‘50 applications, 10 interviews, but no offer’: Singapore worker says job hunting feels harder than before COVID

SINGAPORE: After sending out at least 50 job applications and attending 10 first interviews, a finance professional who still has no job offer was prompted to ask, “Is the job market really so bad nowadays?”

She said she had been looking for a new role since April, after being passed over for promotion and increment this year, which she claims was due to her manager’s favouritism.

Sharing her dismay on r/singaporejobs, she wrote: “I was always very hopeful that when I landed an interview it would progress and materialise into an offer.”

She added that one time, she had an interview that was cancelled at the very last minute and was only told one month later that the vacancy had been filled.

“And this is after I reached out to the hiring team. If not, I would be thinking I am still on the shortlist. Had I been faster in meeting the hiring manager, the person who got the offer would have been me instead,” she said.

She noted that the hiring manager had asked to meet three days later, but she ended up delaying the meeting by another week due to her leave schedule.

She also shared that some recruiters would stop following up after sending her profile to hiring teams, leaving her on read instead, even after she politely asked for updates.

Concerned about the timing between a potential job offer and her next variable bonus, she wrote: “By the time I get a realistic offer, it would be time for my variable bonus again, then I would have to restart everything from scratch. This for me is one of the worst periods for job hunts compared to before COVID.”

Instead of getting responses that echoed her concerns, some commenters were optimistic about the numbers she shared. One commenter said, “20% application-to-interview rate is very good already”.

Another called her “blessed”, saying she should use her “connections” to land a job.

A third described her job application response rate as “decent” in this market. “The harder part seems to be converting them. I would look at where the interviews usually stop and work on that stage, while continuing to apply. Also try not to delay interviews if the company is moving fast,” the commenter advised.

Earlier this year, Singapore recorded the sharpest drop in job postings since March 2021. However, the labour market remained strong as job postings remained 32% higher than pre-pandemic levels. /TISG

Read also: 'It’s super quiet now': Singaporeans share how they cope with months of unemployment