Friday 30 May 2014

The writing is on the wall - Degree and Jobs

By having a degree now, does it still guarantee you a good paying job and gainfully employed till you are retired. If this is your thinking, then you have not been in touch with the local news or you were overwhelmed by the news about Alibaba taking a stake in Singpost. This is very real, it had already happened since the Financial crisis.
I have listed below what had been reported in the News for the past few weeks.
  1. Will a degree still spell good pay?
  2. Degree holders face greatest risk of losing jobs
  3. What's a degree worth now?
  4. How graduates can beat the glut
  5. MOM flags potential graduate-glut issue
I can empathised with the lady mentioned in the news, who's last role was a project manager before she got retrenched in her 50s, and later on found a job but got a huge paycut. Imagine if she had over-geared or still servicing her huge home mortgage, the job loss would have caused lots of stress to her and family. Is this just a one off case, I dont think so. I have seen my ex-colleague who was layoff, coming out from the HR room crying because he has got a huge housing loan and he is the only breadwinner. There were also few friends of mine whom I know working in different industries were layoff from their company in the recent years. As the economy were reasonably well in this part of the world and jobs are still available in this country, most of them found another job after few months of searching. 
There will be many who will be graduating the next few months, I hope this post helps you in seeing things in a different perspective and be more prepared in years to come, for it will come and it is always good to be prepared.


A simple diagram to illustrate as a guide on what one can do at different stage in life. For e.g. in your 20s, you should be saving aggressively so that you have the first pot of gold to invest in your 30s. You might not get it right first time, but that is fine as long as you learn from your mistake and continue to learn. Ideally, in your 40s, you should be reaping the benefits from what you have sowed earlier. As most of us know that once you are in your 40s, you are vulnerable to job cuts.
You can read in the posts below which I had written last year.