SINGAPORE: A job listing requiring five years of experience for an administrative role is raising eyebrows online, with some calling the requirement “crazy” and “unrealistic” but others opining that this is a “normal” expectation for jobs these days.
The vacancy was flagged by a netizen who said she has been job-hunting for a while now and did not expect “how stupid” some of the criteria for jobs can be.
She posted a video sharing an example of some of these requirements and said one company is looking for a candidate with a GCE O-Level diploma at a minimum but with five years’ work experience in front desk operations and administration support.
“I don’t get the job market,” she said as she revealed that she has been turned down for other roles that require five years of experience, like Social Media Executive jobs, even though she can proficiently churn out social media content.
She ended the video asking, “I don’t get it. What’s the government doing?”
The video received mixed reactions online. Some said the criteria are not too bad as they are only looking for a Diploma-holder. One netizen said, “It just shows the company values experience more than qualifications. Their min is [O-level] as long as you have five years of relevant experience. This is quite normal for admin or front desk roles.”
They added, “I’ve seen JP Morgan executive admin job ads requiring min diploma with 15 years of experience. It’s also normal for a lot of people to only have O levels. It also does not mean diploma or degree holders are unemployable. It just means this role prioritises experience. Not every job values paper qualifications more than real work experience.”
Others, however, were more sceptical.
One commenter said, “It’s all about connections nowadays. There are even cases where it’s just nepo hires. They can put whatever requirements, but it’s all about who the hirer wants. I know of cases of people with HR background who know nothing about IT, given IT roles, while those who are knowledgeable are let go. It’s all about who the hirer wants.”
A more cynical commenter added, “It’s to say we didn’t find any suitable candidates and then hire cheap foreign labour.”
Another commenter echoed this view, saying, “They are probably putting these unrealistic requirements out there cos they probably [already] have an internal hire or FT in mind. Hence, they are farming for resumes so that they can justify the hire.”
One Singaporean, who has decided to join the armed forces after a fruitless job search that spanned four months, commiserated with the OP. They said, “I’ve applied over 100+ jobs, which is mixed from my field of study and others that are not related. I was only able to land a short-term contract job, which has ended, and I’m back to the same process again.”
The netizen opined, “Job market is really, really bad, I really hope the gov steps in and does something because this WSG and skillsfuture thing is clearly not helping a lot of people.”
One commenter felt the situation is unlikely to change. They wrote, “It’s the employers’ market now. They can set whatever ridiculous requirements they want, and people will still apply for it.”
