Ten years ago, in 2008, Singapore hosted its first parental-matchmaking session at Hong Lim Park, where anxious parents exchanged biodata and photographs of their children in hopes of helping them find a life partner.
Times have changed. Thanks to the explosive growth of the internet, dating apps have radically transformed matchmaking for tech-savvy Singaporeans.
According to YouGov, 43% of Singaporean millennials admit to using an internet dating service or app before. Given that the same report showed 47% of millennials would be embarrassed to admit having a relationship with someone from a dating app, the real number is probably much higher.
Aside from succeeding in the dating arena, another priority held by many Singaporean youths is enjoying a good start to their careers, including securing a job before graduation.
There are some striking parallels between dating apps and finding a job, and many ways you can use your dating experiences to help you improve your chances of finding a good job.
Here are 5 reasons why finding a good job is no different from finding success on dating apps.
Read Also: 4 Career Decisions Young Singaporeans Have To Consider Today That Our Parents Didn’t
# 1 Competition And Opportunities Are Everywhere
On dating apps, you need to beat your competition, to have a better chance of getting your dream date. Given the short attention span that dating apps promote, your profile and pictures need to make an impactful first impression.
On the other hand, dating apps also enable you to meet new people who may not be within your social circle, which increases the number of opportunities to meet.
In the working world, top employers are spoilt for choice when looking for job candidates. For example, Google receives over 2 million resumes annually. Considering Google only has 88,000 full-time employees, the competition for every job opening is cut-throat.
On the other hand, jobseekers have many companies to choose from too, be it a start-up, SME, or multi-national firms. If you possess in-demand skills like data intelligence and coding, you typically have more career options to choose from.
While these opportunities are everywhere, your ability to stand out from the competition rests heavily on your willingness to step out of your comfort zone.
Read Also: Here’s 4 Most In-Demand Skills In Singapore For You To Land A Banking Or Finance Job In 2017
# 2 Companies Filter Top Candidates
Some dating apps allow users to filter by age, height, income, etc, to help them find the perfect fit based on their personal preferences.
When sieving through CVs, academic credentials are one of the first things recruiters look out for. Recruiters also look out of leadership positions held in CCAs and other activities to assess your leadership experience.
When reading through cover letters, companies may look out for specific keywords which align with their mission and values, to see if you are someone worthy of a job.
This means you need to tailor your resume and cover letter to each job position you apply to, if you want to impress your recruiter and called back for an interview.
For example, you met someone in the company previously at a recruitment talk, you can use your cover letter to indicate that you took extra effort to find out more about the company, which will stand out.
# 3 Don’t Lie
In dating apps, don’t use a fake photo and fake stories. While it may be tolerable to use photo filters to present yourself in the best light, it’s plain wrong to use your friend’s beach body selfie to get your date.
While you might succeed in getting a ton of interest initially, your lies will fall flat on your first date.
Recruiters with lots of experience are typically highly effective at grilling interviewees to get to the truth. If they have doubts that you are telling the truth, they have a wide variety of tools at their disposal to check your claims.
When employers choose to conduct a background check, it’s very easy for them to call up your university to check if your academic transcripts were genuine. Job seekers have commonly been busted for inflating salaries and job titles, faking education qualifications and reasons for leaving former employers.
Even if the lie goes undetected initially and you clinch the job, if your lie gets exposed, you will most likely get fired regardless of your job position. Scott Thompson, Yahoo’s former CEO, was fired after it was discovered he had lied about having a college degree in computer science, when he only had a degree in accounting.
It gets worse: people have gone to jail over lies on their CVs.
# 4 You Need To Impress The Robots First
While we like to think of romance being all about human feelings and emotions, dating apps rely heavily on unfeeling technologies. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning is employed across dating apps to understand individual dating preferences and enhance the success rate of dating.
This means that before you get a chance to charm your ideal date, you need to impress the robot that you will be a good match.
This also applies in the working world, where given the sheer number of applicants, companies and their HR departments have actively embraced AI to increase the efficiency of their hiring process. Companies like Unilever and Goldman Sachs use Hirevue to conduct digital interviews, which analyses your body language, your tone and your speech before even meeting your recruiter face-to-face.
# 5 Don’t Burn Your Bridges
At times, conversations and dates over dating apps may not work out as planned.
Even when it’s not your fault, there’s no reason for you to burn your bridges unnecessarily. While it may be difficult to let go when emotions are involved, you should always end on a civil note.
Harassing your date by sending long rants threatening to call the police is not OK.
Given the small size of Singapore’s dating community, it’s very possible you could have mutual friends, and negative word-of-mouth could get around. If your date decides to post them on social media, it can easily go viral like other dating app horror stories.
As the expression goes, “Don’t give up the forest for a tree.” If you know you’ve already lost the tree, there’s no need to give up the rest of the forest.
Similar when conducting a job hunt, you want to be on good or at least neutral terms with your previous employers. When looking for a new job, positive feedback from your past employers can turn out to be helpful.
On the other hand, a frosty relationship with your former employers can hurt your chances in getting a new job, especially if you’re sticking around in the same industry.
Read Also: 5 Ways To Resign From Your Job… Gracefully
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