SINGAPORE: A Singaporean Reddit user who has been unemployed for nearly a whole year asked for help from others who’ve been in a similar situation.
In a post on r/AskSingaore on Oct 2 (Wednesday), u/Cautious-Salary-6859 expressed how “really really helpless, demoralized and depressed” they feel concerning “this whole job market situation”.
They also wrote that they’ve sent out more than 600 applications for mostly software engineer roles, and gone to interviews, but were rejected again and again.
“Every day is just wake up, turn on the laptop and apply for jobs, rinse and repeat, and just like that 1 year has passed.”
They explained that they have over three years of experience as a software frontend engineer, but, recognizing that the IT industry appears not to be very promising at the moment, they’re looking to pivot to another career track, such as project management or tech sales. However, these roles also need some experience.
During their year out of work, they’ve taken a specialist diploma course “to stay relevant”.
And, while the post author still has savings, they’re concerned about the one-year gap in employment.
They ended the post by asking for advice from those in similar situations as to how they kept themselves “sane”.
“I have been telling myself to stay positive, not to give up, and eventually all these will end but at this rate, not really sure how long i can hold on. Will I be unemployed forever?”
A commenter who has been unemployed since 2022 wrote that they “do hobbies, work out, play games, and enjoy life”.
“If got job, good, I get money. If no job, good, I got time,” they added, advising the post author not to focus on the things they can’t control and saying that they find being unemployed liberating.
The commenter also wrote that the post author can look for a part-time job in a completely new industry in the meantime and find work that they really want to do.
A commenter proposed that the post author could take a part-time job as an IT instructor, as well as attend upcoming IT events that would help them network with other people in the industry.
Another Reddit user suggested that u/Cautious-Salary-6859 look for work overseas as well, especially in Japan, where employers are looking for experienced IT workers.
“Singapore’s market is really small, so have to really try everything,” they added.
One suggested they try a one-year working holiday to New Zealand, which is opening up for Singaporeans. The commenter added, “If going towards a direction did not lead you to the results you want, try a different direction. You owe it to yourself to make that change.” /TISG
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