The fresh grad job is now a third-year job

J is a second-year undergraduate taking the same course as my cousin at a local autonomous university.

- Lin Suling

Employers expect graduates to arrive pre-trained, with industry exposure and familiarity with real-world applications. Internships, once optional, have become a prerequisite to employment. To a large extent, what is happening may be an overall raising of the baseline, with a stronger graduate pool. ST FILE PHOTO

(ST FILE PHOTO)

He has just secured a summer programme in foreign exchange at a prestigious global bank - a seat so coveted, the firm filters through over 100 applications for just two spots. This would be his third internship, having completed a first in corporate banking at one of the big three local banks, and the second in foreign exchange at a prominent Japanese financial institution during a gap semester.

He spends his free time completing a CFA Institute certificate in private markets, preparing for business case competitions and meeting university alumni for career advice and references. He's also actively involved in his university investment club where his simulated portfolio has appreciated, after he made the call to go big on oil at the onset of the Iran war.

To J, a bachelor's degree is a necessary hassle, a credential he maintains with a near-perfect GPA so his resume doesn't get tossed out by an HR algorithm.

And to my cousin, J is the superstar peer fast becoming a personal role model, one whose trajectory offers a potentially replicable pathway to career success at a time of weakening local graduate employment outcomes.

POORER GRADUATE EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES

Singapore's graduate employment outcomes are strong by many international standards but the latest figures show worrying signs. In just three years, full-time employment six months after graduation among six autonomous universities has fallen by 13 percentage points.