Jobseekers throng career fair
Fri, Feb 27, 2009
my paper
BY RACHEL CHAN
THE jobs came a-calling, and the jobless came - in droves.
About 4,800 people turned up as early as 8.30am at the Jelutung Community Club (CC) yesterday, a good hour before the job fair organised by the North West Community Development Council (CDC) was due to start.
By the time the organisers started registering job applicants, the queue had snaked a good way down Sembawang Drive, next to the CC.
At stake were 3,000 jobs in the service sector offered by 40 employers.
Resorts World, fast-food chain McDonald's, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Wing Tai Retail, Cisco and Alexandra Health were some of the companies looking to hire theme-park area managers, health-care assistants, sales consultants and auxiliary police officers.
'We're very niche in how we reach out to people. We're preparing to take part in the CDC's job fairs in the third and fourth quarter of this year as well,' said Mrs Seah-Khoo Ee Boon, Resorts World's senior vice-president of human resources and training.
The integrated resort needs to fill 10,000 positions by the time it opens early next year. It received more than 1,000 applications yesterday, far exceeding the 300 positions it was looking to fill.
This is the North West CDC's first in a series of four large job fairs. Each will offer more than 1,000 job vacancies.
The next three job fairs will be held between June this year and February next year.
Dr Teo Ho Pin, mayor of the North West district, noted that there had been a 43 per cent increase in the number of those looking for jobs since October last year.
Currently, more than 3,000 people listed in the CDC's database are waiting for a job placement.
Among them is Ms Norashidah Rasit, 18, who dropped out of school with the aim of supplementing her family's income.
She recently went for an employability camp organised by the North West CDC to prepare herself for the workforce. Her siblings are on bursaries in their schools.
'I'm looking for a sales-assistant job, and I've also applied to McDonald's,' she said.
Fri, Feb 27, 2009
my paper
BY RACHEL CHAN
THE jobs came a-calling, and the jobless came - in droves.
About 4,800 people turned up as early as 8.30am at the Jelutung Community Club (CC) yesterday, a good hour before the job fair organised by the North West Community Development Council (CDC) was due to start.
By the time the organisers started registering job applicants, the queue had snaked a good way down Sembawang Drive, next to the CC.
At stake were 3,000 jobs in the service sector offered by 40 employers.
Resorts World, fast-food chain McDonald's, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Wing Tai Retail, Cisco and Alexandra Health were some of the companies looking to hire theme-park area managers, health-care assistants, sales consultants and auxiliary police officers.
'We're very niche in how we reach out to people. We're preparing to take part in the CDC's job fairs in the third and fourth quarter of this year as well,' said Mrs Seah-Khoo Ee Boon, Resorts World's senior vice-president of human resources and training.
The integrated resort needs to fill 10,000 positions by the time it opens early next year. It received more than 1,000 applications yesterday, far exceeding the 300 positions it was looking to fill.
This is the North West CDC's first in a series of four large job fairs. Each will offer more than 1,000 job vacancies.
The next three job fairs will be held between June this year and February next year.
Dr Teo Ho Pin, mayor of the North West district, noted that there had been a 43 per cent increase in the number of those looking for jobs since October last year.
Currently, more than 3,000 people listed in the CDC's database are waiting for a job placement.
Among them is Ms Norashidah Rasit, 18, who dropped out of school with the aim of supplementing her family's income.
She recently went for an employability camp organised by the North West CDC to prepare herself for the workforce. Her siblings are on bursaries in their schools.
'I'm looking for a sales-assistant job, and I've also applied to McDonald's,' she said.
