Career intelligence from the inside. Real stories from recruiters and candidates across Asia-Pacific.
I graduated from NUS in December and started applying for marketing roles in January. My lecturer told me the going rate for a fresh grad in marketing was around SGD 4,000 to 4,500. So when I got to the offer stage with a mid-sized agency in Tanjong...
I was a Regional Head of Operations for a European bank in Hong Kong. Fourteen years. Good performance reviews, decent relationships, the lot. Then in March they restructured the Asia desk and my role was "consolidated" into a global function...
I moved from Jakarta to Singapore two years ago. My husband got transferred and I was looking for finance roles here. Back home I was a Senior Accountant at a manufacturing company, so I thought it would be quite straightforward to find something...
I graduated from NUS in December and started applying for marketing roles in January. My lecturer told me the going rate for a fresh grad in marketing was around SGD 4,000 to 4,500. So when I got to the offer stage with a mid-sized agency in Tanjong...
I was a Regional Head of Operations for a European bank in Hong Kong. Fourteen years. Good performance reviews, decent relationships, the lot. Then in March they restructured the Asia desk and my role was "consolidated" into a global function...
I moved from Jakarta to Singapore two years ago. My husband got transferred and I was looking for finance roles here. Back home I was a Senior Accountant at a manufacturing company, so I thought it would be quite straightforward to find something...
When my firm offered me a transfer from Canary Wharf to Raffles Place, the headline number looked brilliant. A 30% bump on base, housing allowance, education allowance for the kids. On paper, a no-brainer. Six months in and I've done...
I'm a project manager. Eight years experience, PMP certified, good track record. I was looking to move from construction into tech — same function, different industry. Seemed reasonable. The first three interviews were disasters. Not in...
I was doing well. Enterprise software sales, based in Sydney, OTE around AUD 180K and I was hitting it. Good team. Good product. On paper, everything was sweet. I quit in February. People thought I was mad. My manager...
Five years. That's how long I was out. My youngest started P1 this year and I decided it was time. I used to be in HR — talent acquisition, specifically. I was pretty good at it. Ironic, then, that I found applying for jobs myself...
I know my stuff. I've been doing backend development for nine years, mostly Go and Python, some Rust lately. I can architect distributed systems. I can debug things at 2am. I've shipped products that handle millions of requests. But put me in...
I've been a recruiter for four years. Started at a big agency in Central, now at a boutique firm doing mid-senior finance roles. I see the same mistakes from candidates constantly and honestly some of them are easy fixes. ## You think we work...
I'm from KL. I studied at Monash Malaysia and got a grad offer from a consulting firm in Singapore. Everyone said congratulations. I said thank you and then quietly panicked for three weeks. I'd never lived alone before. I'd never lived...
I spent four years at a GLC. I won't name which one but if you've lived in Singapore you can probably narrow it down. I left last year for a private sector role and the contrast is... significant. ## The good Job security. Genuinely...
I was an Account Director at a SaaS company in Sydney. Three years in. Good reviews. Promoted twice. I thought I was being paid well — AUD 125K base plus commission. Then I went for a coffee with a mate who'd just started at a competitor...