New training scheme for PMETs looking to switch to hotel industry
Shangri-La Hotel Singapore is one of the properties participating in the training programme. AFP file photo
SINGAPORE — Professionals looking to start a new career in the hotel industry may get a leg-up through a new programme that will be rolled out next month, to arm them with skills in areas such as sales and marketing.
Under the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) meant for the industry’s executives, participants without relevant hospitality experience will be hired as sales executives or assistant sales managers in established hotels, before they undergo training to gear them up for the career switch.
This was announced at a career fair for the industry at the Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre on Friday (Sept 23). A new skills framework developed for the industry also sets out career pathways and the skills needed for a range of roles, pointing workers to the right training programmes.
These initiatives are geared at mitigating the mismatch between skills and jobs, given the rising concern among Singaporeans over the jobs outlook, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say told reporters at the fair.
Right now, there are more than 2,000 job openings in the hotel and accommodation services industry, with four in 10 meant for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).
Mr Lim said the hotel industry is facing a manpower crunch, a problem that would only worsen with more hotels opening in the coming years. While there is a “healthy” number of Singaporeans in the industry that employs about 35,000 people, he said that Singapore wants to woo more to the sector.
Training under the new PCP lasts four-and-a-half months, and it includes e-learning and on-the-job training in hotels. For starters, 18 hotels are on board, including Pan Pacific Singapore and Shangri-La Hotel Singapore.
The Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Centre, better known as Shatec, will run the classroom training, and trainees will get a Workforce Skills Qualifications advanced certificate in hotel and accommodation services (sales and marketing) when they complete the programme.
Apart from training subsidies, the Government will provide employers with up to 70 per cent wage support during training.
Labour market figures released by the Manpower Ministry last Thursday were grim for the services sector, which formed nearly six in 10 job redundancies in the first half of this year. On the whole, layoffs for the first half of 2016 reached more than 9,500, the highest since 2009.
There are plans to roll out the PCP, which covers sales, project management and administrative roles, beyond the hotel industry. The National Jobs Bank showed “quite healthy” demand for such roles, Mr Lim said, adding that disruption, retrenchments, downsizing in some sectors, and upsizing in others would occur as Singapore moves from manpower-led growth to a future driven by productivity and innovation.
As for the other initiative, the skills framework for the hotel and accommodation services industry is the first under the national SkillsFuture movement. Co-developed by the WDA and the Singapore Tourism Board, it sets out career pathways and the desired skill-sets of 57 occupations across four tracks: Front office, housekeeping, sales and marketing, and revenue management.
