Wake Up Call

Here’s a fun fact that’ll ruin your morning coffee: Singapore’s youth unemployment rate is sitting pretty at 7.8-8.5%. That’s almost double the overall unemployment rate.

While you’re polishing your resume for the 47th time and practicing your “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” answer, the job market is giving you the middle finger. Companies want 3 years of experience for “entry-level” positions, AI is eating jobs faster than you can say “digital transformation,” and the few available roles have 500 other desperate graduates applying.

And here you are, believing that the perfect corporate job is just one more interview away.

The System Is Broken (And Everyone Knows It)

Remember when your parents told you to study hard, get good grades, find a stable job, and climb the corporate ladder? Cute. That system worked when jobs were plentiful and companies valued loyalty. Now? Companies will lay you off via Zoom call to “optimise operational efficiency.” (And to make full use of their Zoom license)

The traditional path of education → corporate job → retirement watch is as dead as dial-up internet. You’re competing for scraps while the house is burning down.

Time for Plan B: Stop asking for permission and start your own thing.

Why Entrepreneurship Beats Begging for Jobs

1. Want a Job? Create Your Own

Can’t get hired as a recruitment consultant? Start a recruitment agency. Nobody can reject your application to be your own boss. It’s beautifully simple, yet 99% of graduates never consider it because they’re too busy refreshing job portals.

That was what I did in 2004 when faced with a couple of dotcom driven layoffs and a potential 3rd layoffs during the SARS period in an aviation industry.

If I had to apply to become a recruitment consultant, I may not get it. But if I start a recruitment agency, no one can stop me. (Well, except ACRA who does business registration)

Revolutionary concept: Instead of begging someone to hire you, hire yourself.

2. Get a Real Education (Not the Textbook Bullshit)

Business school teaches you theories. Entrepreneurship teaches you reality. When you’re responsible for keeping the lights on, you learn faster than any MBA program can teach you.

You’ll master:

• Money management (because bankruptcy isn’t theoretical)

• Sales (because nobody else will buy your shit)

• Efficiency (because waste kills small businesses)

• Leadership (because you need people smarter than you)

• Problem-solving (because problems don’t wait for quarterly reviews)

This beats sitting in meetings about meetings while some middle manager explains synergy for the hundredth time.

3. Pressure Makes You Bulletproof

When you’re paying the bills, you can’t afford corporate bullshit. No more pointless meetings, office politics, or pretending to look busy. You develop what I call “no bullshit tolerance” – the superpower to cut through crap and focus on what actually matters.

This pressure-cooker environment creates skills that make you unstoppable in any future venture.

4. Your Youth Is Your Secret Weapon

If I were mature and rational back in 2004, I likely wouldn’t have started a business. That is exactly why you should do it now. Your “disadvantages” are actually superpowers:

• No mortgage? Take risks that would terrify older entrepreneurs

• No reputation to protect? Fail fast, pivot faster

• Limited resources? Get creative and scrappy

• Naive optimism? Perfect for ignoring “expert” advice about why your idea won’t work

The education system trained you to follow rules. Entrepreneurship rewards rule-breakers.

Proof That Young Entrepreneurs Aren’t Delusional

Benjamin Loh: From Bullied Student to Speaking Superstar

Benjamin Loh studied Accountancy at SMU and couldn’t fit into the Big 4 system. Got bullied throughout school. Worked in sales training. By all accounts, not exactly CEO material.

Plot twist: He started Speaker’s Flare Training & Consultancy and became Asia’s youngest Certified Speaking Professional. Now he’s in the top 10% of professional speakers globally.

His secret? He stopped asking permission to be successful.

MajuHR: Chat Your Way to an Exit

A team that I mentored during NUS Enterprise Lean Launchpad program, Roshan Ravishankar and Charlie Angriawan started Vita Talent Intelligence - a plugin to help companies re-engage with past applicants.

They then pivoted to Maju to streamline HR and payroll with app-free software. The business just got acquired by Omni HR in August 2025.

Keith Ng’s Gametize: Making Work Suck Less

Right after SMU, Keith Ng leaped into entrepreneurship and eventually settled on turning the boring world of corporate training into games through Gametize. Who knew making work fun could be profitable?

Why 2025 Is the Perfect Time (Unlike Your Parents’ Era)

Starting a Business Then vs Now

2004: Desktop computer, physical office lease, fax machine (seriously), expensive software licenses, Yellow Pages advertising, complex banking

2025: Laptop, Starbucks as office, cloud everything, Instagram marketing, instant payments, digital banking, global talent pool

The barriers have collapsed while the opportunities exploded. But most people are still thinking like it’s 2004.

Test Before You Invest (Revolutionary Concept)

Unlike previous generations who had to mortgage their houses to test an idea, you can validate concepts for the price of a nice dinner:

• Run Facebook ads to test interest

• Create landing pages to measure demand

• Survey potential customers

• Launch pre-sales before building anything

I almost started a agency to connect software developers in Vietnam with Singapore Businesses. But we ran a survey first to validate that demand. When responses didn’t match our assumptions, we stop it there and then.

Smart move: Test your assumptions before betting your life savings.

The “Gold Rush” Opportunity

Every booming sector needs support services. Fresh graduates are in high demand? Build a platform matching employers with new grads exclusively. TikTok made certain sweets famous? Someone opened a Tampines shop selling exactly those sweets.

Find the gold mine, sell the shovels. Or in Singapore’s case, find the bubble tea trend and sell the straws.

Excuses Are Like Assholes (Everyone’s Got One)

“I Need Experience First”

You’ll get more real experience in 6 months of entrepreneurship than 3 years in most corporate roles. Plus, you’ll develop skills that transfer everywhere instead of learning one company’s outdated systems.

“I Need Stability”

Cute. Tell that to the thousands laid off during COVID, SARS, or any economic hiccup. Entrepreneurship might actually be more stable – you’re not dependent on one boss’s mood or company’s quarterly results.

“What If I Fail?”

You’re young. Failure is cheap for you. Expensive for someone with kids, mortgage, and social expectations. Plus, “failed” entrepreneurs often make the best employees because they understand how businesses actually work.

“I Don’t Have Money”

Most successful businesses start with minimal capital. Service businesses, digital products, social media marketing – all accessible with pocket change compared to traditional industries.

Stop making excuses and start making moves.

Your 3-Step Plan (Because You Asked)

1. Become an Idea Machine

Generate business ideas daily. They don’t need to be revolutionary – Facebook wasn’t the first social network. Look for:

• Overseas concepts missing in Singapore

• Problems you personally hate dealing with

• Support services for growing industries

• Digital solutions for analog problems

2. Validate Before You Build

Test everything:

• Survey target customers

• Run small ad campaigns

• Create simple landing pages

• Actually talk to potential buyers

Most “great” ideas die here. Better to kill them early than after you’ve quit your day job.

3. Start Small, Think Big

Begin with your existing skills and interests. You don’t need to disrupt entire industries on day one. Solve one problem for one group of people, then expand.

Perfect is the enemy of done. Done is the enemy of never starting.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Your Future

Even if your first business fails spectacularly, you’ll gain something no employer can give you: proof that you can create value from nothing. This becomes your career insurance for life.

My 11 years of experience running a recruitment business + the 2 years of a career coaching business became what was needed to get me selected to become the Ops Director for an international outplacement agency.

What you created does not go to waste even if you no longer do it.

As Loki said in Avengers “I see experience as experience”. Regardless if you acquire them via a job or created them out of thin air yourself.

The Choice (Stop Pretending You Don’t Have One)

Singapore’s youth unemployment isn’t just a number – it’s a wake-up call. The system that promised to take care of you is struggling. You can keep playing by rules that don’t work, or write your own.

You can spend months begging for jobs that don’t excite you, or build something that does. You can compete for limited positions created by others, or create unlimited opportunities for yourself.

The tools exist. The barriers are gone. The success stories are multiplying.

The only question left: Are you ready to stop being a victim of the system and start being the author of your own story?

Or are you going to refresh that job portal one more time?

Adrian Tan
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