Employer Shares Job Applicant Interviews With Locals
The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly affected everyone’s jobs in some way, be it positive or negative. For most of us, we definitely can’t expect the same level of benefits pre-Covid in our jobs in 2020.
An employer in Singapore shared some interview excerpts with Singaporean job-seekers for a job in his company.
While the employer didn’t state when the interviews took place, we’ll proceed with the assumption that they were conducted in 2020, post-Covid.
Employer interviews local workers with requests
The employer shared a total of 7 applicants for a job in the $3,000-$3,900 range, with 14 days’ annual leave.
All of them are Singaporean.
One of them requested that he not be bothered on weekends, although the employer stated that he may need to work weekends at times.
When the applicant heard that, he asked for weekend allowance instead of off-in-lieu, saying that this is required by law.
Applicant B, meanwhile, asked for transport allowances as the office is far away.
Yet another applicant asked for assistants, as he had some in his previous one.
However, the company is a small and medium enterprise (SME) and can’t offer him the same benefit. In response, the applicant said he’d look elsewhere and skipped the interview.
Applicant F requested that her termination notice be shortened to 1 week instead of 1 month as she was looking for a better job.
Applicants asked for monetary benefits
In the comments, the employer said that the interviewees had good qualifications and CVs.
However, while it is within the applicants’ rights to ask for requests, the employer felt like he was the one being interviewed.
Moreover, the economy is at its worst in a decade and there’s also a pandemic.
Many companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), are bleeding cash and trying to save costs and jobs.
It likely won’t be possible to offer the benefits they seek.
Being realistic in a struggling economy
While many of the applicants said that they received numerous benefits at their previous jobs like assistants and 21 days of annual leave, they’re definitely luxuries in the current economy.
Luxuries are naturally the first to go when the economy becomes lean.
The employer hopes that local job-seekers can appreciate this fact and to make it easier for HR to hire them over, say, foreigners.
That said, it’s not good to tar everyone with the same brush. Some locals may have managed to secure jobs with relatively fewer benefits in exchange for a stable salary.
There’s also a lack of context for the job in the post or its nature, as well as the company — all of these things can affect the expectations of people who apply.
Do you think that local employees are too demanding in job interviews, especially in this economy, or is it within their rights to make requests? Let us know in the comments.
Featured image adapted from The Smart Local.
