Bringing more women back into the workforce has always been imperative to NTUC’s Women’s Development Secretariat (WDS), and thus they organised their second major job fair under the Back2Work with U (B2W) Programme but in a slightly different manner.
The job fair that took place on 22 October 2011 was organised with women jobseekers’ feedback in mind, and many of them indicated their preference for more office-based work opportunities. With more stable working conditions, it will allow the women to better manage their work-life balance. As such, there were at least 400 jobs at the job fair targeting women who are keen to take up administrative jobs, with openings in the public sector, energy, education and healthcare sectors.
Said NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Cham Hui Fong: “…A lot of them have been stay-home mums for too long, so I think when they first go back, they need a lot of adjustment and they will want somewhere where they are more comfortable…where it is office based and not so much field work. I think for a first job for them to come back to work, it is something easier for them to adjust to. So it was actually based on the feedback that today, if you look at the jobs that we have, it’s very much office based and desk bound kind of jobs.”
And as the key thrust of Recruitment, Re-adjustment and Retention of the B2W programme remains, the importance of Retention was also highlighted, where passion might play an important role in keeping women in the workforce.
Explained Ms Cham: “To them, I think they have no qualms about leaving one more time, so how do you hold them? The way to hold them is when they get something that they are very interested in. They have this urge, this desire to actually go back to work, and it’s something that they are passionate about... So we will want to again look at that kind of interest, that kind of passion that can actually bring the women back, and this would be another area that we are looking at.”
And thus moving forward, NTUC WDS will continue to work with employers and partners to bring in more employment opportunities to benefit more women jobseekers. The job fair held was a success with more than 500 jobseekers turning up, and more than 250 considered for a second interview.
