Should Fresh Graduates Get a Job or Start a Business?

Adrian Yeo (0:01)

Best Of Live Well, featuring Lance Alexander.

Lance Alexander (0:05)

This is Money FM. I'm Lance. For fresh graduates entering the workforce, finding a full-time job has become slightly more difficult.

Among Singapore's 2025 university graduates in the labor force, about 74 percent secured full-time permanent employment, down from some 79 percent a year before.

There are reasons behind this. Global economic uncertainty, firms obviously being more cautious in their hiring, AI and automation have cut some jobs and also created some new ones. But with new jobs being created, the skills you have today may not be as relevant for the job being advertised for tomorrow. You have options, though. You can re-skill, you can pivot. Or if you have the resources and a great idea, you can start a business. It's risky. Yes, you may not have regular income. You have to tell yourself, when do I actually stop if the business is going south? That's very important. And if you're single or in a partnership, you've got to choose those relationships really well because you've got to decide who does what. Maybe sales, inventory, cash flow. If you're all alone, you're juggling a lot of balls in the air. Our guest today has chosen that path of entreprenuership. Adrian Yeo and his secondary school friend, Daniel Fung, co-founded Feel Fresh, which is a personal care business that began with oral care products.

He works on it full time while his co-founder holds a job in banking and helps to build a business after hours. I heard that sometimes he stays up till 2, 3 a.m. in the morning. So they've been friends a while and they've got a good relationship going, which is a huge positive. So here's the question. Should fresh graduates gain experience in finding regular work first? Or should they, if they have that fire in their belly, if they're in their 20s, maybe finish Polytech or uni, to take that chance and say, you know what, I want to have a shot at my success in doing something that I want to pursue on my own or with a friend and being my own boss. Adrian Yeo is director and co-founder of Feel Fresh, which is a personal care business. Adrian, most fresh graduates begin by looking for a full-time job. You decided, nah, maybe not. Why did you decide to build a business instead?

Adrian Yeo (2:37)

Well, maybe it was a bit of a rash decision.

I decided to give myself maybe a one-year window. To see how far I can go. It was rash in a sense that maybe at that point of time, at 24 years old, you see your friends, they all have a stable income, all of them are getting good jobs, and you feel like, oh, maybe that's the best path to do. Then you can afford your bills, you can afford rent, you can afford to live a pretty, happy, and healthy lifestyle. But I decided like maybe corporate life wasn't for me, and I couldn't wake up every day feeling like a desire to really work my best. So I decided to take one year like sort of a punt on myself.

Lance Alexander (3:18)

Okay. So when you think about this as well, you know, when you think about taking that risk, were you at all scared? Were you like, oh no, you know, this is something I've never done before?

Is there an escape strategy that you had in mind? And how exactly did you try and put the pluses down and the minuses down and decide, okay, the pluses seem to outweigh the minuses?

Adrian Yeo (3:46)

Most definitely. I was quite scared.

Lance Alexander (3:48)

Right.

Adrian Yeo (3:49)

I mean, at the end of the day, you set some goals and targets you want to hit. And I told myself that, you know, if I don't hit these targets, maybe I can try to go back working full time. I mean, to us Singaporeans, like the grass is like greener on the other side.

Even while working full time, I also did try to like apply for some full time jobs to see like, to keep myself warm with interviews. But yeah, it's definitely a very, it's more like a scary thing. And maybe it's not best suited for a lot of people out there.

Lance Alexander (4:23)

Yeah, when you were in university though, you already were doing some form of business. What sort of business was that?

Adrian Yeo (4:29)

So in university, me and Daniel actually, we founded a tech store company. We sold those cables, monitors and mouse. Those work from home items and did really well during COVID.

And sadly, this business couldn't really profit a lot of, couldn't really maintain like high profit margins due to China being able to import a lot of cheaper goods. Not sure if you know the other brands, but like one of the big brands called like You Green.