Fresh Grad? First Jobber? This is What it's Like to Have Jobstreet as Your First Job

Meet Joyce, the youngest in the office at 24 years old, a fresh graduate straight from university. She is our energetic Marketing Specialist who assists with B2B marketing and is the battery of many of our events, webinars, and industry talks.

First Job with JobStreet

Like most fresh graduates, Joyce started looking for her first job even before graduation. In June 2022, Joyce found a job listing on JobStreet among others from various tech companies looking for a Marketing Specialist and took the chance to apply for it. While she used other job portals in her search for her first job, she notes that she has had the most calls for interviews through JobStreet and she eventually got this very job through the platform she applied for. 

“I think this is a good experience for a good job!” Joyce says cheerily when asked how it has been working at JobStreet so far. “As a Marketing Specialist, I get exposed to many aspects of marketing.” While her main task at work is to reach out to the hirer base to get opportunities for corporate events and campus outreach programmes, she says that she also has many opportunities to work on projects like webinars and events. In one of her latest projects, she took charge of the conceptualisation of the webinar topics to handling the tech behind managing the webinar. 

Graduating from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) as a major in linguistics and multilingual studies and a minor in communication studies, Joyce did not initially think she would get a marketing job in a tech company because she never studied specifically for a marketing nor a tech role. Yet, she found that there were transferrable skills she picked up from her studies that ended up being relevant for work. Studying linguistics, she says, has given her a solid foundation for copywriting for marketing collaterals while studying communication introduced her to corporate communications and the basics of marketing and PR. At the same time, she says that being in school and interacting with her classmates allowed her to develop interpersonal skills which she has brought into the workplace. 

While she was in school, Joyce applied for internships and temporary or contract work during the holidays, which she says has given her valuable transferrable skills as well. A lot of communication is required when working in a team so she had to learn how to work efficiently and effectively on both an individual and a team level, which also helped build on her interpersonal skills outside of school. 

Conscious of her lack of full-time work experience, together with her lack of a specialised marketing degree, Joyce says that when she was hired, rather than being a perfect fit for the job, her manager found her to be a good fit for the company during her interview and she is grateful for the guidance and patience that has been shown by her superiors and her team.

Work Life in JobStreet

When asked how it has been like working at JobStreet, Joyce says that it has been a very exciting experience. “I joined at a time where we have quite a few product launches and events,” Joyce explains. “The COVID situation was dying down and our company has been opening up to more physical events.” As such, she has had more opportunities to go out of the office for physical events and to meet more people, especially since borders have opened again. As JobStreet caters to overseas markets in Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, and Hong Kong as well, Joyce has worked with colleagues across the region, and she is always excited to meet them when they visit the JobStreet Singapore office. 

Rather than it being a drag, Joyce finds work especially exciting as someone new to the workforce with little to no prior experience of such things. She enjoys how her supervisor gets her involved in many marketing activities and finds that the exposure and opportunities that come with it are invaluable.

Joyce says that the people at JobStreet are passionate about what they do and describes them as a bunch that “works hard and plays hard”. At the same time, she finds that they are always willing to help if she needs clarification. 

As an employee of JobStreet, Joyce also enjoys the benefits offered to her by the company. Her favourite perk is the flexibility of the hybrid working arrangements as JobStreet allows employees to work from home or the office. She appreciates that the company neither employs a strict Work From Home (WFH) policy or Return To Office (RTO) as she says that she would not want to work from either home or office forever as she enjoys a mix of both.

Growing Pains and Gains

As a fresh graduate, it has not always been smooth sailing for Joyce in her first job. When she first started, she was frustrated with herself for not working or learning fast enough and always needing help from others. However, Joyce says that she is slowly overcoming these challenges by asking and clarifying with her seniors and colleagues. 

“I thought, ‘Don’t be afraid to ask!’” Joyce shares. “I would rather ask too many questions than get it wrong because then everybody has to solve what you did wrong.” 

Reminiscing on her early days in JobStreet, Joyce feels like she has changed since she first stepped out of school and into the workforce. She feels better equipped to deal with sudden situations and does not panic as much compared to when she first started at this job. She says that she is calmer and more organised. For example, she now keeps a to-do list and plans for what will happen in the next few weeks, which she says is a far cry from how she was as a university student who procrastinated and left things to the last minute. 

Moving forward, Joyce’s immediate plans are to achieve her goals one by one, such as being able to finish one project or one webinar by herself, which she has now successfully completed. “All these experiences will help me to become a better marketer,” Joyce says. While it is not a guarantee she will always be in marketing throughout her career, as someone only at the start of her career path, she still sees many things to learn about her current job and industry and foresees being in this job for quite some time. 

From one fresh graduate to the others out there, Joyce says, “Apply for what you are interested in! It is important to just try. As a fresh grad, you may find opportunities in places you would least expect.” 

Your career journey begins here! #SEEKBetter and discover countless job opportunities waiting for you out there. For more expert tips, visit the Career Resources page for more. Don’t forget to download the JobStreet app on App Store and Google Play.