Happiness - not money - matters most in a "dream job"

According to students and early professionals in Singapore, the top three attributes of a dream job are happiness (58%), money (49%) and a good working relationship with colleagues (44%).

The things that don't matter to fresh graduates are the more traditional elements of a job, such as job titles and credibility of the company. Surprisingly, working from home doesn't seem to matter much either.

This was one of the findings of LinkedIn's wider Life of a Professional study, which looks at current challenges faced by students and early professionals in the Singapore labour market.

The study found that the evolving needs of the young professional has also made it more difficult for grads to land their "dream job" right out of university, despite 15% believing it will take them less than one month to get their first job.

On the flip side, professionals with at least 15 years of experience said their first jobs were fairly easy to land, and more than double (31%) found a job within the first month of leaving university.

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Singaporeans were also found to be some of the most ambitious young professionals, with 32% believing they only need to be in their first position for two years before getting promoted. This is compared with 23% in Hong Kong and 22% in Australia. Student in India, however, believe they should be promoted within one year (27%).

The study found this ambition is also demonstrated by their careers taking the centre stage after university - 76% want work experience right away, 71% want to get a job and 40% would go for an internship.

“Students are the fast-growing demographic on LinkedIn, and they are going to be our next generation of professionals and leaders,” said Hari Krishnan, Managing Director, Asia Pacific & Japan at LinkedIn.

“We commissioned this study to help foster a better understanding of what motivates them, so that companies can better engage with the next generation, and provide career advancement opportunities, starting with more internship opportunities.”

The study also found the most favoured industries to be finance (15%), followed by sales, media & marketing (10%), and then professional services and travel & transport (both 9%)

However, over half (53%) of all professionals said they have not ended up in their dream industry.

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