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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong watches a demonstration during a training session for freelance caregivers to the elderly at the e2i. The institute is a government initiative to re-train workers to keep up with the shifting job markets. -- ST PHOTO: EDWIN KOO
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WORK as a machine operator was lowly-paid and boring to Madam Lim Hui Bin.
But she stuck with it for four years because she did not have the confidence to go and hunt for another job.
The 45-year-old mother of one eventually plucked up the courage to sign up for a job interview at the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i).
There, she went through a five-day 'Employability Camp', where she was trained in interview skills and confidence-boosting techniques, along with 20 other mature workers before she was hired as a wafer fabrication specialist with semiconductor company, STMicroelectronics.
Said Madam Lim, who saw her monthly pay go up by a third to $1,200 after she switched jobs: 'I'm grateful that even though I'm already into my 40s, I manged to find a new job with bright prospects.'
Low-wage workers like Madam Lim form a significant participants of the e2i - a one-stop shop for skills upgrading, job placement and career consulting, among other services.
The institute in Bukit Merah also wants to reach out to retrenched workers, contract and casual workers, and housewives looking to rejoin the workforce.
At the launch of e2i on Friday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said it will be one of the mainstays of a new national masterplan to equip more workers with skills to keep up with the relentless pace of economic changes.
A joint project between the National Trades Union Congress, Workforce Development Agency and the Singapore Labour Foundation, the centre's uniqueness lies in its multi-faceted approach to helping workers identify and address specific employment issues they face.
Besides 'Employability Camps', workers who sign up at the centre can take on-the-spot assessment tests to find out whether they have the technical skills or qualifications needed to land a specific job.
They can also be subsequently channelled to government and private training centres located across the island to pick up industry-specific skills.
These training centres currently cover 10 sectors, ranging from healthcare to real estate and security. Plans are also afoot to add new growth industries such as tourism to the list.
While the centre was officially launched only on Friday, it has already trained 3,000 workers and helped 230 unemployed people find jobs since its doors opened last September.
For this year, e2i is targetting to train more than 10,000 workers and securing 2,000 job placements.
Mr Zee Yoong Kang, e2i's chief executive officer, said the centre will work with community development councils, unions, and the media to reach out to those who have problems getting a job or staying employed.
'We want to send the message to them that given their particular circumstances, training will help them breech those gaps that come between them and a better job,' he said.
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