More grads with higher degrees unemployed

This message was forwarded to you from Straits Times Interactive
(http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg) by MellanieHewlitt@CNN.com
By: Jerome Stavros Yeo
Feb 1, 2005

WITH all the talk about jobs, unemployment and working till a 'ripe old age', it is indeed strange that I have been increasingly meeting qualified individuals who have been left on the shelf. These people are usually past 35, 40 years of age and have post-graduate degrees.

A friend of mine with a master's degree is a case in point. Having spent 15 years in Britain with a top global company, he and many others I have spoken to are left jobless, some for more than a year!

I am baffled as to why these qualified individuals are jobless. If we are encouraged to continue working after retirement, where does this leave our over 35s and 40s?

It seems that the mindset in the corporate world in Singapore is to hire young/younger graduates, leaving these very qualified batch of people out in the cold.

If this trend continues, it looks like experience counts for nothing and upgrading of skills is useless, as employers seem to be impervious to one's qualifications and experience. They appear to hire only the cheapest instead of persons of 'quality'.

An alarming trend indeed and one that runs counter to the Government's encouragement to all to keep on working even after retirement.

I hope that employers will take note and use their 'qualitative eye' to judge candidates as these older individuals usually have a wealth of experience that is still valuable in today's globalised world.

Jerome Stavros Yeo