Closer-to-home jobs under new CDC matching scheme, full roll-out by October

SINGAPORE – A new initiative that goes beyond traditional job fairs to help people find better job matches closer to home has been rolled out in South West District, with the other Community Development Councils (CDC) set to join by October.

Called Jobs Nearby @ CDC, it involves stationing jobs ambassadors at community clubs, conducting more direct outreach with job seekers, and closing “last-mile” gaps that can scupper promising job matches.

“The jobs ambassadors will provide customised assistance,” said Mayor of South West District Low Yen Ling on Aug 31 at a job fair held at Hillview Community Club.

Five jobs ambassadors were on hand to assist job seekers for the first time under the new initiative.

Each of the ambassadors will then be deployed to one CC in the South West District.

They will provide assistance including scheduling virtual or face-to-face appointments with potential employers, connecting job seekers with upskilling resources if needed, as well as referring them to other partners for services such as career counselling.

The ambassadors will also negotiate with prospective employers to adjust job requirements for job seekers, such as shifting work hours to allow for caregiving, said Ms Low,  who is also Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth, as well as Trade and Industry.

Other than caregivers, the initiative hopes to target three key groups: less digitally savvy residents unable to navigate online job boards and applications; those with special needs and mobility issues; and long-serving employees who lost their jobs and lack interview experience, she told reporters.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had announced during the 2025 National Day Rally on Aug 17 that the

CDCs would spearhead a new, more localised job-matching initiative

, drawing on their ties with local merchants, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and community partners.

The jobs on offer will include professional, managerial, executive and technical (PMET) roles in SMEs and multinational corporations, besides front-line non-PMET roles requiring a physical presence in neighbourhoods, added Ms Low.

Among the 12 employers at the fair was Swiss biotechnology firm Lonza Biologics, which plans to hire over 100 full-time employees by 2026.

Available positions include biotechnologists and finance managers, as well as Career Conversion Programme trainees for roles such as project engineers.

Another employer on-site was home-grown logistics firm GKE, which has around 300 employees and is hiring about 10 people for roles including management associates and prime mover drivers.

Ms Doreen Chai, vice-president for business development and customer service at GKE, told The Straits Times that the company, located in the Benoi industrial area, often exhibits at job fairs to raise its visibility in the heartland.

“We’re always very active in job fairs because we find that this is the best platform, given the community network, for (job seekers) to come and see face to face what are the roles (we require), and whether they’re suitable,” she said, adding that the company provides free transport to employees.

Mr Chee Chin Young, chairman of the Bukit Gombak Traders’ Association, said the group will connect job seekers with any of its members.

The association represents over 150 shops in the Bukit Gombak neighbourhood centre and surrounding estates.

Mr Chee is also the founding principal of tuition centre Fun Learners’ School, which is hiring for positions in both operations and teaching. Other members of the association have over 10 more job openings. He believes the new initiative will help boost the visibility of these job vacancies, which might otherwise be missed by workers who did not see the hiring notices in the neighbourhood.

About 10 other employers, who were not physically present at the fair, conducted virtual interviews, with at least two people securing job offers on the spot – one with Prime Supermarket, and the other with logistics firm Big Foot Logistic.

A queue of around 20 job seekers formed ahead of the event, which drew about 100 registered residents and several walk-ins.

One job seeker, who wished to be known only as Mr Mustafa, had travelled from Simei in the hope of securing a role in supply chain management. He has over two decades of experience in the field, but was retrenched in April.

“The distance to the job doesn’t matter for me; Singapore is quite small,” he said, adding that openings at Lonza and GKE had caught his eye.

“Job fairs are better in a way because you can directly interact with the recruiters. For a person like me on the wrong side of 50, at least you’ve got a chance to present your case.”

However, he noted some initial hiccups, as employers at the fair could not retrieve his curriculum vitae from the computer system, which he had uploaded in advance.

He added: “The matching (initiative) should be helpful, but the employer must also have an open mindset.

“Many times, I get a call, they ask me only, ‘What’s your age?’, then the conversation ends.

“If people have got a skill, it doesn’t matter what age they are.”