Folks who have been unemployed for more than 6 months, how are you doing?

I personally fall into this category and I don’t feel so good. I was doing design prior to enlisting but I’ve practically stopped doing anything related during my 2 years in NS.

So my relationship with design is basically broken but it’s the only education and work experience I had, if you count internships.

I could just do up my portfolio with all my old works but I feel like I’d just be lying to myself and suffer imposter’s syndrome if I do get a job with it.

It’s been months since I ORDed, my portfolio is undone and I’m obviously unemployed. Now I just look back on the time I’ve wasted, in shame.

Though I’ve been looking at other available jobs, I just feel under qualified with my lack of experience. There’s just so much overthinking, while my savings are depleting.

Netizens’ comments

1. Job market went to shit right as I started looking, I decided to sign up for SCTP for potentially higher paying skillset, paid 0 nett (since I used subsidies + skillsfuture credit + last few hundred from PSEA), hopefully i will land a role soon enough…
   My savings are alright.. I spend very little, I got a side income, but that’s dwindled abit since I am focusing on studying. Building a portfolio through my assignments and projects, but not sure it will be enough. Hiring for entry level roles are quite full of shit now, if I am honest, without even considering the competition.
   Gigs are still alright, if you need it to make up for the meantime.
2. If you feel a lack of confidence, maybe start doing some projects of your own to get back in the groove while applying? I’m sure many non profits or small set ups wouldn’t mind a free do up.
3. Don’t give up! Try to do something that you find interest with. Maybe you can take on some part-time jobs while you are trying to find your direction. Sometimes, other experiences in life will bring you in the right direction!
4. I feel and fear that. In NS rn, have a diploma in animation. But i’m starting to think it was a bad idea because I don’t have the time to work on a portfolio to further my studies in that industry.

My father’s unemployed, my mom’s broke and I don’t have money and am stressed

My mom’s is the only breadwinner of the family. My father is unemployed for many months already. Hes the type that will work for a few weeks then quit for lamest reasons.

I’m nw in my sec year of poly and i’m 22. I feel that it’s also my fault cos I don’t save money cos I suck at it. I’m a spend thrift as I mostly spend on food.

I always wanted to put aside my money in a money binder thing but I don’t seem to do it. With just my mom working, I receive an allowance of $250 every month.

Honestly speaking i don’t find it sufficient as food in poly is ex + transportation even tho I use student card. Initially I wanted to work during the term break, but cos my gpa was not good my mother forbid me from working and told me to focus on my studies instead.

Tbh idk how my fam and I are going to survive till 2 more weeks. My mom’s salary will oni be at the end of the month. And schools starting next week and i’m very stressed at this point of time.

My timetable is also not flexible as most of my classes start at 9 and ends at 6. One of my friend recently received a scholarship money of $5k.

I actually wanted to ask her for $30 for the week and pay her once I get my allowance at the end of the month but I damn paiseh to ask her as i’m afraid it will strain the relationship between me and her. I honestly have no idea what to do.

Sorry if it’s unorganized I have a lot going on in my head but thanks for reading guys!

Netizens’ comments

1. Every poly has its own financial assistance scheme. Talk to your school’s student affairs department.
   Also, explore working on weekends since your timetable is inflexible. Tons of F&Bs hiring, and usually weekend rates higher. Start with joints like Starbucks, Subway, Coffee Bean etc
   If you feel you’re academically competent, you can also give tuition to primary school or sec school kids, or even your year 1 juniors.
   Also, start looking for internships. Don’t wait till final year. Internship gives you headstart in your professional career. Helps to raise your pay earlier than your peers.
   OP, I know it’s very stressful for you now. I’ve been though your situation. I had to start supporting myself financially at the age of 17. What you have to do is to focus on solution. Brooding over the problems will only give you anxiety, the problems won’t go away on their own.
   Hang in there. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Ganbatte!
2. Your friend earned her $5k scholarship but your first thought is to borrow $30 instead of thinking about how to make $30? Among students, I don’t believe none of your friends/classmates got no lobang for part-time jobs. Plenty of ad-hoc jobs cash pay if you bother to search on gumtree, telegram, facebook groups etc. Banquet job these days will fetch you 10-12 per hour min, with each shift usually lasting 5-6 hours, that’s double your $30. Even tutoring primary school kids will fetch you 15-25 per hour (probably more now).
   Let’s say your classes are 9-6 every day (which I highly doubt), and you need to study or whatnot at night (doubt you spent your entire term break or free time studying either), you are still left with 2 full days on the weekends to either do something useful (or look for someone else to borrow $30 from).
   Also, every poly course will have a course coordinator/counselor, so seek help from them.
   You are 22, not 12. If you really empathize with your mom, then between adding on or lightening her load, the choice is very clear.

What exactly is causing the bad job market now?

As above. Recently so many ppl saying the job market is bad and it’s reallyyy hard to land a job. But we are not in any recession nor is there any big global event like the Asian financial crisis or 2008 recession.

I thought that only tech is affected due to the layoffs but looks like almost every industry is affected.

Can’t believe that just in 2022, there was shortage of labour and companies were fighting left and right to hire and it was so easy to land multiple offers. What caused such a big change in a short time?

Netizens’ comments

1. I saw a job listing looking for data entry clerk for $1.5k per month, but requires master’s degree. You say leh?
2. It’s getting expensive for large companies to take on debt to expand operations, and simultaneously fresh investor capital is being diverted away to fixed deposits or other securities with higher ROIs.
   The impact on the global economy is decreased demand for goods and services, transmitting down the supply chains to virtually all businesses whether they want to borrow money or not.
   This is across the entire global economy, almost everywhere is facing the same issue with decreased economic activity.
3. Not too relevant but whats with all the associate roles requiring 5-8yrs experience? I still try to go ahead and apply but they said lack experience. Isn’t associate lvl around 2/3yrs exp?
4. I feel like it is really sector-specific. Some industry sectors are still very aggressively hiring, especially for those in construction industry, or roles like electricians, technicians, F&B, retail and certain service industries, especially those closely tied to tourism industries.
   But one thing is industry-specific knowledge. I often hear that your first job often defines the rest of your career and that is true in Singapore. When certain industries like tech or finance are going through a bad time, it can be difficult to switch to other industries.
   Another reason is salary expectations. Most positions in service-related sectors, who is still hiring, don’t pay well, at best around $2K to $3K.

My 16-year-old daughter has recently gone vegan, due to her wanting to help out the earth more, and I’ve been extremely supportive. I promised to make her vegan meals alongside with my non-vegan meals. She was happy about that.

I’m a single dad, and I do all the cooking, cleaning, etc, and I get really tuckered out by the end of the day. Recently, work has been keeping me late with a bunch of new projects & documents, and by the time I get home, it’s almost around the time you’d eat supper, and I’m about ready to sleep. And on top of having to make MY meal, I have to make a whole seperate meal just for my daughter.

However, I would push through even if I was tired. After about 2 weeks of it, though I decided my daughter’s vegan diet was most likely a phase, as I’ve seen multiple people go through this vegan/vegetarian thing. I decided it was not worth breaking my back over, when it would be so much easier to just make one meal for us both.

I immediately let her know, and I told her my reasoning, and that in a few months, she’d probably not even remember the time when she had wanted to go vegan, and I just honestly couldn’t keep putting myself through extra labor. She called me a bad father straight away, and told me I was ignorant to her feelings and her diet was not my choice. I understand that, but I don’t feel her “diet” should make me have more work to do.

I finally told her I was not going to change my mind, and she could either eat the meal I made, or she could go buy her food herself. She continued to call me a huge AH.

So whats wrong? What should I do.

Here are what netizens think:

• You went from doing 100% of the work to stopping altogether with little notice. Try her making her own meals, or making some of the family meals vegan, or some kind of compromise. Telling her it’s just a phase and she’ll forget all about it in a few months was really condescending. She might have forgotten about being vegan–but she’ll never forget you being a jerk to her like that.

• What is it with people thinking that anyone under the age of 18 has no long-term memory? I can remember my childhood – including the legitimate phases I went through. Whether or not this is a phase, a 16yo is not going to have her memory erased by the Men In Black in a month’s time.

• this is something a lot of people fail to realize. we all go through a ton of phases through our life. just because they eventually end doesn’t mean they’re completely erased and mean nothing. when you think about it, there are so many things in life that don’t stick with us forever. high school is a phase that will eventually end. should we have just not cared about it? pets don’t live forever, and their existence in your home is a phase of your life, so should you just not care and never get a pet to begin with?

I know it seems like a dumb thing to end my marriage over. But after dealing with this for so long I’m finally done.

My wife and I are both in our 30s. We have a daughter. My wife has always been pretty into appearances but it was never that bad. She just wanted things to look nice when people came over.

Then she started a Instagram page for moms and got a massive amount of followers, about 400 thousand since our daughter was born.

Ever since then I feel like I don’t live in a house I live in an Instagram photo shoot.

There can’t be any proof we actually live here. My wife stresses so much about things looking good that she doesn’t actually enjoy the moment. She started a fight with me right after our daughter took her first steps because I had put my drink down on the table behind her and it’s “all she could see” and how she’d need to edit it out of the video. She called me a selfish prick for putting my drink down on a coffee table to watch my daughter take her first steps.

Our daughters bedroom is just a mass of beige and cream, there’s barely any toys in it which was fine while our daughter was small but now she’s getting older. My wife refuses to buy her any toys that don’t match her “aesthetic” My mother took my daughter to the store and let her pick out a toy, she picked out this doll house from this show she watches, she got all of the dolls and furniture, and my wife told her she had to keep it at my mothers house because there was “no place for it at home” (she absolutely had room for it).

My wife is convinced I’m leaving for another woman, I’m having an affair, etc, but I’m not. I just can’t keep feeling like I live in a museum where I can’t touch or move anything, I can’t even build a blanket fort with my kid without my wife flipping out that they’re “decorative blankets” that she had folded a special way. I’m not going to force my daughter to live in an “aesthetic”.

I wish I had a good loving mother. When I was younger (Im 18 guy now) I didn’t really understand how horrible of a mother she is.

She was abusive, selfish, and terrible at being a mother. I would be jealous of the other kids at school of how loving their mothers are. During primary school, I would make her gifts during Mother’s Day but every time I gave it to her she never really care.

And I’ve never been praised for the works I’ve done and she never had asked me anything really. She would gamble a lot and lose lots of money, when that happens my parents would get into an argument.

She doesn’t even watch her own kids, I have a little sister and she was born in 2019 but she just goes out and has fun while her kids are watching the baby. She doesn’t even do the work around the house it’s always the kids that gotta clean, and she’ll be complaining like why didn’t you guys do this or that.

Like you’re the mother you’re supposed to do those too and she doesn’t even cook for her kids. When I was 11 it was when I had enough, I lost hope already for her. There’s no way anything good is gonna happen. I know it’s a young age but I was a child and a child deserves to be loved. Growing up in a toxic household just breaks my heart and that’s why I have to my sure my younger siblings get all the love they can. I still remember all the terrible doings she did and she’s evil asf. I really hate her and I feel like it just keeps growing.

Here are what netizens think:

• For the sake of your siblings, you have suck it up and really do it till they grow older

• Well, one way is for you to work real hard and get rich fast so you can probably move out with your siblings. But you have to wait till ur siblings get to a legal age before doing so.

• Seek help from Ministry of Social and Family development, they might be able to send someone over to asses the situation.