hard to compete with the foreigners on these low wages.

My advice for you is if you are interested in this kind of general IT hardware stuff, pursue it as a hobby and not as a job.

Secondly, on the matter of should you study more certs to pursue IT jobs:

You gotta be more specific what sort of IT jobs you are really interested in. Most are now in the doldrums and with only specific pockets still commanding marketability. A lot of the higher value add jobs would be out of your reach even if you go about studying/buying some IT cert now.

If those general hardware jobs is the extent of your interest, then I suggest you better not waste time & money getting a cert, it won't help. All you will end up is some old diploma guy who is fighting for freshie jobs with the Indians and young locals, won't get anywhere.

So what's next?

To be real candid about it, a GPA < 3 the chances of joining a technical role in large companies is almost zero. Even SMEs would not consider unless they are really desperate or you were real impressive during interview.

The only realistic option I can think of for you is to look for corporate function jobs like administration, customer service, sales & marketing analysis, hr etc in SMEs. You might still have a decent chance in this kind of jobs and they being less technical, most employers will not put so much emphasis on your poor academics.

No doubt you will say these jobs are not your interest, but I think it's also a good wake up call for you. A job is not a hobby, being able to work in what you like is akin to striking a lottery. If your acadmic and presentation skills are not there, you find jobs that you have a realistic chance of getting, not what you feel like doing.

^

Are you in sales/insurance/property? These are jobs with very low barriers to entry, but which pay handsomely if you're aggressive/hardworking enough. I agree with the previous poster that one may find it challenging to gain employment in many graduate positions, if one's grades are not good enough. These days, even a second upper means nothing.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

^

Are you in sales/insurance/property? These are jobs with very low barriers to entry, but which pay handsomely if you're aggressive/hardworking enough. I agree with the previous poster that one may find it challenging to gain employment in many graduate positions, if one's grades are not good enough. These days, even a second upper means nothing.

I am in the ACMV industry.

[flyingpanman]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I have GPA < 3 for local mechnical engineering degree. Starting pay is pathetic at 2.4k close to 5 years ago. Now is drawing decent salary close to 100k pa.

Just lower ur expectations and work diligently to show ur employer that u are keen to learn and improve.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This kind of bullsheet negative post just want to put down people who are not good at taking exams. My degree not even honours and GPA 2.7, now after 7 years making 200k

thanks for the encouragement. I have friends whom have GPA less than me but still managed to find jobs (although it took a while too for them). personally I think that GPA is only important in securing your first job, after that it's all really up to you. But right now I'm losing out both in terms of GPA and other areas, so I guess I have to work harder and improve on those areas.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

^

Are you in sales/insurance/property? These are jobs with very low barriers to entry, but which pay handsomely if you're aggressive/hardworking enough. I agree with the previous poster that one may find it challenging to gain employment in many graduate positions, if one's grades are not good enough. These days, even a second upper means nothing.

If you're talking about graduate positions like management trainees in organizations like DBS, etc.. then of course grades are very important.. but in SMEs, from the interviewers I have went, some of them told me frankly the grades don't really matter to them, but they want to see something special and unique in that person, and an assurance that they can get the job done

Yup, OP, do build up on your self-confidence. You need to convince yourself before you can convince your future employers. All the best, there are so many successful examples out there and I don't think all of them have stellar grades. A good attitude will come a long way

Hi OP. I graduated with a pass degree too. NUS EE. about 2 years ago.

Took 8 months to find a job. Applied probably about 100-200 jobs. Went for around 20 interviews. Couldn't get a job.

Until I landed one job. Big MNC. IT related (basically nothing to do with with my field of study). starting 3.3k. Good bonus.

You can say maybe I got lucky. Maybe I did. But i feel that sometimes you just need to chance upon on interviewer who just likes you for who you are and the way your present yourself. Or it could be any other thing.

My point is, don't lose hope. It's not gonna be easy (which you already know) but it's still possible.

Just FYI, I am not the only one. I had friends same as me or ever worse GPA than me. All did end up finding jobs (2.8k to 3.2k starting). I also have a colleague who was just like me. NUS EE pass degree. And he excelled so well in his position that he's a year younger than me but earns more than me and has already been promoted.

Point is, don't lose hope. Keep looking. NETWORK! It helps. A lot. And like others have said, try and build your inner confidence. Good luck.

[flyingpanman]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi OP. I graduated with a pass degree too. NUS EE. about 2 years ago.

Took 8 months to find a job. Applied probably about 100-200 jobs. Went for around 20 interviews. Couldn't get a job.

Until I landed one job. Big MNC. IT related (basically nothing to do with with my field of study). starting 3.3k. Good bonus.

You can say maybe I got lucky. Maybe I did. But i feel that sometimes you just need to chance upon on interviewer who just likes you for who you are and the way your present yourself. Or it could be any other thing.

My point is, don't lose hope. It's not gonna be easy (which you already know) but it's still possible.

Just FYI, I am not the only one. I had friends same as me or ever worse GPA than me. All did end up finding jobs (2.8k to 3.2k starting). I also have a colleague who was just like me. NUS EE pass degree. And he excelled so well in his position that he's a year younger than me but earns more than me and has already been promoted.

Point is, don't lose hope. Keep looking. NETWORK! It helps. A lot. And like others have said, try and build your inner confidence. Good luck.

Thanks. Just wondering did you specifically apply for that IT position yourself or like it just came from other sources (recruiters, agencies, friends, etc) ?

And what did you think was different from that particular interview apart from all the other interviews you have went that got you the job?

Originally Posted by flyingpanman

Thanks. Just wondering did you specifically apply for that IT position yourself or like it just came from other sources (recruiters, agencies, friends, etc) ?

And what did you think was different from that particular interview apart from all the other interviews you have went that got you the job?

It was from a friend. it wasn't advertized so i applied for it and they needed someone urgently. there was definitely an element of luck involved in it. and for them, the fact that i was a fresh grad was good enough. it was more like a chat and nothing technical or anything.

i basically had 3 rounds (HR, hiring manager and senior vice president). All 3 of them were just like a friendly chat and nothing much. got the offer 5 hours after the last round.

[flyingpanman]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It was from a friend. it wasn't advertized so i applied for it and they needed someone urgently. there was definitely an element of luck involved in it. and for them, the fact that i was a fresh grad was good enough. it was more like a chat and nothing technical or anything.

i basically had 3 rounds (HR, hiring manager and senior vice president). All 3 of them were just like a friendly chat and nothing much. got the offer 5 hours after the last round.

oh.. that's cool n guess sometimes a bit of luck is required.

though you mentioned that it took you 8 months, by that time it would have been around Jan the next yr? also would have a bit of fresh grads that extended one sem who graduated.. but I guess it was more of an internal thing since they did not really post any ad for it

did u like take up any side jobs during that 8 mths though ? or just focused on job hunting

Can't imagine without referral for the internal job post, hiw long more it would take. 8 months is already such long time. Could do so many things and earn so much.