<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Business Times - 01 Dec 2008
Number, range of jobs in companies' campus recruitment drives shrink
By LEE U-WEN AND EMILYN YAP
(SINGAPORE) Thanks to the global financial crisis, university students -
especially those due to graduate next year - are fast coming to terms with
the rising difficulty in landing their ideal job.
Companies are still recruiting from campuses but compared with the heady
days of 2006 and early 2007, the number and range of jobs available are
taking a hit.
This has led to many students coming up with a Plan B - such as staying in
school to pursue a Master's degree while waiting for the job market to
recover.
According to the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), companies which ran campus recruitment
drives in the past have returned this year. These include major banks and
financial institutions.
However, there has been a 'reduced number of placements' and the 'types of
roles available have changed,' said director of NTU's undergraduate career
services, Joyce Seidl-Tan. As the financial crisis unfolds, for instance,
more risk management and other mid and back-office functions have opened up.
'Firms are still hiring but very selectively,' observed Jason Low, a
23-year-old accountancy student who is graduating from NTU next year.
The cautious mood contrasts with the bright hiring landscape one or two
years ago. An NTU release in June said that nine out of 10 business school
graduates last year found jobs before graduation and the top students earned
between $8,000 and $15,000 monthly. Of the entire Class of 2007, about
two-thirds received multiple job offers.
The continued volatility in financial markets could affect the situation
further. While companies kept to their hiring plans for most of the year,
'it was only in October, when the economic volatility hit a peak, that
recruiters took a wait-and-see approach to hiring,' said NUS Business
School's director of career services, Joan Tay.
'The global financial and economic situation is still uncertain and the job
market could decline in all sectors in the coming months,' said director of
career services at the Singapore Management University (SMU), Ruth Chiang.
'Students may not receive multiple job offers now and have to be prepared to
accept job offers as they come.'
The climate is putting a dampener on wage expectations. 'As employers are
confronted with the need to adjust their cost base according to market
conditions, salary levels for fresh graduates of 2009 are likely to be lower
than the entry level salaries seen in 2007 and possibly in 2008,' said NTU's
Mrs Seidl-Tan.
But there is a bright spot amid the gloom. SMU's Lee Kong Chian School of
Business has noticed that the difficult employment market has made
graduating students evaluate their future careers more carefully.
'The tough job market... can also be a catalyst to more unconventional
career paths which may ultimately be more rewarding,' said Doris Sohmen-Pao,
director of SMU's MBA programme.
As NTU's Mr Low put it: 'A lot of people say it's best to start out in a
bear market because you get to ride the waves and learn a lot from that.'
Some students though, may prefer to pick up another degree and delay
entering the workforce. NUS Business School final-year student Wang Fan, 22,
has already applied to several local and overseas universities to pursue his
Masters in financial engineering.
This is in the event that his attempts to land his 'ideal' job as a trader
with one of the banks here draw a blank. Some banks have already imposed
hiring freezes or are retrenching staff.
The school's vice-dean for undergraduate studies, Quek Ser Aik, said that
about 20 graduating students have already expressed their wish to use the
economic slowdown as an opportunity to further their studies instead of
entering the job market.
He said: 'The crisis is surely a concern for our students and for us. We
will certainly try our best to accommodate our students' requests should
they want to stay on to further their studies.'
As for junior college or polytechnic students entering universities, the
financial mayhem is unlikely to sway interest in finance-related degrees,
said the local varsities.
'We believe that banking and finance remains a very desirable field to our
students and those who are keen on this area would probably not be
deterred,' said Valerie Du Toit-Low, associate dean of undergraduate
business in NTU.
SMU's Mrs Sohmen-Pao also said that postgraduate programmes, such as those
related to management and finance, would retain their market value with or
without a financial crisis.
'Skills such as leadership, strategic management and finance will remain
evergreen and relevant to any profit organisation across any industry. We
are optimistic that subscription for postgraduate programmes will remain
strong even while the market goes on the road to recovery'.
[email protected]
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Number, range of jobs in companies' campus recruitment drives shrink
By LEE U-WEN AND EMILYN YAP
(SINGAPORE) Thanks to the global financial crisis, university students -
especially those due to graduate next year - are fast coming to terms with
the rising difficulty in landing their ideal job.
Companies are still recruiting from campuses but compared with the heady
days of 2006 and early 2007, the number and range of jobs available are
taking a hit.
This has led to many students coming up with a Plan B - such as staying in
school to pursue a Master's degree while waiting for the job market to
recover.
According to the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), companies which ran campus recruitment
drives in the past have returned this year. These include major banks and
financial institutions.
However, there has been a 'reduced number of placements' and the 'types of
roles available have changed,' said director of NTU's undergraduate career
services, Joyce Seidl-Tan. As the financial crisis unfolds, for instance,
more risk management and other mid and back-office functions have opened up.
'Firms are still hiring but very selectively,' observed Jason Low, a
23-year-old accountancy student who is graduating from NTU next year.
The cautious mood contrasts with the bright hiring landscape one or two
years ago. An NTU release in June said that nine out of 10 business school
graduates last year found jobs before graduation and the top students earned
between $8,000 and $15,000 monthly. Of the entire Class of 2007, about
two-thirds received multiple job offers.
The continued volatility in financial markets could affect the situation
further. While companies kept to their hiring plans for most of the year,
'it was only in October, when the economic volatility hit a peak, that
recruiters took a wait-and-see approach to hiring,' said NUS Business
School's director of career services, Joan Tay.
'The global financial and economic situation is still uncertain and the job
market could decline in all sectors in the coming months,' said director of
career services at the Singapore Management University (SMU), Ruth Chiang.
'Students may not receive multiple job offers now and have to be prepared to
accept job offers as they come.'
The climate is putting a dampener on wage expectations. 'As employers are
confronted with the need to adjust their cost base according to market
conditions, salary levels for fresh graduates of 2009 are likely to be lower
than the entry level salaries seen in 2007 and possibly in 2008,' said NTU's
Mrs Seidl-Tan.
But there is a bright spot amid the gloom. SMU's Lee Kong Chian School of
Business has noticed that the difficult employment market has made
graduating students evaluate their future careers more carefully.
'The tough job market... can also be a catalyst to more unconventional
career paths which may ultimately be more rewarding,' said Doris Sohmen-Pao,
director of SMU's MBA programme.
As NTU's Mr Low put it: 'A lot of people say it's best to start out in a
bear market because you get to ride the waves and learn a lot from that.'
Some students though, may prefer to pick up another degree and delay
entering the workforce. NUS Business School final-year student Wang Fan, 22,
has already applied to several local and overseas universities to pursue his
Masters in financial engineering.
This is in the event that his attempts to land his 'ideal' job as a trader
with one of the banks here draw a blank. Some banks have already imposed
hiring freezes or are retrenching staff.
The school's vice-dean for undergraduate studies, Quek Ser Aik, said that
about 20 graduating students have already expressed their wish to use the
economic slowdown as an opportunity to further their studies instead of
entering the job market.
He said: 'The crisis is surely a concern for our students and for us. We
will certainly try our best to accommodate our students' requests should
they want to stay on to further their studies.'
As for junior college or polytechnic students entering universities, the
financial mayhem is unlikely to sway interest in finance-related degrees,
said the local varsities.
'We believe that banking and finance remains a very desirable field to our
students and those who are keen on this area would probably not be
deterred,' said Valerie Du Toit-Low, associate dean of undergraduate
business in NTU.
SMU's Mrs Sohmen-Pao also said that postgraduate programmes, such as those
related to management and finance, would retain their market value with or
without a financial crisis.
'Skills such as leadership, strategic management and finance will remain
evergreen and relevant to any profit organisation across any industry. We
are optimistic that subscription for postgraduate programmes will remain
strong even while the market goes on the road to recovery'.
[email protected]
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
