Man using his laptop to search for jobs
15 years in Singapore hospitality, 12 months unemployed: ‘I’m genuinely baffled why I’m rejected’
SINGAPORE: A 15-year veteran of Singapore's hospitality industry has taken to Reddit to describe a job search that has stretched a full year without a single offer, and his account is drawing attention to just how punishing the city-state's white-collar job market has become.
Writing on the r/singaporejobs subreddit on Monday (Sep 21), the anonymous jobseeker said he was at a loss to explain the steady stream of rejections and silences he has encountered.
“I am genuinely baffled why I’m ghosted or rejected,” he wrote on the r/singaporejobs subreddit on Monday (Sep 21). “I’m hitting a wall and honestly appalled at how brutal the SG job market is right now!”
The jobseeker said he has spent the past 15 years working across five-star hotels and luxury co-working and workspace management, with plenty of experience to put on his CV.
He has led teams, managed global VIP and corporate accounts, overseen floor operations, dealt with service recovery, and worked with service-level agreements (SLAs), among other responsibilities.
Yet none of that appears to have made the job hunt any easier.
He said he is not holding out for a particular salary either. In fact, he is willing to take a pay cut if it means getting back into employment.
He has also tried the usual job-hunting rituals: tailoring his CV for different positions, tapping his professional network and working through whatever advice and tips he could find.
Still, nothing seems to have stuck.
For months, he has been applying for guest relations, client success, operations lead, and other positions that overlap with his previous experience. According to him, the result has mostly been the same: applications sent off, followed by either a rejection or complete silence.
“I've reached out to my networks, but everyone just agrees that the market is brutal but there are NO JOBS,” he wrote. “I’m frustrated as hell [and my] savings are depleted.”
“Is luxury ops pigeonholing me as ‘just a hotel person’?” he asked. “Are companies ghost-posting? Or what am I missing?”
Unsure whether his experience is an anomaly or a symptom of something broader, he ended by asking fellow Redditors whether they too are “hitting this wall in SG right now,” adding, “Really need a reality check or some actual human insight.”
‘You’re definitely not alone’
In the comments, one user suggested looking beyond Singapore for opportunities. “Think outside the box....apply overseas ... world is bigger than Singapore,” one user wrote.
Another advised him to take on whatever work he could find in the meantime. “Do something on the side to earn money till you find a job. Or you join the property or FA industry. Don’t bother with the stigma because people are gonna talk shit about you no matter what you do. At the end of the day, they are not the ones who are gonna put food on your table.”
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A third agreed, writing, “Unpopular opinion: it's not that there are literally no jobs. It's how low you are willing to go. Fnb, cleaners, etc. always hiring. Question is, are you willing and/or desperate enough if money is as tight as you say it is?”
Others, meanwhile, shared they could relate to the difficulties of spending months searching for work without success.
One said, “You’re definitely not alone. Many of us have been hitting the same wall, and it seems to be happening globally too.”
“Aww man, this sounds rather harrowing. Yes, 12 months of joblessness is definitely gonna take a toll on you,” the user wrote. “I’ve visited some recruitment and job search subreddits and have seen some users saying they’ve been out of a job for more than 10 yrs!”/TISG