Many are middle-aged, some have been retrenched or expect to be laid off soon
By
Zureena Habib
Many of the job-seekers who showed up at National University Hospital's recruitment drive yesterday morning were middle-aged. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
TRADING floor supervisor Stephen Ng figures he will get an 80 per cent pay cut if he lands the health-care assistant job he applied for yesterday.
But that would be better than not having any pay at all. The 49-year-old was told he will have to go when his company downsizes next month.
'I can't brood over it, there is no use in that, I can only stay positive and move on,' said the father of three.
He arrived and joined a queue 15 minutes before doors even opened at 9am at a walk-in recruitment drive by National University Hospital (NUH) yesterday morning.
The drive was supposed to end at 12.30pm but was extended to 1.30pm.
More than 700 people showed up at the hospital's Kent Ridge Wing 2 lobby for 550 jobs in nursing, dietetics, medical social work, pharmacy and radiography and administration.
Most were middle-aged; some were anticipating being retrenched or had already been retrenched.
Ms Cheng Li Jiuan, 47, who was retrenched last month after 22 years in the banking industry, was there for a job in human resources.
'There is no time for a break where Singapore is concerned. There are so many young people and so many foreigners all looking for jobs,' she said.
Singapore's two big acute hospitals, NUH and Singapore General Hospital (SGH), are on a drive to attract mid-career workers who want to switch to a health-care career.
SGH opened up 100 positions for nurses, heath-care assistants and health professionals, attracting 560 applicants in a job fair last month.
Despite receiving 719 applications yesterday, only 215 people who were deemed eligible for the job offers were interviewed at NUH.
The hospital's chief operating officer and acting chief executive officer, Mr Joe Sim, said: 'We hope that more people will come forward especially in this period, when we read about gloom and bad news every day. I hope that this will bring some cheer to people.'
He added that if response to yesterday's drive was good, the hospital is also looking to recruit 220 people for Jurong General Hospital, which will be ready in 2011.
'If the crowds keep coming, it is quite a good sign and we feel confident,' he said.
Job-seekers at another mass recruitment drive last Saturday, by the Ministry of Home Affairs, also included many who were retrenched or feared they would lose their jobs.
The two-day fair, which had 1,050 positions available in its agencies like the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and Singapore Police Force, drew nearly 2,000 applicants who were mostly in their 20s.
Among the applicants at yesterday's fair was a mechanical designer, Mr M. Kumar, 30, who is worried about being axed from his current company.
'I don't mind taking a pay cut as long as the job is secure,' he said.
