Morning Coffee: Fresh grads in Singapore warn peers: don’t job hop!

Young people in Singapore should be less fussy about the first banking job they take and less willing to move between banks for a minor pay rise, reports the Straits Times from yesterday’s NUS Business School commencement ceremony.

Surprisingly, this career advice came not from the ceremony’s senior guest speakers but from two graduating students. “One problem my peers face in the finance industry is the inability to find, not a job, but their ideal job. Actually in Singapore there’s always a job for you, it’s just whether or not you want it,” Kevin Yap, 25, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Business Administration, told the Straits Times.

Valedictorian Ong Zhe Han, 26, added that his generation needs patience, and the ability to “stop in the moment”. In career terms this means: “Instead of taking a short-term view and…to job hop for a few hundred dollars, we should put our heads down and do the best we can.”

If junior finance professionals in Singapore followed Yap and Ong’s advice, recruiters and hiring managers would have reason to celebrate. To date, however, it seems they are still happy to job hop.

“It’s fairly common in Asia to see young finance professionals leaving positions after a year, or even less,” Duncan McKenzie, a senior consultant at recruiters Astbury Marsden in Singapore, told us last week. “Banks seem to have lost patience with this and are pushing back on any candidates who have lots of unjustifiable short-term roles on their CVs.”

Meanwhile:

AIIB office could be set up in Hong Kong, says Financial Secretary John Tsang. (South China Morning Post)

Chinese shares in Hong Kong follow mainland into bear market. (Bloomberg)

Why Temasek remains upbeat on China. (South China Morning Post)

Beijing’s response to stock selloff reveals deep insecurity. (Wall Street Journal)

Noble launches independent review of accounting practices after criticism. (Straits Times)

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