Banking, computer software, healthcare among top industries to work in for students

Students mostly look at career growth and opportunities in assessing jobs.

Collegiate students in Singapore revealed they wanted to work most in the banking, computer software and healthcare sectors, according to BrightSparks’ 16th annual scholarship and education survey.

The survey showed that the top two career choices upon graduation for top junior college (JC) and international baccalaureate (IB) students were banking (30%) and computer software (30%).

Career in the banking industry (28%) emerged as the top pick for regular JC/IB students, while polytechnic students chose computer software (38%) and for polytechnic graduates it was healthcare (29%).

Career growth and opportunities rank first in the attributes these students are looking for in their ideal jobs, with more than four-fifths across all four student groups. Job security and salary are in their top three as well, with top JC/IB students and polytechnic graduates prioritising salary and regular JC/IB students and polytechnic students prioritising job security.

“Comparing with the 2022 data, there is a convergence in priorities, with career growth and opportunities consistently holding the top spot,” the report said.

The majority of top JC/IB students (33%) expect their starting gross monthly salary before contribution to the Central Provident Fund to be $5,001 and above, around a fifth of regular JC/IB students and polytechnic students are expecting from $4001 to $5000 and polytechnic graduates (20%) are expecting $3001 to $3500.

BrightSparks surveyed 4,676 respondents, categorised by student group as top JC/IB students, JC/IB students, as well as polytechnic students and polytechnic graduates.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia