After having spent 10 years in Australia, Jonathan Cai was faced with a daunting task of finding a job back home in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 38-year-old was concurrently working as a Business Improvement and Operations Manager of two start-ups in Melbourne – both of which were heavily dependent on the hard-hit tourism sector. As such, he made the decision to return to Singapore in March 2020 to seek other opportunities.
There were not many opportunities then, and Jonathan spent about six months looking for a suitable job. Then in September, he chanced upon a company attachment as an Operational Excellence (Data Testing) Trainee at Prudential under the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme by Workforce Singapore (WSG).
The role was unlike what he used to do at the start-ups, but the programme allowed him to leverage on his existing skillsets to delve into the IT realm – something that he had an interest in.
“I’ve always been interested in how system development is, how software works, how it is being updated and whatnot … Currently, I am doing beta testing. I test software applications that are used in Prudential and make sure that any changes or updates in the applications are working as expected,” he said.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Devayani Prabakaran, who was a fresh graduate with a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, also benefited from WSG’s SGUnited Traineeships Programme when she left her full-time job as a test engineer to pursue a career as a Business (Marketing) Trainee at Prudential.
She said: “I chose this traineeship because it was a career switch. I needed to equip myself with the necessary skills to come back to the workforce … I found the traineeship to be a better choice than struggling and balancing a full-time job in marketing.”
Jonathan and Devayani were two of 9,500 jobseekers who benefitted from Workforce Singapore’s (WSG) SGUnited Traineeships and SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programmes since 2020.
As of end February 2021, the two programmes had onboarded some 2,500 host companies.
Workers can also expect another 15,000 traineeships and company attachment opportunities to be made available to them in the coming months, revealed WSG on 12 April 2021.
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, who visited Prudential’s main office on the same day, said: “Last year, we were very concerned about the weakened hiring demand because the outlook was very unclear. We knew that hiring managers would be much more conservative, and one particular group we were worried about were fresh graduates.”
The weakened hiring demand led to the introduction of the SGUnited Traineeships Programme, which gave fresh graduates the opportunity to build up their resume and gain meaningful work exposure.
“A couple of months later, we thought that the same concept could also apply to people who are mid-career and seeking a change … And that’s how the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathway Programme company attachments came to be introduced,” said Mrs Teo.
In a Facebook post, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Desmond Choo said: "I’m glad to see that the SGUnited Traineeships Programme, along with SGUnited Mid-Career Pathway Programme, has been extended and enhanced. The latest Jobs Situation Report from the Ministry of Manpower cited strong interest from host organisations and applicants.
Four in five who benefitted from the programmes were recent graduates, and one in five were mid-career individuals.
Two hundred found full-time employment while the programme was on-going. Another 160 have completed the programme, among whom, 60 per cent of them having found full-time employment.
Sectors which showed a lot of interest include the Infocomm technology and media, the financial services and professional services.
WSG will be engaging participants who have not secured full-time employment to further their job search.
Despite host organisations still showing interest in the programmes, WSG has observed a slowdown in the pace of applications.
According to WSG, around half of the applicants who received a traineeship or attachment offers had turned them down. The key reasons cited were the take up of another traineeship, or the emergence of a full-time employment opportunity.
Applicants should consider applying to a broader range of companies under the programme, said WSG.
WSG found that 70 per cent of the applications were concentrated on 20 per cent of vacancies, which were from better known organisations and prominent sectors.
On securing an attachment or traineeship, Mrs Teo said: “If you redirect your attention to host companies that may not have received so many applications, then your chances or getting an interview are higher, and what that means is that your chances of being offered a traineeship or attachment opportunity is also higher.”
Jonathan and Devayani hope that they would be able to continue working in Prudential after their attachment and traineeship ceases.
Jonathan said: “I would definitely be looking to work in the current role. I am still very interested in testing, so in the future, I would definitely still be looking at software testing or data testing roles.”
“I have [had] an immense learning experience here, and I have enjoyed myself. I would definitely take up a job at Prudential,” said Devayani.
