Sometimes, a promotion isn’t all that great
As a headhunter, I got a call out of the blue one day from a dream candidate. Lisa* told me she was looking for a more junior role compared to her current job. It’s a rare call – the first…
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The journey up your career Everest is full of challenges. Here’s how to conquer it
In 2019, Jeremy Tong – the then 29-year-old Singaporean successfully scaled up Mount Everest. Stories like his often get romanticised, but his journey climbing the world’s tallest mountain was anything but rosy. The path to the summit was full of…
Want your dream job? Here are the career milestones to hit at every age
When a former colleague, Eliza*, who has dedicated years in tech start-ups, quit and joined a government-linked company (GLC), it came as a surprise. Why the drastic change? Then she broke it down for me: The horrendous long hours, non-existent…
Driving a Grab full-time right after graduation. Should you do it?
There is a reason why cab drivers are often referred to as taxi uncles. Most are of an older generation and a huge proportion remain men. There is no data to back this but, anecdotally, in my last 10 taxi…
What to do when the HR recruiter ghosts you
One of my first office jobs was temping for NTUC Income’s human resources (HR) department. The bulk of my time was spent on mail merge, printing out hundreds of rejection letters to mail out to unselected job applicants. Despite how…
Giving feedback, the trickiest task that pains every manager
It was just after 4pm when one of my managers and I kicked off our weekly catch up. We went through the usual numbers, and after going through a few other items, eventually arrived at the finale – me letting…
Rockstar internships are for rockstar interns
A reader’s comment on my commentary on lousy internships caught my eye. She mentioned she had to handhold interns to run data, do up the analysis, and prepare a presentation – and in the end, the work they submitted was unchecked, sloppy and…
Not the end of the world, when you get a ‘lousy internship’ with mindless tasks
John was doing a six-month internship at a global biomedical company. As an undergraduate pursuing a science degree, he expects to gain relevant hands-on experience to supplement what he learned back in university. This would include checking for possibly harmful interactions…
