Job hunting? 'Employability ambassadors' are here to help
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — By year’s end, 2,000 people could be trained to serve the employment needs of individuals and to link them up with the right agencies, as part of a new labour movement initiative. This would include pointing them to job fairs, for instance.
These “employability ambassadors” will be drawn from places such as workplaces, grassroots groups and schools, and they will be part of the U Career Network of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). Other teams in the network will comprise full- and part-time career coaches, as well as experienced mentors in the industry — all to reach out to more jobseekers, given the much-watched unemployment situation here.
Mr Gilbert Tan, chief executive officer of NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), said he is hoping to have “a couple of thousand” ambassadors on board by the end of the year.
Right now, about 200 have committed to joining the network. Among them is a group of grassroots volunteers in Ang Mo Kio, Mr Tan said.
The ambassadors will receive basic training in areas such as labour-market trends, job-search resources, and basic career coaching to arm them with the know-how to guide jobseekers. They will don a tag to identify themselves as ambassadors at community events, for instance.
Mr Oh Yee Wee, 44, a grassroots volunteer from Kebun Baru Citizens’ Consultative Committee in Ang Mo Kio who signed up to be an ambassador, said they were equipped with the latest information on job fairs and openings from e2i to serve residents better. The aim is to better reach out to more residents “with the relevant skills and job vacancies”, he added.
Aside from employability ambassadors, mentors with deep knowledge of their industries will also provide small-group mentoring to jobseekers or hold industry-related talks. These mentors will undergo the same basic training as ambassadors.
There are more than 200 industry mentors in the network now, spanning the information technology, finance and manufacturing sectors. Adding to this network will be a crew of full-time employability coaches and part-time associate coaches. They will undergo training in career coaching, based on a new accreditation framework for coaches.
Dubbed the Practising Employability Coach Framework, it will be structured into four tiers: Certified, Senior, Professional and Master Practising Employability Coach.
Coaches will have to fulfil yearly assessment requirements based on a points system, and are expected to take an average of three to four years to reach the Master level.
They will be assessed on, among other criteria, one-on-one coaching experience, professional development and general industry knowledge.
Right now, there are about 10 associate coaches as well as 50 full-time coaches employed by e2i, with more than 30 of the full-time coaches already accredited under the new framework. Mr Tan said that others who are keen to be recognised as coaches are welcome, including those already engaged in such work elsewhere.
Self-help groups such as Mendaki, student leaders and lecturers from institutes of higher learning, as well as representatives from the labour movement, including unions and associations, will be involved in the U Career Network.
Mr Tan said the broader reach would strengthen the network, as each team has its “strengths in understanding the skills and career needs of residents, youths and industry peers”.
