SINGAPORE: For fresh graduates, jobs in the banking and financial sector have lost some shine.
This year's JobsFactory Employers of Choice survey showed a significant
drop in the rankings of financial institutions, with only four banks in
the top 10 - DBS Bank leading in sixth position - compared to six last
year. The other banks were Citigroup, Barclays Capital Global Services
and Deutsche Bank.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) is the employer of choice - for the second
year running - followed by Apple Computer, Google, 3M and ExxonMobil.
"The SIA brand name is synonymous with quality, class and growth. Many
fresh graduates translated that positive brand image to mean a
desirable work place," said JobsFactory's director Lim Der Shing.
But this has not meant an increase in applications from fresh
graduates due to the "difficult operating environment", SIA told
MediaCorp.
"The recruitment freeze is still currently in place, although there are
plans to resume limited recruitment for cabin crew to address
attrition," said spokesman Nicholas Ionides.
SIA, however, has been receiving applications from fresh graduates for
positions in the station manager trainee and pilot trainee schemes.
Likewise, Google has not hired any fresh graduates, but is open to
hiring more as the economy improves next year, said South-east Asia
head of corporate communications Dickson Seow. Google moved up two
notches to third place this year, and Apple, from seventh to second.
"Apple's good performance this year could be due to its growing
reputation as a global leader in technological innovation and marketing
savvy, while Google's increasing dominance on the Internet and
attractive corporate culture could be reasons behind its popularity,"
said Mr Lim.
The banking and financial sector remains the most sought after
industry to work in after airline and travel, engineering, government
and public service, and education. It is still regarded as a sector
where "good salaries are possible", said Adecco's director of
information technology Rohit Chattree.
Salary expectations also increased although "attractive pay,
bonuses and other monetary compensation" came in second to "good career
growth and opportunities" for an employer of choice. It rose about 5
per cent to S$2,805 from S$2,655 last year. Among top graduates, the
increase was about 6 per cent - to S$2,944 from S$2,767.
Graduates may look for higher salaries if the sector they want to
work in is recovering quickly and experiencing growth, said Mr
Chattree, referring to pharmaceuticals, and, to a lesser extent, IT.
It could also be that more than half of the 3,000 polled were those with a Second Upper Honours or Magna Cum Laude and above.
- TODAY/sc