Career Advice Detail Asean

General tips for finding and applying for a graduate job in Singapore

1.    Cover letter

The cover letter is a must – that is the same thing that every manager experienced in dealing with those seeking jobs in Singapore would tell you. Without a cover letter, your change of being selected for your desirable jobs will go down significantly.
A typical cover letter consists of three main parts:

•    First paragraph: explains why you are writing to the employer.
•    Second paragraph: explain why you are qualified for the job.
•    Final paragraph: highlight your desire for an interview and explain that you will call again within a specific time period.
 

In addition, the following checklist would help:

•    Avoid making the letter too long. The cover letter should not be longer than one page.
•    Do your research on the company and the position so that you can tailor the letter to the job for which you are applying.
•    Proofread your cover letter and look out for grammatical and spelling mistakes. Do not use contractions.
•    Use a professional font like Calibri or Arial and stick to a font size in the region of 10 – 12

More tips on writing a Cover letter

• http://hudson.sg/how-to-write-a-cover-letter  
• http://sg.jobsdb.com/en-sg/articles/crafting-cover-letter

Templates

• http://hudson.sg/cover-letter-templates
• http://community.jobscentral.com.sg/toolbox/coverletter.php

2.    Resume (CV)

A good resume is the key to an interview invide and ultimately, to employment. Aside from a summary of your experience and education, a resume should reveal the unique points that make you stand out from other candidates. An irresistible resume would be one that is tailored to address the specific need of a specific job, not a one-size-fits-all.
But what makes a resume outstanding? Basically, it should answer the following questions:

•    “Why should we hire you?”
•    “What can you value add to our organisation?”
•    “How can you best contribute to our company?”

A typical CV should be two pages in length and include the following parts:

•    Contact details
•    Opening statement (a two or three-sentence summary of how you best fit the role)
•    Work history
•    Education and training
•    Hobbies and interest
•    References

Resume Writing Tips and Types of Resumes

• http://www.jobstreet.com.sg/career-resources/how-to-write-a-winning-and-marketable-resume/
• http://www.jobstreet.com.sg/career-resources/resume-writing-tips-and-types-of-resume/
  http://hudson.sg/effective-cvs

CV templates

• http://hudson.sg/how-to-write-a-cv
• https://www.resumewriter.sg/resume-samples-tips/
• http://ntu.jobscentral.com.sg/files/sample/

3.    Interviews

An applicant should get hisself/ herself well prepared and ready for the interview. To be specific, you need to know your CV, your potential employer and understand commonly used interview styles.
Besides, your impression in the interview will be formed within the very first few seconds and might affect how the interview is carried out. Below are what you should notice to gain a favourable impression:

•    Dress appropriately - find out what is the dress code for the company and dress appropriately for the position
•    Never be late - It would be good to reach your destination 10 to 15 minutes before
•    Be friendly to anyone regardless of their position in the company
•    Greet interviewer with a firm handshake - to show the confidence you have of yourself

And finally, remember to thank the interviewer for their time and express that you appreciate the chance to be here for the interview.

Further interview advice can be found at:

Interview preparation tips

• http://www.jobstreet.com.sg/career-resources/10-ways-you-can-screw-up-your-job-interview/#.VXdqCM9Viko
• http://sg.jobsdb.com/en-sg/articles/eliminate-anxiety-job-interview
• http://hudson.sg/interview-preparation-guide

Tips for certain types of job

• http://www.stjobs.sg/career-resources/interview-tips/c/2/page5

Tips on answering interview questions

• http://www.wda.gov.sg/content/wdawebsite/L101-ForIndividuals/L704A-CareerLibrary/L403C-CareerSwitchInterviewQA.html

 Popular Job Search Websites

1 http://sg.jobsdb.com/sg - One of the biggest archives of Job openings in Singapore

2 http://www.careers.gov.sg/ - Job Portal by the Singapore Government. This portal is for all those experienced professionals looking for jobs by category, jobs by organisation and jobs by qualification.

3 https://singapore.job-q.com/

4 http://www.efinancialcareers.sg/ - Focused on Finance Jobs with additional great Tips

5 http://singapore.recruit.net/ - Job portal where you can do a job search, especially if you are looking for jobs in Singapore from or in Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia ,New Zealand, UK, USA Vietnam and the Philippines. 6 http://www.monster.com.sg/ 7 http://www.careerjet.sg - A search engine just like Google and Bing, it fetches job postings from recruiter website or newspapers and display the entire list 8 http://www.work.sg/ 9 http://sg.tiptopjob.com/