By Shukry Rashid
Workforce Singapore (WSG) and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) jointly held the Adapt and Grow Career Series (AGCS) on 17 March 2017 at the Lifelong Learning Institute – the first for the year and since the Career Support Programme (CSP) was enhanced following the Manpower Ministry’s (MOM) Committee of Supply debate on 6 March 2017.
The AGCS comprises career events that are specially curated for jobseekers who are professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET).
A CSP career fair was also held in conjunction with the AGCS, where over 20 employers from five sectors – healthcare, hospitality, infocomm technology, manufacturing and professional services – and 600 jobseekers participated.
More than 260 CSP-eligible job vacancies were available during the career fair for unemployed, mature and experienced PMETs or those who had been made redundant.
For jobs vacancies to be eligible for CSP, companies need to be registered in Singapore, employ PMETs with a minimum monthly gross salary of $4,000 on a permanent or contract basis for at least 12 months and provide PMETs with approved On-The-Job training or WSG-approved courses.
Other Firsts
Besides being the first AGCS this year, the event also held other firsts, such as the career preparatory workshops and the ‘Adapt and Grow Talks’ (AGT).
The career preparatory workshops were held in the days leading up to the career fair and enabled jobseekers to be better prepared to meet potential employers.
The AGT aims to motivate and inspire PMETs to adapt to changes in careers. Topics covered included career management in the new economy and how to overcome overwhelming challenges.
Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, who was the guest of honour at the event, said that the purpose of the enhanced CSP is to ensure that the rising unemployment rate does not become “sticky”.
He said: “When I talk about stickiness, my main concern is that for the unemployed, the longer they stay unemployed, the harder it is for them to come back because the market and workplace keep changing.
“My top priority is to keep helping the long-term unemployed to come back to work as quickly as possible.”
He added that another objective of the enhanced CSP is to reach out to more jobseekers. For example, 40 per cent of the jobseekers in the career fair qualified for the current PCP. The number would have been 10 per cent lower without the enhancement.
Under the enhanced CSP, employers hiring mature PMETs aged 40 and above who are unemployed for a year or more will get a tiered salary support – starting at 50 per cent, up from the previous 40 per cent – for 18 months, up from the previous 12 months.
Employers hiring mature PMETs aged 40 to 49 who are made redundant or remain unemployed for six months will now receive the same tiered salary support – starting from 40 per cent, up from the previous 20 per cent – as those aged above 50.
Employers hiring younger PMETs who are unemployed for more than six months will now also get tiered salary support – from 20 per cent – for up to 12 months, regardless of whether they were made redundant or not.
MOM will provide the salary support to the employers.
Supporting a New Career
One of the participating companies hiring during the career fair was IT company Optimum Solutions. Its CEO Balwant Jain said that his company has been open to hiring inexperienced workers who are keen to start a career in the industry.
The company had 23 job vacancies during the career fair and has hired 40 PMETs in the last six months.
The company will provide two to three months of classroom training to workers with no IT experience, followed by training on the job.
Mr Jain said: “As long as they are prepared to work hard and learn, we are prepared to train and support them in their new career.
“A lot of jobseekers are often hesitant or feel inertia to go out and look for jobs in other industries. The good thing about the CSP is that it is helping these people to look beyond what they have been looking for.”
Source: NTUC This Week
