<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>CDCs help more find jobs
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Efforts of CDCs and e2i pay off as number of job seekers surges </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Radha Basu
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->With the economy in a tailspin, 27,200 people sought help from community development councils (CDCs) to find jobs during the first four months of this year, an increase of more than two times from about 13,200 during the same period last year.
According to latest released figures from the Workforce Development Agency (WDA), successful job placements too are on the rise.
Thanks to the collective efforts of the five CDCs here and the Employment and Employability Institute or e2i, NTUC's job training and placement arm, 10,500 job seekers were placed between January and the end of April. For the whole of last year, the CDCs managed to place 13,000 job seekers.
Islandwide, about six in 10 of the registered job seekers at CDCs are above the age of 40, and seven in 10 have secondary qualifications and below.
To cope with the surge in those seeking jobs, the five CDCs have beefed up both the range and frequency of their career outreach programmes.
Since January, South East CDC has held 'mobile recruitment drives' by setting up booths at MRT stations to target those in need of a job but not sure where to get help. It has matched about 90 people to jobs so far, among them Ms Emilia Jaffar, 20, who graduated with a diploma in business IT from Temasek Polytechnic in February. More than 15 applications had failed to net her a single interview.
In March, she chanced upon the CDC's recruitment booth at Bedok MRT station and applied for half a dozen jobs, including one as a student-care centre teacher.
'I love interacting with children and thought I'd give it a shot,' she said. Within a week, she was offered the job. 'I was lucky,' she said, adding that some of her classmates remain jobless.
The North East and Central Singapore CDCs have begun outreach efforts to tap potential employers. CDC officers have been combing neighbourhood malls and offices to source for jobs. So far, the North East CDC has garnered more than 330 vacancies, mostly in food and beverage and retail.
Central Singapore CDC has also doubled the number of career consultants from four to eight. Each of these officials now sees an average of 16 cases every day - up from eight - inevitably resulting in extended working hours.
Meanwhile, South East CDC is conducting 'targeted job fairs' where applicants are pre-screened to make sure their skills and experience levels match the jobs on offer, thereby increasing their chances, said Mr Vengadesh Naidu, manager of the CDC's career centre. More than 350 applicants turned up at the Kampong Ubi Community Centre for one such targeted job fair three weeks ago. Some got hired on the spot, like former waitress Siti Nazira, 20. She found a job as a barista.
According to the deputy director of WDA's employment facilitation division, Mr Francis Lee, each of the five CDCs now has its own 'career centre' to provide job seekers with information on vacancies, prepare them for interviews and refer them for training.
'To meet the increased demand for assistance, we have beefed up resources to provide the necessary help to both rank-and-file workers and PMETs,' said Mr Lee, referring to professionals, managers, executives and technicians who have been hit hard by this recession.
Earlier this month, the Government announced a $100 million package to help out-of-work PMETs get back on their feet. The new initiatives will build on the $600 million Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) unveiled last November.
A recent beneficiary is housewife Elsie Tan, 42, who started looking for a job in March, to little avail. 'The economy was so bad that no one thought I stood a chance,' said the former insurance agent and graduate from Australia's Monash University, who had left the job market for seven years to raise her son.
After attending 10 days of Spur courses at the South East CDC, she was offered a post by her trainer. She will begin a job as a sales executive this week.
Other PMETS, especially older ones, are far less lucky. Islandwide, only about one in four people placed in jobs by CDCs between January and end-April this year has at least an A level.
'Before the recession, PMETs were fairly easy to place,' said Mr Naidu. 'But suddenly, their numbers have soared and vacancies have shrunk.'
Some PMETs are complaining that they are being given the short shrift in today's buyer's market. A 55-year-old former production manager, who wanted to be known only as Mr P. Tan, was offered a job through a personal contact but was appalled by the terms.
He had been retrenched from his Shanghai-based job in March. Not only was the new offer - which he did not accept - at half his previous salary of $7,500, but he also had to pay a hefty penalty fee if he quit before his three-year contract was up, and was banned from working for any rival firms for a year.
But while some job seekers are genuinely luckless, employers complain some are still too choosy.
Mr Y. Mujib Rahman, senior manager of Cleaning Express, a recruiter at the Kampong Ubi job fair, complained that 10 people he hired there for $800 a month quit within days, saying 'they don't want to work weekends or shifts'.
To help speed up help for job seekers and better match vacancies to clients, Central Singapore CDC has begun posting its officers at weekly Meet-The-People sessions of its Members of Parliament.
'These job navigators are a one-stop referral service offering instant employment advice and information on vacancies to prospective job seekers,' said its general manager, Mr Mark Tan. 'We aim to ensure a good fit in the shortest possible time.'
[email protected] Are you jobless and still finding it difficult to get a job? Share your story by e-mailing [email protected]
No more worry loh! *chey*
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Efforts of CDCs and e2i pay off as number of job seekers surges </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Radha Basu
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->With the economy in a tailspin, 27,200 people sought help from community development councils (CDCs) to find jobs during the first four months of this year, an increase of more than two times from about 13,200 during the same period last year.
According to latest released figures from the Workforce Development Agency (WDA), successful job placements too are on the rise.
Thanks to the collective efforts of the five CDCs here and the Employment and Employability Institute or e2i, NTUC's job training and placement arm, 10,500 job seekers were placed between January and the end of April. For the whole of last year, the CDCs managed to place 13,000 job seekers.
Islandwide, about six in 10 of the registered job seekers at CDCs are above the age of 40, and seven in 10 have secondary qualifications and below.
To cope with the surge in those seeking jobs, the five CDCs have beefed up both the range and frequency of their career outreach programmes.
Since January, South East CDC has held 'mobile recruitment drives' by setting up booths at MRT stations to target those in need of a job but not sure where to get help. It has matched about 90 people to jobs so far, among them Ms Emilia Jaffar, 20, who graduated with a diploma in business IT from Temasek Polytechnic in February. More than 15 applications had failed to net her a single interview.
In March, she chanced upon the CDC's recruitment booth at Bedok MRT station and applied for half a dozen jobs, including one as a student-care centre teacher.
'I love interacting with children and thought I'd give it a shot,' she said. Within a week, she was offered the job. 'I was lucky,' she said, adding that some of her classmates remain jobless.
The North East and Central Singapore CDCs have begun outreach efforts to tap potential employers. CDC officers have been combing neighbourhood malls and offices to source for jobs. So far, the North East CDC has garnered more than 330 vacancies, mostly in food and beverage and retail.
Central Singapore CDC has also doubled the number of career consultants from four to eight. Each of these officials now sees an average of 16 cases every day - up from eight - inevitably resulting in extended working hours.
Meanwhile, South East CDC is conducting 'targeted job fairs' where applicants are pre-screened to make sure their skills and experience levels match the jobs on offer, thereby increasing their chances, said Mr Vengadesh Naidu, manager of the CDC's career centre. More than 350 applicants turned up at the Kampong Ubi Community Centre for one such targeted job fair three weeks ago. Some got hired on the spot, like former waitress Siti Nazira, 20. She found a job as a barista.
According to the deputy director of WDA's employment facilitation division, Mr Francis Lee, each of the five CDCs now has its own 'career centre' to provide job seekers with information on vacancies, prepare them for interviews and refer them for training.
'To meet the increased demand for assistance, we have beefed up resources to provide the necessary help to both rank-and-file workers and PMETs,' said Mr Lee, referring to professionals, managers, executives and technicians who have been hit hard by this recession.
Earlier this month, the Government announced a $100 million package to help out-of-work PMETs get back on their feet. The new initiatives will build on the $600 million Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) unveiled last November.
A recent beneficiary is housewife Elsie Tan, 42, who started looking for a job in March, to little avail. 'The economy was so bad that no one thought I stood a chance,' said the former insurance agent and graduate from Australia's Monash University, who had left the job market for seven years to raise her son.
After attending 10 days of Spur courses at the South East CDC, she was offered a post by her trainer. She will begin a job as a sales executive this week.
Other PMETS, especially older ones, are far less lucky. Islandwide, only about one in four people placed in jobs by CDCs between January and end-April this year has at least an A level.
'Before the recession, PMETs were fairly easy to place,' said Mr Naidu. 'But suddenly, their numbers have soared and vacancies have shrunk.'
Some PMETs are complaining that they are being given the short shrift in today's buyer's market. A 55-year-old former production manager, who wanted to be known only as Mr P. Tan, was offered a job through a personal contact but was appalled by the terms.
He had been retrenched from his Shanghai-based job in March. Not only was the new offer - which he did not accept - at half his previous salary of $7,500, but he also had to pay a hefty penalty fee if he quit before his three-year contract was up, and was banned from working for any rival firms for a year.
But while some job seekers are genuinely luckless, employers complain some are still too choosy.
Mr Y. Mujib Rahman, senior manager of Cleaning Express, a recruiter at the Kampong Ubi job fair, complained that 10 people he hired there for $800 a month quit within days, saying 'they don't want to work weekends or shifts'.
To help speed up help for job seekers and better match vacancies to clients, Central Singapore CDC has begun posting its officers at weekly Meet-The-People sessions of its Members of Parliament.
'These job navigators are a one-stop referral service offering instant employment advice and information on vacancies to prospective job seekers,' said its general manager, Mr Mark Tan. 'We aim to ensure a good fit in the shortest possible time.'
[email protected] Are you jobless and still finding it difficult to get a job? Share your story by e-mailing [email protected]
No more worry loh! *chey*
