SINGAPORE – Learning opportunities and benefits at work rank highly among students as important attributes for their first jobs.
In a survey conducted by online job portal STJobs, respondents listed what they expected in a first job in order of importance: learning opportunities: learning opportunities, potential salary package, benefits at work, promotions, traveling opportunities and stability at work.
The survey was conducted on 300 students from polytechnics and universities.
Learning opportunities ranked highly because students recognise the importance of picking up new skills, STJobs said in a statement.
Meanwhile, 50 per cent of university undergraduates and 36 per cent of polytechnic undergraduates expressed an interest to work in multi-national corporations because of a higher starting salary. Additionally, only four per cent of university undergraduates and 10 per cent of polytechnic undergrduates were willing to work in start-ups.
STJobs also added that almost half of the polytechnic undergraduates expected a starting salary between $2,000 and $2,500, while university undergraduates expected their starting salary to be between $3,000 and $3,500.
Tangible rewards such as work benefits and opportunities for travel also ranked highly among undergraduates’ expectations, while stability at work was least important, reflecting their desire to “try different opportunities”.
prabukm@sph.com.sg
