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Jobs Situation Report 23rd Edition

Whole-of-community effort with support from 240 partners to match jobseekers and employers in 2020.
20% increase in partnerships with public agencies, community groups, industry stakeholders and private sector agencies mirrors ramped-up job matching efforts

1.  Matching jobseekers and employers is a whole-of-community endeavour. Besides the Government, various stakeholders from both private and people sectors have also stepped up to lend their support. With their respective resources, networks and unique expertise, these stakeholders play an important and complementary role in employment facilitation.

2. In 2020, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Workforce Singapore (WSG) engaged 240 partners across government agencies, community and industry groups, technology providers and recruitment agencies. This is about 20% more than 2019.

 

3. The step up in partnerships augments and mirrors the ramp-up in our efforts to support jobseekers and employers. Beyond numbers, we also deepened our relationship with existing partners to provide Singaporeans with timelier and more holistic employment assistance as the pandemic disrupted traditional practices and accelerated industry and workforce transformation.

 

4. The 23rd Jobs Situation Report explores some of these partnerships and how they have supported jobseekers and employers in their job-matching journeys.

 

(a) Technology Partners

 

5. With digitalisation on the rise, the Government is actively working with technology companies and providers to augment our career matching services with cutting edge technological solutions and expertise. This includes tapping on suitable technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, Application Programming Interfaces and Machine Learning, to transform the career matching digital experience.

 

6. These collaborations also helped us move closer towards our collective goal to build a skills-based workforce, overcome mismatches and missed matches caused by poor skills fit and gaps, and pair people with jobs out in the marketplace today and in the future.

 

LinkedIn’s Skills Path Pilot

 

7. With the support of the National Jobs Council, LinkedIn will introduce Skills Path, a new skills-based hiring initiative for Singapore-based LinkedIn members. Skills Path allows job seekers to upskill with free LinkedIn Learning courses, validate these skills with assessments and connect to new opportunities. Jobseekers can also list these acquired skills on their LinkedIn profiles to help them become more noticeable to potential employers.

 

8. From the employers’ perspective, Skills Path allows companies to evaluate and hire candidates in a more effective and equitable way — based on their skills, instead of traditional criteria like education degrees, designations and networks. This alternative way of skill-based hiring will help companies broaden their talent pool and build a more diverse workforce.

 

9. Skills Path is currently available for six roles: customer service, data analyst, project manager, recruiter, supply chain coordinator and sales development.

 

Technology Partners on MyCareersFuture

 

10. Since the launch of the MyCareersFuture portal in April 2018, WSG has worked with technology partners, including JobKred, WCC and X0PA, to tap on their job matching algorithms to facilitate more efficient matching based on jobseeker’s skills, experience, etc. and job requirements.

 

11. WSG has also partnered JobScan to help users build optimal resumes that are tailored to the jobs for which they are applying. This technology helps jobseekers ensure that the key requirements indicated in the job posting are covered in their resume.

 

(b) Community

 

Volunteer Career Advisors

 

12. There are many individuals who, armed with years of experience, skills and networks, are keen to pay it forward by providing peer support and a guiding hand to fellow workers navigating their career pathways amidst the COVID-19 storm. WSG’s volunteer Career Advisors initiative brings together such individuals and creates an avenue for local jobseekers who are seeking either advice on opportunities within their current role or industry, or sector- and occupation-specific insights as they take on the daunting prospect of a career transition.

 

13. The initiative kicked off in December 2020 for Accountancy, Electronics, Healthcare, InfoComm Tech and Retail – sectors which have continued to see growth and interest from local jobseekers amid disruptions. To date, about 60 volunteer Career Advisors, comprising industry and union leaders, HR professionals and alumni from WSG’s Professional Conversion Programmes, have joined the initiative which will be rolled out to more sectors progressively.

 

Non-Profit Organisations

 

14. Non-profit organisations (NPOs) play an important role in connecting different communities together to tackle pressing issues in our society, including employment. WSG has collaborated with various NPOs to reach out to various stakeholders during the pandemic to help them learn more about the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package.

 

15. For instance, we collaborated with Advisory Singapore to organise virtual industry sessions to provide young Singaporeans with deeper understanding of industries and opportunities available, including they can get a stronger foothold in the current job market through SGUnited Traineeships Programme. The youth-led NPO aims to empower our youth to make informed decisions about their career futures and connect them with the working world.

 

Self-Help Groups

 

16. Singapore’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs), namely the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC), the Eurasian Association (EA), the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) and Yayasan MENDAKI, play a pivotal role in supporting Government agencies to engage and help uplift various segments of the workforce. These community partners have in place targeted programmes that help provide job-matching support and equip jobseekers and workers with the skills needed to progress further in their career and take on the future of work.

 

17. We are currently working with SHGs to further strengthen employment facilitation available to the communities. This includes inviting them to participate in WSG’s career events, such as the community walk-in interviews. By strengthening our relationship with the SHGs, we will be better able to reach and offer employment assistance to larger segments of the workforce.

(c) Industry

18. Alongside the Unions, the Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) have been instrumental in Singapore’s unique tripartite system. They serve as bridges between the Government and the employers, bringing the latter’s voices to the table and disseminating key information on government policies and programmes through their expansive networks.

19. Many serve as programme partners and managers as well, working with the government agencies to co-create, curate and run programmes that support the jobs and skills development for their industry or area of focus. Just as SHGs reach out to the different ethnic groups, TACs reach out to the different business communities, each with their own specific needs.

20. During this challenging time, TACs have also stepped up to support employers and jobseekers who struggled with the economic impact of the pandemic. For instance:

  1. The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) had worked with WSG to coordinate business-to-business matching under the SGUnited Jobs Initiative. They worked closely with different TACs to drive cross-sector job matching, allowing employers with increased demand for manpower due to pandemic to hire or second workers from employers with excess manpower due to pandemic.

     

  2. The Singapore Hotel Association (SHA) has worked closely with WSG and the Food, Drinks & Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) to roll out the Job Redesign Reskilling Programme for Hotel Industry. Collaborations with these TACs allow government agencies to rally and help employers make full use of the down time to transform and get their operations ready for post-COVID19 whilst retaining and upskilling as many employees where they can.

     

  3. SGTech launched its Career Support Group in Aug 2020 to provide peer support and mentorship to jobseekers who are keen to start a career in the ICT growth sector or in ICT jobs. They also engage employers regularly to shift their mindsets towards mid-career switchers, augmenting the Government’s efforts to help employers tap on this growing pool of experienced talent. Such support groups serve as conduits to connect hiring employers and displaced jobseekers, and complement efforts under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package. As of end May 2021, close to 16,200 jobseekers have been placed into jobs, traineeships, attachments as well as training opportunities in Information & Communications, and more than 20,500 of these opportunities remain available.

(d) Recruitment Portals and Agencies

Expanding avenues to access jobs

 

21. Different job portals cater to different groups of employers and address market needs. The MyCareersFuture portal for instance, pools together Singaporean candidates for companies keen to expand their local workforce.

 

22. To help our jobseekers access jobs posted by employers beyond those on MyCareersFuture and provide them access to a greater range of jobs, WSG has worked with Indeed to display a selection of Indeed’s job postings to expand the volume of job listings on our portal.  We also collaborated with private organisations such as LinkedIn, Monster, JobsDB, GrabJobs, Jooble and Neuvoo to similarly provide our jobseekers with access to jobs from these platforms.

 

Curating content and resources for those who prefer self-help and convenience

 

23. Jobseekers comprise those who are currently in-employment but looking for career development or career transition opportunities. These individuals may lack the time to visit one of the physical career centres or may be too overwhelmed when googling for information on their own.

 

24. By working with and tapping into the expertise of private-sector recruiters (e.g. Michael Page, Randstad and Robert Walters) as well as career resource providers (e.g. JobStreet and ValueChampion), we are able to curate a treasure trove of career-related content which includes insights into industry trends and the latest job searching technique to learning how to expand one’s networks. This treasure trove of content is available to users of MyCareersFuture, and regularly refreshed to keep up-to-date and relevant.

 

Connecting jobseekers to jobs closer to home

 

25. Careers Connect On-the-Go (CCOTG) is a mobile extension of WSG’s Careers Connect centres that brings basic career advisory into the Singapore heartlands. CCOTG also engages employers in the vicinity of the deployment to connect Singaporeans to job opportunities that are close to their home. For instance, the latest CCOTG deployment between 16 July and 18 July 2021 saw the team working closely with the employers in and around the Serangoon area to identify job opportunities.

 

SGUnited Jobs and Skills Placement Partners Initiative

 

26. WSG has appointed Adecco Personnel under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Placement Partner Initiative in March 2021 to provide jobseekers with more avenues to access career matching services and opportunities. Such partnerships complement our existing employment facilitation efforts by leveraging the employment agencies’ extensive networks and expertise in job matching.

 

Conclusion

 

27. These initiatives, be it ground-up or government-driven, are made possible through the strong collaboration and partnerships with the different stakeholders. Such collaborations between the public, people and private sectors allow us to create innovative solutions that address the diverse needs of jobseekers and employers and provide effective last mile connections between the two. WSG and MOM will continue to nurture these partnerships and look forward to forging new ones in the year ahead.

 

For more information

 

28. To find out more about:

  1. LinkedIn’s Skills Path Pilot, please visit https://opportunity.linkedin.com/en-sg/skillspathsg-seeker.
  2. SGUnited Placement Partners Programme, please visit https://www.go.gov.sg/sguppi.
  3. The Volunteer Career Advisor Initiative, please visit www.go.gov.sg/vcai-app.
  4. WSG’s programmes and career advisory and matching services, please visit www.mycareersfuture.gov.sg/careercoaching (QR code below) or call WSG’s hotline at 6883 5885.
  5. Upcoming engagement and outreach events organised by WSG and NTUC’s e2i, jobseekers can visit https://www.ssg-wsg.gov.sg/events.html or https://e2i.com.sg/events/.

 

QR code for WSG