Updated: 27th February 2009, 1840 hrs
Ten of thousands of women turn up for job fair, many more expected in coming months
By 11am, the queue had snaked to the third floor of the main building at the Employment and Employability Institute or e2i.
In all, about 2,000 women turned up to fill 900 job posts offered by 15 employers at a job fair organised by the NTUC's Women's Development Secretariat.
Expecting that more women will be forced to job hunt, the secretariat is stepping up efforts under its Back2Work with U Programme.
Geraldine Soh reports.
Now that her son is one-and-a-half-years old, 27-year-old housewife Mrs Tan is thinking of going back to work.
But the last six months spent job searching has yielded little success.
Friday's job fair targeted at women is her 11th attempt.
"I think alot of ladies are coming out for jobs but the market is hard now. I've been to many interviews but haven't received any reply. "
To improve their chances, Madam Halimah Yacob, Director of the Women's Development Secretariat says they've introduced two new elements to the job fair - pre- and post-screening.
This will apply to future job fairs as well.
Prior to the fair, applicants will be asked to register and indicate their preference and work experience so they can be channeled to the employer with the best fit when they arrive at the fair.
After they've secured the job, some women may need extra skills like a security certificate; the secretariat will follow-up on that.
Says Madam Halimah:
"These two are important because otherwise they'll just come and then they have no clue as to what they want, where to go, how to follow up. This time the job fair, we see alot more job seekers, in fact, almost 100 percent more compared to last year, so that's indicative of the times we're going through. "
To help women like Mrs Tan cope with work and family, the criteria for the Flexi-Works! Fund has also been relaxed.
Now companies can apply for up to $100,000 to defray costs of introducing flexi-work arrangements.
The funds can now also be used to benefit women aged 30 years old and above, previously it was 35 years old and above.
Last year, 76 companies made use of some $3 million to offer flexi work arrangements.
Madam Halimah is hopeful the revised criteria will spur more companies to follow suit.
But job applicants also have to play their part.
"We did a survey among some of the job seekers and the preference seems to be the same like in the good old times when there're alot of jobs. "
Since the Back2Work programme started in 2007, 2,700 women have gone back to work.
The target is to place another 2,000 women in jobs this year and help another 1,000 re-adjust to working life after prolonged unemployment.
Forseeing that more white-collared women will seek help too, the secretariat has rolled out Cuppa Connexion, a networking platform for PMETs to get updates on industry trends and training options
Ten of thousands of women turn up for job fair, many more expected in coming months
By 11am, the queue had snaked to the third floor of the main building at the Employment and Employability Institute or e2i.
In all, about 2,000 women turned up to fill 900 job posts offered by 15 employers at a job fair organised by the NTUC's Women's Development Secretariat.
Expecting that more women will be forced to job hunt, the secretariat is stepping up efforts under its Back2Work with U Programme.
Geraldine Soh reports.
Now that her son is one-and-a-half-years old, 27-year-old housewife Mrs Tan is thinking of going back to work.
But the last six months spent job searching has yielded little success.
Friday's job fair targeted at women is her 11th attempt.
"I think alot of ladies are coming out for jobs but the market is hard now. I've been to many interviews but haven't received any reply. "
To improve their chances, Madam Halimah Yacob, Director of the Women's Development Secretariat says they've introduced two new elements to the job fair - pre- and post-screening.
This will apply to future job fairs as well.
Prior to the fair, applicants will be asked to register and indicate their preference and work experience so they can be channeled to the employer with the best fit when they arrive at the fair.
After they've secured the job, some women may need extra skills like a security certificate; the secretariat will follow-up on that.
Says Madam Halimah:
"These two are important because otherwise they'll just come and then they have no clue as to what they want, where to go, how to follow up. This time the job fair, we see alot more job seekers, in fact, almost 100 percent more compared to last year, so that's indicative of the times we're going through. "
To help women like Mrs Tan cope with work and family, the criteria for the Flexi-Works! Fund has also been relaxed.
Now companies can apply for up to $100,000 to defray costs of introducing flexi-work arrangements.
The funds can now also be used to benefit women aged 30 years old and above, previously it was 35 years old and above.
Last year, 76 companies made use of some $3 million to offer flexi work arrangements.
Madam Halimah is hopeful the revised criteria will spur more companies to follow suit.
But job applicants also have to play their part.
"We did a survey among some of the job seekers and the preference seems to be the same like in the good old times when there're alot of jobs. "
Since the Back2Work programme started in 2007, 2,700 women have gone back to work.
The target is to place another 2,000 women in jobs this year and help another 1,000 re-adjust to working life after prolonged unemployment.
Forseeing that more white-collared women will seek help too, the secretariat has rolled out Cuppa Connexion, a networking platform for PMETs to get updates on industry trends and training options
