Good move to have older PMETs serve as consultants

We applaud the Ministry of Manpower's plan to match older professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that require their expertise ("S'pore aims to lift annual job growth despite challenges"; Feb 9).

Traditionally, SMEs are unable to compete with large companies or multinational corporations for talent, hampering their growth.

The Government has had several initiatives, such as the Sectoral Manpower Plan and Professional Conversion Programme.

These, however, have been taking too long to permeate through the workforce, as reskilling takes time, and social and psychological barriers exist.

Recently, At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy has been fortunate enough to tap highly experienced executives - a former Singapore Airlines trainer, a professional with 20 years' experience in banking and finance, and a brand strategist with 25 years' experience.

We still need more talented people with leadership qualities.

SMEs are in dire need of the deep skills and talent of experienced PMETs to help in the growth and transformation of their businesses.

We hope the Government will be able to come up with innovative means of rapidly connecting these experienced PMETs with SMEs.

Kwan Lui (Dr)

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 14, 2017, with the headline Good move to have older PMETs serve as consultants. Subscribe