Asian graduates face shattered dreams as coronavirus pandemic ravages economies

When ride-hailing company Uber announced plans to lay off employees, Gavin Ng, a Singaporean PhD student at the University of Illinois, braced himself for some bad news.

His worst fears were confirmed when he received a call notifying him that his offer for a full-time job as a data scientist would be rescinded. "It is disappointing, definitely, but I understand that it's just business " no hard feelings," he said.

The 29-year-old, who is currently based in the US, has not received any offers since then and his student visa has only complicated matters for him. "I don't have any offers right now so I'm not really holding out for better offers. My plans are not set for now as I am in kind of a complicated situation with regard to my visa status and my PhD."

Singaporean PhD student Gavin Ng. Photo: Handout alt=Singaporean PhD student Gavin Ng. Photo: Handout

Ng is one of the millions of young people across Asia and around the world facing shattered dreams as the coronavirus has battered economies, forcing companies to withdraw job offers, freeze hiring, cut salaries and lay people off.

Fresh graduates have even started to use the hashtag #offerrescinded on employment-oriented social network LinkedIn, which jobseekers use to connect with employers, most sharing similar accounts of how their first job offer was withdrawn because of the pandemic.

Shrish Pandey, a student at Punjab Engineering College in India, had secured a full-time role as a data analyst with a major US airline during a recruitment drive last year. But "due to the Covid-19 crisis, the company has rescinded all offers globally," he wrote, alongside his contact details and the job roles he was interested in taking on.

Xingcheng Sun, who is graduating this summer from a computer science masters course at the University of Southern California, told of how his offer of a role with office leasing company WeWork had been rescinded on Wednesday.

In his post, Sun wrote that he was graduating in two days and would be able to start working soon. Like Pandey, he also included a copy of his resume.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned of the toughest graduate jobs market in 30 years. Photo: DPA alt=Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned of the toughest graduate jobs market in 30 years. Photo: DPA

Governments and institutions around the world have started pitching in to help their graduates. China has kicked off a 100-day campaign which includes expanding hiring for state-owned enterprises, schools and expanding army enlistment, while also announcing more subsidies for small businesses.

Chinese University of Hong Kong set up a relief fund to create about 100 jobs for students as part of its plans to mitigate the impact of the anti-government protests and the Covid-19 pandemic, while alumni of Hong Kong's Baptist University have offered hundreds of part-time jobs and internships to students, amid fears the unemployment rate among young adults in the city would soon hit double digits.

In Thailand, where the pandemic has hit the prospects of about 3000,000 soon to be graduates, according to Bangkok Post, a government minister has gone on record to promise more jobs for the unemployed.

And in Australia, where unemployment rates have reached a five-year high " with 13.8 per cent of young people out of work in April " Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged to give businesses some A$130 billion in subsidies to retain employees.

Amid what Morrison warned young Australians would be the toughest job market since the country's recession in the 1990s, Canberra has also launched Jobs Hub, to connect job-hunters with potential employers and provide them with updates on the labour market and tips on how to secure a job.

Singapore has put a focus on enhancing graduates' skills and experience. Photo: AP alt=Singapore has put a focus on enhancing graduates' skills and experience. Photo: AP

In Singapore, the focus has been on access to more education and training, with the city state's six autonomous universities offering 16,000 fresh graduates the opportunity to take up to four additional modules in a wide range of subjects free of charge.

Graduates can also receive a 70 per cent subsidy on the courses offered by SkillsFuture Singapore, a government agency which runs programmes to help workers acquire new skills, with the remainder to be paid by their university.

Almost 300 companies in the city state have opened up more than 4,000 positions under the government's SGUnited Traineeships Programme, which supports fresh graduates from higher educational institutes, but economists say the relatively small size of the jobs market in Singapore means job-hunters are in for more of a challenge than their peers in neighbouring countries.

"Without international travel opening up, including Asean travel, the accommodation industry, travel, convention, and many food and beverage businesses in Singapore simply can't return to 2019 levels of business," said Walter Theseira, an economist with the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Fresh graduates like Alicia Teng, a graduating journalism student from Nanyang Technological University, have found themselves facing uncertain futures after companies announced plans to freeze hiring. She had plans to apply for a full-time position as a content writer at Hong Kong-based travel and lifestyle website Klook, after completing a six-month internship there last year.

"I loved the company culture at Klook, performed relatively well at my position, and could see good career prospects there," she said, adding that though it would have been her "first choice", the company had put in place a hiring freeze.

Alicia Teng, right, had planned to apply for a full-time position at travel and lifestyle website Klook. Photo: Handout alt=Alicia Teng, right, had planned to apply for a full-time position at travel and lifestyle website Klook. Photo: Handout

Kitty Tan, the director of recruitment firm EPS Consultants Singapore, advised graduates in similar situations not to hold out for positions and look for opportunities elsewhere. "Depending on the impact on the business, the company may not revisit the hiring and may even put off the hiring totally," she said.

Others emphasise that this is an opportunity for graduates to do something meaningful with their time, which will improve their chances of landing a job when the economy improves.

Ian Lee, regional head for the Asia-Pacific at The Adecco Group, a human resources provider, said that the government initiatives like Singapore's will allow students to obtain "the necessary experience and up-skilling required in the post-pandemic world".

"Companies will continue to hire graduates in the long term and we know for sure that the employers will look for things beyond grade point averages and textbook knowledge," he said.

This was echoed by Linda Teo, country manager at ManpowerGroup Singapore, who said "employers will question candidates about employment gaps [and] it will not reflect well on fresh graduates if they are not doing anything to further their knowledge or career during this period".

On top of signing up for government initiatives, Teo suggested that fresh graduates connect with recruiters on LinkedIn or write in to companies for internships.

Volunteering is another option for graduates, according to Erman Tan, former president of Singapore Human Resources Institute, as is starting their own business " something that Joel Tan, a final year student at the Singapore Institute of Technology's Culinary Institute of America has already done.

The 24-year-old was set for a year-long internship programme working under celebrity chef Dominique Crenn in San Francisco, but his offer was retracted after the number of cases in the US started to increase.

Instead of giving up, he partnered with a fellow chef to launch Project CBK, which stands for Circuit Breaker Kooks, in reference to the city state's "circuit breaker" antivirus restrictions. The initiative has rallied 30 young chefs together to provide eateries with much-needed manpower, all for free.

"As someone involved in the food and beverage industry, I felt useless not being able to do a single thing for the industry I loved being in as well as grew up with. I knew I wanted to help in some way or another," he said.

Final year culinary student Joel Tan. Photo: Handout alt=Final year culinary student Joel Tan. Photo: Handout

Making the best of a bad situation and focusing on physical and mental well-being was a point emphasised by Lee from The Adecco Group.

"It is OK to feel this way [anxious or stressed] but ensure that you take the right measures to protect your health and navigate ways you can build resilience in such situations," he said.

"Your story here may speak louder to your potential employers than the numbers and qualifications on your CV."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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