By Shukry Rashid
Six in 10 Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs) encounter challenges in their current skills and knowledge of their job.
The top three challenges at work for them are Information Technology (IT), lack of relevant training or industry specific skill-set, and the need to constantly upgrade their skills due to the changes in work-related regulations or the industry.
The Labour Movement revealed these survey findings at a media sharing on 2 April 2015. The survey was commissioned in 2013 to find out PMEs’ perception towards their skill-sets and job mobility.
Some 900 PMEs from 10 different industries were surveyed through phone interviews. Their job designations ranged from managers and below, earning from $2000 to $6000 per month.
Amongst the respondents, 87% of them also felt that they could learn or upgrade their skills and knowledge.
Career Uncertainty
Many of the young PMEs surveyed were also uncertain about their careers. Over three quarter of the respondents were aged 49 and below.
Twenty to 29-year-olds felt they were not confident or competent in their current job. They have also encountered challenges with their current skill-set, especially in industry-specific skills or knowledge.
They also intended to move to different job functions within the same industry in the next three to five years.
Of the 30 to 49-year-olds surveyed, many of them faced challenges with their IT skills. They intended to try different job functions within the same company, or wanted to move to the same job function in the same industry in the next three to five years.
U PME Turns One
It has been a year since the launch of the Labour Movement’s U PME Centres at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability (e2i) and NTUC Centre, together with a PME Portal.
From January 2014 to February 2015, the U PME Centres assisted some 600 PMEs, with 63% of them aged 40 and above. Additionally, 43% of the 600 PMEs sought employment and employability opportunities.
Source: NTUC This Week
