Professionals in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector and those wanting to join it will have more career help with two new programmes launched yesterday.
They are part of efforts to better match people to growing opportunities in the sector, which saw job vacancies rising by 38 per cent from 2014 to reach 20,000 last year.
Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say announced the initiatives at a career event at the Lifelong Learning Institute in Paya Lebar.
The first new initiative will coordinate career support by government agencies, the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore Computer Society (SCS) through physical career centres, physical and virtual career fairs and mentoring.
These TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) Integrated Career Services come under the TeSA initiative announced in this year's Budget.
Job seekers as well as existing ICT professionals will be able to seek help at Workforce Singapore, the Employment and Employability Institute and NTUC's U PME Centre.
They can also find mentors and advice on training and job opportunities through a new programme by SCS called the SCS Career Compass.
So far, more than 100 industry experts have volunteered through SCS to mentor people who are keen to enter or progress in ICT careers.
The first quarterly group mentoring session will take place next month, and is open to about 50 mentees and six mentors.
The ICT sector is the first to roll out these coaching services as part of the new SkillsFuture Career Advisers Programme - the second initiative launched yesterday, which will be expanded to more sectors.
Career advisers with industry expertise can provide detailed advice on career possibilities and skills needs, compared with existing career coaching that is at a broader level, for example, suggesting sectors for job seekers to consider applying to, said Mr Lim.
"We are able to advise the job seekers and practising professionals on what are the careers of today, what are the careers of the future, and guide them to pursue these growing opportunities," the minister added.
Joanna Seow
