Your first few years shouldn’t break you

A man sitting at a desk in a dark room, illuminated by a computer screen, holding his head in frustration or stress.

If you’re just starting your career in communications, consulting, or related fields, you’ve probably heard the horror stories: 80–90 hour weeks, low pay, and not much learning beyond media lists and decks.

We’re trying to offer something different.

At retension, emerging professionals are:

  • Hired as full-time employees – with fair salaries, benefits and (if you’re Singaporean) CPF.

  • Given real responsibility – from sitting in client meetings to managing parts of a workstream, or even leading a new business pitch.

  • Paired with senior advisors – who actually have the time and incentive to teach.

Group of people participating in a tug-of-war game outdoors on a grassy field with trees in the background.

What you’ll work on

From very early on, you won’t be parked on pure “entry-level” tasks.

With senior advisors pulling their weight alongside you, you’ll be learning to:

  • Own parts of a workstream – scoping tasks, chasing information and keeping things moving

  • Be the first editor – taking AI- or team-generated drafts and turning them into something clear, accurate and on-brief

  • Be a point of contact – helping to prepare and follow through on client conversations, not just taking notes in the background

  • Connect the dots – joining the technical, the commercial and the human so recommendations actually make sense for the business

Over time, our aim is for you to operate like a manager long before your title says so – with senior advisors giving you the coaching, guardrails and air cover to do it well. It also means understanding context, asking good questions and caring about whether the work is actually useful.

A hand with a wristwatch pointing to the left against a cloudy sky background.

Who we’re looking for

We care less about perfect grades and more about:

  • Curiosity – Do you genuinely want to understand how things work?

  • Grit – Can you stay with a difficult problem and keep iterating?

  • Care for craft – Do you take pride in making something clear and well-structured?

  • Values – Do you believe juniors shouldn’t be disposable and seniors shouldn’t hoard all the interesting work?

You might be:

  • A recent graduate from a university, polytechnic or ITE - degree not mandatory.

  • Someone in your first or second job, looking for a healthier way to stay in the industry

  • A “maverick” whose life or CCA experience taught you as much as your GPA did

Join us

Join us