Helping youths embark on career discovery journey
Over the past three years, Young NTUC has held a series of engagement sessions with 10,000 youths through the Youth Career Network (YCN) Career Discovery & Mentorship Programme. Participants shared that they have found the programme useful in helping them navigate the evolving employment landscape and achieve clearer career goals. For some, the YCN Career Discovery & Mentorship Programme has also helped them discover their career aspirations. 24-year-old Lee Zhao Zhen is one of the mentees who is now employed with ST Electronics as a Management Executive after participating in YCN Career Discovery & Mentorship Programme. She said, “Young NTUC has helped me to connect with mentors who have dedicated time and effort to share their experiences with me. With my mentors' support, I am able to seize a suitable job opportunity at the right time.”
A career discovery marketplace, LIT (Learning Is Triggered) DISCOvery, was launched in collaboration between Young NTUC, the youth wing of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), Young NTUC and the Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) by SkillsFuture Singapore, to help youths better discover themselves and encourage them to embrace the spirit of lifelong learning right from the start of their career
journey. This event was held at Marina Bay Sands on 1 June 2019 which saw the attendance of approximately 800 youths and young working adults. Minister for Education, Ong Ye Kung, graced the event as Guest-of-Honour.
Building on the success of the career discovery and mentorship platforms, Young NTUC decided to work hand in hand with LLI to establish a career discovery resource platform to further encourage youths to take charge and design their own careers, as well as continuously upskill to stay relevant and competitive.
Mr Desmond Choo, Assistant Secretary-General of NTUC and Advisor to Young NTUC said, “Young NTUC’s Youth Career Network fosters peer-to-peer learning amongst Singaporeans. Over 400 industry professionals have helped more than 10,000 youths to seize learning and career opportunities. Such volunteerism is an important part of Singapore’s social unity and nation-building.”
Career discovery marketplace – LIT DISCOvery
LIT DISCOvery was demarcated into three zones – Discovery Zone, Learning Zone and Employers Networking Zone where youths had the opportunity to go through mock interviews, bite-sized learning modules by LLI and network with prospective employers. At LLI’s Lifelong Learning Café, youths gained more insights into their personal learning styles and picked up suitable skills such as Business Chinese and creating Virtual Reality games through bite-sized learning sessions.
In addition to the marketplace, there was a concurrent conference with speakers from renowned companies – DBS Bank, IBM Singapore, BasisAI and Microsoft Singapore – who offered insights on the future economy such as the future of banking and artificial intelligence. Youths also had the opportunity to interact with investors and representatives from Love Bonito, Sentient.io and FinTech Academy who participated in the panel discussion on the topic of entrepreneurship.
Ms Wendy Tan, Executive Secretary of Young NTUC shared, “We have seen an increase in youths who have expressed uncertainties in career navigation. Hence, we hope to reach out to more youths through this career discovery platform to help them be more confident in establishing their own career. NTUC will continue to work closely with partners like Lifelong Learning Institute and National Youth Council to enhance our career network so that more youths can realise their career aspirations.”
Added Mr Tan Tow Koon, Group Director of Training Manpower & Infrastructure Group, SkillsFuture Singapore, “Industries are transforming rapidly and skills demands are changing in tandem. It is important for our youths to better understand their own learning styles and adopt the mindset of lifelong learning so as to be better prepared for a constantly evolving workplace.”
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