<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>June 10, 2009
SURVEY OF TOP STUDENTS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>More eye jobs in civil service
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Many opt for 'job security' in crisis, say HR experts; finance sector jobs still tops </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Liaw Wy-Cin
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE number of top students bound for university who are eyeing civil service careers went up in the past year.
Where under a quarter - 23 per cent - last year said they wanted public-sector jobs, more than a third - 34 per cent - did so this year.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>SERVING THE PEOPLE
UP: 34% of respondents wanted to work in the public service this year, compared to last year's 23%
STUDYING LOCAL
Top picks
A RECENT poll on careers and study courses listed the following as being the most popular choices among top A-level and International Baccalaureate (IB) holders:
Top five industries for a career:
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Banking and financial service jobs, however, remained a top choice among them despite the recent upheavals in the industry. These figures come from a recent poll, the 2009 BrightSparks Scholarship Rankings and Career Survey.
Human resource specialists said the turn of the tide towards civil service jobs could have been caused by the current economic downturn, because the perception is that such jobs provide more of an iron rice bowl than do those in the private sector.
The executive director of the Singapore Human Resources Institute, Mr David Ang, also put the trend down to the greater visibility of the public sector; a few government agencies have made high-profile announcements of their recent hiring drives.
He added: 'There's also the perception that there is greater job security and that job hunters have a better bet at landing a job in the public sector than in the private sector.'
The BrightSparks survey polled some 3,250 A-level and International Baccalaureate (IB) holders, final-year polytechnic students and students in their first and second year of university a few months ago.
The survey defined top students as A-level holders with at least three As for subjects taken at the mainstream H2 level, and IB graduates who scored at least 39 points. There were 1,360 such students in the survey.
Careers in the banking and financial services sector were also the top choice among the student sample as a whole.
Mr Ang said he was not surprised. The recent crisis in the banking and finance industry had not wiped off the relative sheen of the field, he said.
'I don't think undergraduates now are daunted or affected by the crisis. From stories over time, they see the industry as more glamorous, one in which they can make more money than in other industries.'
He noted that the industry was such that, with knowledge and training, opportunities still abounded there, and that even if one were to lose one's job in the face of short-term uncertainties, one could still 'ride it out'.
The survey also found that more top students - 37 per cent this year - planned to apply only to local universities, up from 32.5 per cent last year.
One of them, Hwa Chong Institution alumna Beatrice Lim, 19, starts her engineering programme at the National University of Singapore in August.
Ms Lim, who hopes to work in banking and financial services, said: 'It's cheaper to study in Singapore and I didn't want to apply for an overseas scholarship because I didn't want to be tied down by a bond.' [email protected]
SURVEY OF TOP STUDENTS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>More eye jobs in civil service
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Many opt for 'job security' in crisis, say HR experts; finance sector jobs still tops </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Liaw Wy-Cin
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE number of top students bound for university who are eyeing civil service careers went up in the past year.
Where under a quarter - 23 per cent - last year said they wanted public-sector jobs, more than a third - 34 per cent - did so this year.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>SERVING THE PEOPLE
UP: 34% of respondents wanted to work in the public service this year, compared to last year's 23%
STUDYING LOCAL
Top picks
A RECENT poll on careers and study courses listed the following as being the most popular choices among top A-level and International Baccalaureate (IB) holders:
Top five industries for a career:
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Banking and financial service jobs, however, remained a top choice among them despite the recent upheavals in the industry. These figures come from a recent poll, the 2009 BrightSparks Scholarship Rankings and Career Survey.
Human resource specialists said the turn of the tide towards civil service jobs could have been caused by the current economic downturn, because the perception is that such jobs provide more of an iron rice bowl than do those in the private sector.
The executive director of the Singapore Human Resources Institute, Mr David Ang, also put the trend down to the greater visibility of the public sector; a few government agencies have made high-profile announcements of their recent hiring drives.
He added: 'There's also the perception that there is greater job security and that job hunters have a better bet at landing a job in the public sector than in the private sector.'
The BrightSparks survey polled some 3,250 A-level and International Baccalaureate (IB) holders, final-year polytechnic students and students in their first and second year of university a few months ago.
The survey defined top students as A-level holders with at least three As for subjects taken at the mainstream H2 level, and IB graduates who scored at least 39 points. There were 1,360 such students in the survey.
Careers in the banking and financial services sector were also the top choice among the student sample as a whole.
Mr Ang said he was not surprised. The recent crisis in the banking and finance industry had not wiped off the relative sheen of the field, he said.
'I don't think undergraduates now are daunted or affected by the crisis. From stories over time, they see the industry as more glamorous, one in which they can make more money than in other industries.'
He noted that the industry was such that, with knowledge and training, opportunities still abounded there, and that even if one were to lose one's job in the face of short-term uncertainties, one could still 'ride it out'.
The survey also found that more top students - 37 per cent this year - planned to apply only to local universities, up from 32.5 per cent last year.
One of them, Hwa Chong Institution alumna Beatrice Lim, 19, starts her engineering programme at the National University of Singapore in August.
Ms Lim, who hopes to work in banking and financial services, said: 'It's cheaper to study in Singapore and I didn't want to apply for an overseas scholarship because I didn't want to be tied down by a bond.' [email protected]
:p
