Today, the Labour Movement organises a trade fair - “Fair in Freelancing”, which targets freelancers and service buyers. This platform seeks to help the two connect, network and explore collaborative business opportunities. This trade fair follows a successful freelancer fair which was organised in September last year, aimed at connecting freelancers to business solution providers who can help freelancers do their jobs better.
This trade fair is expected to attract some 300 technology aggregators, businesses buyers and freelancers who specialise in the areas of creative and media, technology, events and entertainment, consulting and education. Participating freelancers also get a chance to be listed in a freelancer directory which will be circulated to all trade fair attendees and NTUC's network of partners.
Mr Terence Pek attends the trade fair as a freelancer. He shares, “I run a sole proprietor creative agency. Its operation is mostly a one-man show as I am pursuing my undergraduate studies. When projects pile up, I hire people to help me out. I’m hoping that this fair will help me connect with more service buyers and link me up with like-minded freelancers so that we can collaborate on future projects.”
Educating Stakeholders on the Conduct of Fair Trade
Beyond providing freelancers with a platform to garner more business contacts and opportunities, another key objective of the fair is to educate both freelancers and service buyers on the conduct of fair trade.
“By organising this trade fair, the Labour Movement hopes to lend strength to the capabilities of our freelancers, and acknowledge them as professional talents. We hope to provide a platform which provides freelancers and service buyers with the required resources and contacts to further boost business and collaborative opportunities. At the same time, we leverage our partners who can share their expertise and experiences, to help educate the various stakeholders on fair trade and how to better make use of this growing talent pool. Hopefully, participants at the fair can also become our spokespersons or influencers who can help advocate, and pass on what they learnt at the fair to other freelancers and service buyers too,” said Mr Ang Hin Kee, Director of Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit as well as Assistant Director-General of NTUC.
Mr Keith Chua, Executive Director from NTC Integration Pte Ltd, who benefited from making use of aggregators and freelancers to augment their manpower needs, said, “In our multi-projects based environment, there will often be periods where our internal team will not be able to handle all the workload and we will need external resources to augment our team. Working with freelancers gives us the flexibility to tap on specialised skills and experiences, allowing us to scale up our talent pools as and when needed. Having a management system to find and monitor such contingent labour is very important too. We found IoTalents, which helps us track and contract labour with ease. Through the fair, we hope others can find similar resources or freelancer contacts to help them with their work too.”
Ms Candy Lim-Soliano, Managing Editor of The Fashion Collective Singapore, is one of the service buyers attending the fair and shares why she signed up for it. “Having dealt with both local and overseas-based service providers, we are mindful that quality assurance is not a given - reliable partners who can be trusted to deliver service fulfilment should never be taken for granted. While service-matching apps across various industries provide a multitude of options, the service providers listed on many of such platforms may not always be properly validated or certified. With NTUC pulling together needful resources for players in this growing market segment, we're confident that this fair provides a strategic environment that's great for businesses and freelancers to network and gain useful contacts.”
At the fair, the Ministry of Finance will be doing a sharing on Government’s procurement processes as well as the different resources available for freelancers. Ministry of Finance Director (Resource Management), Mr Chia Ser Huei shares, “The Ministry of Finance is supportive of NTUC’s efforts in reaching out to freelancers. Government agencies engage the services of freelancers and they contribute to the delivery of public services. We look forward to working closely with freelancers and the self-employed community. We will actively continue to share how they can participate in government procurement opportunities, as well as gather feedback on improvements that we can make together.”
Attendees will also have access to expert-led, practice-based talks which cover areas such as drafting a legal agreement, how one can transform independent talents into a competitive advantage, as well as finding the right-fit freelancer for the organisation’s needs, etc.
Going Forward: Staying Ahead of Disruptions and Transformation
As business and labour landscapes transform, and as our working people are equipped with greater employment mobility, skills and training, one can go through several changes in his/her career, including becoming a freelancer. The community of freelancers and self-employed will likely continue to grow.
Keeping in sync with such changes, the Labour Movement recognises gig economy jobs as a new employment model and aims to better serve our working poeple across the continuum of employment options. We will continue to work with key stakeholders and partners to facilitate and embrace freelancing as a sustainable and viable career option.
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