SINGAPORE – Forget about taking a gap year or going on a grand graduation trip. Job security is weighing on the minds of many young graduates who are entering a job market scarred by the trade war.
Amid the uncertainty triggered by the US tariff chaos, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng and, more recently, National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat have each taken on different occasions to cautioning fresh graduates about the challenging hiring outlook. DPM Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry, has further urged them to stay open-minded about different job roles and salary expectations.
Some young graduates like Blair (not her real name) appear to have taken heed of these warnings.
The 23-year-old business major from the Singapore Management University (SMU) began her job hunt in May, and has since applied for over 50 roles. She has yet to hear from any recruiters.
Blair said that, within her social circle, only one friend who graduated in 2024 had managed to secure a contract role in May.
“There’s really a sense of anxiety, I would say, even among high-performing students,” she told The Straits Times, adding that good grades and stellar internship experiences did not seem to have boosted their chances of landing an interview.
Blair’s concern is not unfounded. Recent checks with various job portals show a drop in job listings targeted at fresh graduates.
Singapore employer demand for graduates has eased, said senior Asia-Pacific economist Callam Pickering from Indeed, a job matching and hiring platform.
From January to April, graduate postings tracked 19 per cent below the same period in 2024, marking the third consecutive year of decline following a red-hot market that peaked in 2022.
“While opportunities remain well above pre-pandemic levels, the market has clearly shifted, and recent graduates now face a more challenging recruitment environment than in prior years,” Mr Pickering said.
On a national level, Indeed saw a 2.7 per cent decline in the number of job postings in April, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline and reaching the lowest point since May 2021.
“It is currently difficult for many businesses to plan ahead, potentially impacting job creation, since business leaders don’t know what the trading environment will look like,” Mr Pickering said.
Similarly, Ms Chua Pei Ying, LinkedIn’s Asia-Pacific head economist, said her data showed that the number of applicants per job posting had risen by 3.2 per cent in Singapore from May 2024 to May 2025.
She added that Gen Z job seekers face an added challenge posed by artificial intelligence (AI)-driven changes, especially as entry-level tasks are at higher risk of being automated across all industries.
Given the tough outlook, Nanyang Technological University graduate Valerie (not her real name) said she is prepared to “settle for less”, if she cannot land a role after three months of job search.
The 23-year-old lamented that many roles that interest her require one to two years of job experience.
“But to me, it is very contradictory because if they are not willing to open them up to fresh graduates, then how are we supposed to get the experience?”
Joey, who prefers to be known by her first name only, secured a full-time role in a hospitality company where she previously had an internship stint. The salary offered was below her expectation, but she accepted the job so that her resume would look better.
The 24-year-old, who will graduate from Singapore University of Social Sciences in 2025, considered herself lucky to have secured a job after three to four months of searching.
She said some of her peers submitted over 100 applications, some of which involved multiple rounds of assessments and interviews. It was time-consuming and the efforts rarely paid off.
Even for Mr Quinn Lau, who graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with the highest grade point average in his major in 2024, the job search was far from a walk in the park.
Mr Quinn Lau, 26, decided to take on an internship first after a futile five-month job search after graduation. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
The global studies graduate began sending out applications in February 2024 and faced rejection after rejection. So he decided to “swallow the bitter pill” and take an internship first at disability and inclusion agency SG Enable.
Many of his colleagues at SG Enable were former teachers, who inspired him to apply for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education.
The 26-year-old is set to begin his full-time teaching job in June.
His advice for undergraduates is to pursue multiple internships while still in school. For those in their final year, they should start searching early, and if they face hurdles along the way, be prepared to lower their expectations.
But not all hope is lost as some fields remain relatively open to hiring juniors.
According to JobStreet’s data in the first five months of 2025, the top five industries with the highest entry-level job vacancies open to fresh graduates are sales, marketing and communications, engineering, administration and office support and manufacturing.
The recruitment site’s Hiring, Compensation and Benefits report in 2025 also highlighted a growing shift towards skills-based hiring, with 54 per cent of businesses now taking applicants’ AI knowledge into consideration.
Employers are likely more interested in whether candidates can demonstrate job-ready, practical skills than in their degrees alone, said a JobStreet spokesperson.
Universities here said they also advised their graduating cohorts to boost their chances using various strategies.
The NUS Centre for Future-ready Graduates said it encouraged students to tap existing networks to explore unadvertised vacancies and seek referrals. They should also boost their visibility on LinkedIn and use the #OpenToWork feature to signal availability to hiring managers.
Ms Corrine Ong, director of career and employability services at SMU, encouraged fresh graduates to keep an open mind.
“Don’t be choosy, and don’t think that this company is in Jurong Island, I don’t want to go,” she said, adding that such a mentality would limit their options further in a tight job market.
Ms Ong also urged fresh graduates to consider overseas opportunities even if the salary package offered is less attractive, as they will gain “tremendous exposure” that will give them an edge over those with just local work experience.
“When the economy picks up, you will be a ‘hot cake’,” she said.
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