CareersCompass by MyCareersFuture Podcast

McKinsey & Company’s Women in the Workplace report noted recently an “ambition gap” has occurred between male and female workers. 
In previous editions of the report, men and women were equally likely to seek advancement, and in some years, women were even more likely to do so. 
However, in the latest findings, women were 6% less likely than men to express interest in a promotion, with the gap widest at entry level roles (11%).
Another survey by Robert Walters also found that 54% felt less motivated to pursue promotions than they did two years ago.
This trend has led to the term “promotion burnout” being coined, as noted in reports from the Guardian. 
Are Singaporean women in our workforce also experiencing “Promotion Burnout”?
Kritvi Kedia, Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company explained: “The difference appears to be shaped more by workplace experiences than by underlying ambition.” 
“While this research is based on North America, many of the themes — such as access to career support and progression opportunities — are increasingly relevant in Asia, including Singapore.”
She revealed one of the strongest factors linked to this ambition gap is access to sponsorship. 
Sponsorship — where senior leaders actively advocate for and create opportunities for individuals — significantly increases the likelihood of promotion. 
Employees with sponsors are about twice as likely to be promoted, regardless of gender, Kritvi added.
However, women are less likely to report having consistent sponsorship across career stages, and even when sponsorship exists, it is often perceived as less effective.
Listen to this podcast to learn more about what can be done to help women in the Singapore workforce!
Key highlights to listen to
(4:55) The trouble with Asian workplaces
(6:46) What can women do when career-related rejection at the workplace happens?
(9:52) The challenges of women who return to work after a career break
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a strategic priority across Singapore’s economy, as highlighted by the Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in Budget 2026 as a core driver of national missions.
He also announced that efforts to equip white-collar professionals with AI skills will begin with lawyers and accountants—two knowledge-intensive professions under growing manpower strain.
This was followed by the Ministry of Law issuing a guide to using generative AI in Singapore’s legal sector.
We spoke to Frederick Tay, director at Joyce A. Tan & Partners LLC, to find out how AI is beginning to be included in workflows in the legal sector, what skills are now required, and what does this mean for job redesign for those in the legal industry, and legal- adjacent sectors.
If you're interested the current state of AI-integration when it comes to hiring, and reskilling and upskilling for those in the legal sector, listen to this podcast!
Key highlights to listen to
(1:35) How and why the government is looking at the legal industry when it comes to early AI integration
(7:13) It's all about the clients: their considerations when it come to AI and what local lawyers need to learn
(11:01) How AI integration is happening in law, and how are Singaporean firms evolving, and what skills are needed
Ready to take charge of your career? Polaris is tailored exclusively for you and designed to match your unique aspirations and ambitions. Sign up today!

For years, many senior workers have felt caught between two options: continuing in a full-time role that may no longer be sustainable or retiring earlier than they would like.
In Singapore, this decision is often shaped by practical realities. Rising living costs, conversations around CPF adequacy, and the desire to remain financially independent mean that many seniors want — or need — to continue working for longer.
But that all-or-nothing choice is changing.
As Singapore’s workforce ages, more support is being put in place to help senior workers stay employed in ways that are healthier, more flexible, and more meaningful.
At the centre of this shift is the new Part-Time Re-employment Grant (PTRG), which encourages employers to create part-time roles and age-inclusive workplaces for senior workers aged 60 and above.
Keeping in the spirit of the times, you’ll be hearing from CareersCompass’ AI colleagues, Aiden and Aileen, on understanding the following:
What is the PTRG and what does it offer?
How does it help senior workers work more flexibly?
How can senior workers find out if their employer is on the PTRG?
Ready to take charge of your career? Polaris is tailored exclusively for you and designed to match your unique aspirations and ambitions. Sign up today!

Thinking about your next career move? Or just scrolling through job listings and wondering which one is actually worth it?
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to play the guessing game anymore.
The Singapore Opportunity Index (SOI) is a data-driven tool that tracks how companies support career growth through indicators such as progression, retention and internal mobility.
While the SOI was designed to help employers benchmark their talent practices, it can also offer valuable insights for jobseekers. Instead of relying only on surface-level factors like salary or job titles, you can use it to assess how well a company supports long-term career growth!
Keeping in the spirit of the times, you’ll be hearing from CareersCompass’ AI colleagues, Aiden and Aileen, on understanding the following:
How can the Singapore Opportunity Index help with your job search?
What should you look out for in the Singapore Opportunity Index?
What does the Singapore Opportunity Index mean for your career stage?
Ready to take charge of your career? Polaris is tailored exclusively for you and designed to match your unique aspirations and ambitions. Sign up today!

Figuring out what the next right move for your career is only half the battle — the other half is to stay the course, and keep focused on doing the hard work, either by reskilling and upskilling, or by looking at the next job or industry to switch to that will serve your personal and longer-term career goals best.
But staying motivated can be a challenge, and while we have friends and family to be our personal life-cheerleaders, who’s in your corner when it comes to your career?
That’s where a good career coach can help, and to meet those, you might want to check out personalised career programmes for Singaporeans such as Polaris.
It’s a suite of personalised career guidance programmes delivered by SWDA and its appointed providers, Ingeus and AKG.
It is designed for those who are:
Exploring career opportunities;
Seeking clarity before making crucial career decisions;
Looking to move up in their career; and
Contemplating honing their expertise in a specific role.
In this episode, SWDA Principal Manager Kelvin Tan shares how his career coach Joey helped him figure out what the next stage of his career needs to be, especially when factoring the volatility of the job market now, as well as the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) as a crucial work skill.
Key highlights to listen to
(1:00) How many sessions did Polaris take, and what did they do?
(2:22) Defining the next career steps is crucial 
(3:20) When you need someone to check in, a career coach matters
Ready to take charge of your career? Polaris is tailored exclusively for you and designed to match your unique aspirations and ambitions. Sign up today!

Don't get tongue-tied trying to answer tough job interview questions. Listen to some good interview answers in this podcast episode!
We’ve all been there — thinking we made a good impression so far during the interview when we’re suddenly faced with a question that throws us off completely. Don’t fret; we examine 5 common questions at interviews and how we can answer them successfully.
Key highlights to listen to
(2:24) How best to describe yourself
(8:35) Why hiring companies ask hard questions, and how to deal with them
Need job search help? Book a free session with our career advisors today.

In this episode, we speak with Ken Ong, Managing Director at Morgan McKinley, about salary and hiring trends in Singapore's financial services and insurance sectors.
He shares why financial services and insurance jobs are seeing wage growth despite concerns on profitability, the rise of interim/contract roles in the industry, and a growing demand for data and AI-related skills.
Ken also reveals how employers are favoring conservative hiring, regional mandates, and multi-skilled candidates.
There's also further advice for job seekers on setting salary expectations and for employers on structuring contracts and regional roles to attract talent.
Key highlights to listen to
(1:28) Why a strong Singapore dollar is helping our financial services and industry
(3:19) The hiring and salary trajectory for the financial services and insurance industry for the rest of 2026 and ahead 
(6:26) Has there been a rise in interim and contract roles in the sector?
(8:33) What wage expectations should those in the industry have?
(9:26) Advice for Singapore employers calibrating their hiring and salary
Over 100,000 jobs await. Discover your perfect role on MyCareersFuture today.

You spent hours perfecting your resume. You ran it through AI tools, aligned it with the job description… and hit submit.
Then… nothing.
No response. No feedback. Just silence.
In this day and age, this isn’t unusual. Job hunting hasn’t just become more competitive. It’s become harder to understand. Because the same tools helping you apply are also changing how you’re being filtered and assessed — often, even before a recruiter sees your name.
AI is now managing high volumes of applicants to screen resumes, match skills, and even run early-stage interviews!
Recruiters are now shifting their focus from how well something is written to how clearly it communicates real experience: what you did, how you did it, and what changed as a result — makes a candidate easier to evaluate.
This episode will be in our Listen and Learn format, which covers a selection of popular career-linked articles on our website.
Keeping in the spirit of the times, you’ll be hearing from CareerCompass’ AI colleagues, Aiden and Aileen, on understanding how in a hiring process shaped by algorithms, the goal isn’t to outsmart the system, but rather, understand how it works and where you still have control!
Key Highlights to Listen to
(1:06) What can you do when everyone is augmenting their resumes with the same AI?
(6:01) The limitations of AI when it comes to employment
(9:54) The goal isn't to sound perfect on paper, but...
Need job search help? Book a free session with our career advisors today.

With technology, automation, digitalisation, and new business models reshaping what workers do every day, it’s no wonder job roles don’t stay the same for long. Even familiar roles are evolving in ways that employers may not fully see — until skill gaps start affecting productivity, efficiency, or individual and organisational growth.
But what if companies can identify the specific skills within each job that are shifting in importance? That’s exactly what SkillsFuture's Job Requirements Skills Index (JRI) provides.
While the JRI is not meant to map every role in the economy, it’s been designed to serve as a practical reference point — helping employers better interpret shifts within their own workforce and industry.
Used in this way, the JRI goes beyond being a measurement tool.
It can support firms in identifying which functions are changing most rapidly, anticipating emerging skill gaps early, understanding the defining skills that are growing in demand, and guiding efforts to build a workforce that is better prepared for future demands!
This episode will be in our Listen and Learn format, which covers a selection of popular career-linked articles on our website.
Keeping in the spirit of the times, you’ll be hearing from CareerCompass’ AI colleague Aileen, on how best to use and understand the JRI!
Key Highlights to Listen to
(1:42) Separating the must-have skills from the good-to-have-skills matters
(3:14) A quick guide to assessing your job vacancies, and how you should set their requirements
(6:03) Relooking at your job listing to make sure you're getting the right candidates
Over 100,000 jobs await. Discover your perfect role on MyCareersFuture today.

The established wisdom for most Singaporean workers who are looking for a pay bump is to change jobs, with a market report from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in 2025 showing that six out of ten job switchers experienced real income increases.
But according to a report by Fortune in 2026, economists have started noticing that this tactic is beginning to show decreased effectiveness.
ADP, a U.S. research institute, revealed in its recent Employee Motivation and Commitment Index that the low-hire, low-fire trajectory in 2025 also resulted in year-on-year pay growth for American job hoppers, which slowed to 6.4% in January 2026 from 6.6% in December 2025.
On the other hand, for job stayers, pay growth remained stable at 4.5%, consistent with medium-term trends.
Factoring in year-on-year changes in base salary and bonuses, it was also revealed that the gap between job stayers and hoppers has been shrinking.
As of January 2026, the gap was just 1.9%, the closest it has been since November 2020!
This episode will be in our Listen and Learn format, which covers a selection of popular career-linked articles on our website.
Keeping in the spirit of the times, you’ll be hearing from CareerCompass’ AI colleagues, Aiden and Aileen, on whether job hopping for better wages is still a viable career planning strategy!
Key Highlights to Listen to
(1:06) The pros and cons of changing jobs for a pay raise in a nutshell
(3:01) More money is great, but what are the variables to factor in?
(4:49) A quick strategy on weighing up the pros and cons
Ready to take charge of your career? Polaris is tailored exclusively for you and designed to match your unique aspirations and ambitions. Sign up today!