after the slog of varsity, we merit top pay, don't we?
The Gen Y has been set loose into the workforce - with ambition, aptitude and attitude. What are their expectations as they start their career climb? YouthInk writers probe the issue
To strive, to seek - life's an odyssey
CAREER progression for my generation of jobseekers hinges less on loyalty and more on achieving one's fullest potential.
The sentiment on the street is experimentation: A modern-day quest to discover where our passions lie, knowing that the job we start with will not be the one we retire on.
To label fresh graduates fickle- minded for our lack of 'loyalty' is therefore missing the point.
David Brooks of the New York Times best summed up this period of instability and fluidity as the 'odyssey years'.
It is an ethos that is unsatisfied with mere income but aims to fulfil higher goals.
A comfortable pay package is always welcome, but not the deciding factor - what is indispensable is the opportunity to pursue my passions.
There is simply little incentive for us to stick to a job which fails to ignite our higher ideals.
My odyssey must therefore continue until it finds satisfaction.
Abdullah Luqman Hussin, 25, is graduating in sociology from the national university of singapore
Binding rule of pragmatism
ONE of the top lamentations of my peers in junior college would be the low starting salaries here.
Recent employment survey results from SMU and NTU indicate that their Class of 2007 is taking home an average salary of $3,040 and $2,900, respectively.
But for some of my peers, those figures are a pittance: They want five figures.
After all, they are among the top academic performers in their batch - they have always aimed to be the best.
I don't believe they should be faulted for this - society's pressures and parents' concerns all contributed in cultivating this mindset.
I declined a scholarship at the urging of my parents and ex-colleagues from the offer board.
Their reasoning: It is better to read law and command a higher pay as a lawyer - very practical advice in light of the rising costs of living and supporting a family.
These are pragmatic issues every age group has to grapple with, not just youths.
Samantha Eng, 19, has a place to read law at the University of Warwick
Higher starting pay, more self-respect
AN ATTRACTIVE pay package will be my foremost concern when I enter the workforce.
It's never a good feeling trying to live hand-to-mouth day after day. There's no pleasure in struggling through work just to put food on the table.
Furthermore, how much you earn factors into your concept of self-worth. A five-figure salary is definitely going to inject more confidence into someone than a far lesser sum.
You acquire respect, a sense of achievement and greater self-esteem in a high-paying job: It's long-entrenched human nature.
So if I have to be mercenary when searching for my first job, I will.
Eef Gerard van Emmerik, 19, has a place to read law in SMU
Just products of society
TO ME, graduates are nothing more than mere statistics with paper qualifications - individuals who have learnt life's lessons from textbooks.
Isn't that the way we have been raised?
The cyclical pattern of school work, tuition and co-curricular activities (CCA) was what I lived by as I went through school.
The way to solve an exam question was to consult model answers and not participating in a CCA was never an option.
Herein lies the irony - youths have adhered to the 'rules' dictated by previous generations,
but there seems no way of ever pleasing them at the end of the journey.
Perhaps it would be better for managers to employ individuals just based on personality, rather than the academically-endorsed candidates produced by the system.
Alicia Ng, 24, is a final-year accountancy student at the Singapore Management University (SMU)
Grunt work is not for her
WHEN I graduate this year and start my first full-time job, I expect to be gainfully employed.
So called 'grunt work' - filing, photocopying, making administrative arrangements for office conferences - should not be part of my portfolio.
It should be my secretary's lot. And yes, that means I expect to have a secretary.
Does that make me an arrogant 'Gen Y' graduate?
It makes me a Gen Y graduate, but arrogance has nothing to do with it.
Efficiency is the issue here - offices would be better off if skills and abilities were allocated optimally.
The goal is to utilise individuals in a manner which produces the best results from the worker.
You don't make neurosurgeons serve hospital meals.
Simply put, I expect to be given work which requires the skills of a graduate.
Angela Xu, 22, is a post-graduate in law at University College London
To strive, to seek - life's an odyssey
CAREER progression for my generation of jobseekers hinges less on loyalty and more on achieving one's fullest potential.
The sentiment on the street is experimentation: A modern-day quest to discover where our passions lie, knowing that the job we start with will not be the one we retire on.
To label fresh graduates fickle- minded for our lack of 'loyalty' is therefore missing the point.
David Brooks of the New York Times best summed up this period of instability and fluidity as the 'odyssey years'.
It is an ethos that is unsatisfied with mere income but aims to fulfil higher goals.
A comfortable pay package is always welcome, but not the deciding factor - what is indispensable is the opportunity to pursue my passions.
There is simply little incentive for us to stick to a job which fails to ignite our higher ideals.
My odyssey must therefore continue until it finds satisfaction.
Abdullah Luqman Hussin, 25, is graduating in sociology from the national university of singapore
Binding rule of pragmatism
ONE of the top lamentations of my peers in junior college would be the low starting salaries here.
Recent employment survey results from SMU and NTU indicate that their Class of 2007 is taking home an average salary of $3,040 and $2,900, respectively.
But for some of my peers, those figures are a pittance: They want five figures.
After all, they are among the top academic performers in their batch - they have always aimed to be the best.
I don't believe they should be faulted for this - society's pressures and parents' concerns all contributed in cultivating this mindset.
I declined a scholarship at the urging of my parents and ex-colleagues from the offer board.
Their reasoning: It is better to read law and command a higher pay as a lawyer - very practical advice in light of the rising costs of living and supporting a family.
These are pragmatic issues every age group has to grapple with, not just youths.
Samantha Eng, 19, has a place to read law at the University of Warwick
Higher starting pay, more self-respect
AN ATTRACTIVE pay package will be my foremost concern when I enter the workforce.
It's never a good feeling trying to live hand-to-mouth day after day. There's no pleasure in struggling through work just to put food on the table.
Furthermore, how much you earn factors into your concept of self-worth. A five-figure salary is definitely going to inject more confidence into someone than a far lesser sum.
You acquire respect, a sense of achievement and greater self-esteem in a high-paying job: It's long-entrenched human nature.
So if I have to be mercenary when searching for my first job, I will.
Eef Gerard van Emmerik, 19, has a place to read law in SMU
Just products of society
TO ME, graduates are nothing more than mere statistics with paper qualifications - individuals who have learnt life's lessons from textbooks.
Isn't that the way we have been raised?
The cyclical pattern of school work, tuition and co-curricular activities (CCA) was what I lived by as I went through school.
The way to solve an exam question was to consult model answers and not participating in a CCA was never an option.
Herein lies the irony - youths have adhered to the 'rules' dictated by previous generations,
but there seems no way of ever pleasing them at the end of the journey.
Perhaps it would be better for managers to employ individuals just based on personality, rather than the academically-endorsed candidates produced by the system.
Alicia Ng, 24, is a final-year accountancy student at the Singapore Management University (SMU)
Grunt work is not for her
WHEN I graduate this year and start my first full-time job, I expect to be gainfully employed.
So called 'grunt work' - filing, photocopying, making administrative arrangements for office conferences - should not be part of my portfolio.
It should be my secretary's lot. And yes, that means I expect to have a secretary.
Does that make me an arrogant 'Gen Y' graduate?
It makes me a Gen Y graduate, but arrogance has nothing to do with it.
Efficiency is the issue here - offices would be better off if skills and abilities were allocated optimally.
The goal is to utilise individuals in a manner which produces the best results from the worker.
You don't make neurosurgeons serve hospital meals.
Simply put, I expect to be given work which requires the skills of a graduate.
Angela Xu, 22, is a post-graduate in law at University College London
