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SINGAPORE – Graduates from less specialized fields felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic more and had greater problems finding employment, experts told The Straits Times.
Rather, those in courses that were more focused were considered “high priority” for hiring, experts said as they reflected on the annual joint graduate employment survey released on Friday (February 19).
Overall, fewer students who graduated last year managed to secure a full-time job, but the effects were muted for those in IT, health sciences and business. More than three out of four graduates of courses in these fields obtained a permanent full-time job within six months after completing college.
The graduates of more general disciplines, although they did not do so well. Only six in 10 who studied humanities and social sciences found permanent full-time jobs, and those in arts, design and media, as well as science courses, were even less fortunate.
Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) president Low Peck Kem said this was to be expected, considering that companies needed to be more careful about their spending amid Covid-19 outages.
“Companies would be more focused on their selection process and would hire those whose competencies and skills are urgently needed to operate the business. That is why the specialized sectors continue to perform well, as these skills are in high demand,” he said.
Industries that are more general tend to take a tougher hit, as limited hiring locations would mean the priority would be for new specialty hires that can start immediately, Ms. Low added.
Managing Director of Recruitment Agency Randstad Singapore, Jaya Dass, noted that the pandemic had shifted priorities for companies to focus on keeping their core business alive. This means that hiring would be based on the amount of specialized and meaningful contributions that employees can make to help a business survive.
“There is a need to keep the wheels of the bus turning, so priorities change and companies hire based on what is needed for their survival. It would lean towards specialized roles and not generalists.”
The survey showed that while full-time permanent employment may have declined, more graduates are still finding work. Overall, 93.6 percent of them were employed within six months of completing their final exams, up from 90.7 percent in 2019.
Paul Heng, managing director of professional consulting firm NeXT Career Consulting Group, attributed this in part to government help.
Approximately 16.9% of graduates were employed through the Government’s SGUnited internship program. This helps recent graduates, including those from polytechnics, increase their employability opportunities by going through an attachment along with an assignment with a company.
But associate professor Walter Theseira, an economist at Singapore’s University of Social Sciences, cautioned that while these graduates could eventually be employed, the quality of the internships could vary.
“There are definitely good internships in the program, but not all of them will be right for the person. The question is, can these graduates build their resume or gain relevant experience?”
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