Singaporeans affected by Covid-19 get employment help at Nee Soon job fair

SINGAPORE - While some companies are laying off staff or have stopped hiring due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are other firms that need staff.

The National Trades Union Congress' Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) has been working with agencies and employers to host job fairs in the heartlands to help Singaporeans find work.

On Thursday (Aug 20), Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam visited such an event at Chong Pang Community Club, which saw about 160 Singaporeans turning up to seek employment help.

Mr Shanmugam, who is also MP for Nee Soon GRC, said the focus has always been on ensuring that Singaporeans have jobs. "Without jobs, you can't look after yourself. You can't look after your family," he added.

There were over 1,600 job vacancies available at the fair, including openings for housekeepers, sales assistants, business analysts, inventory controllers, security officers, store managers and manufacturing specialists.

The job fair - the first of five organised by the e2i in Nee Soon GRC - offered job seekers career advice and on-the-spot interviews with potential employers, from security and retail to healthcare and manufacturing. The remaining job fairs will be held at other parts of the constituency over the next few months.

Many Singaporeans who attended the job fair went from one booth to another to speak with potential employers, which included Aetos Holdings, Cold Storage Singapore, Indoguna and All Saints Home.

A staff of gourmet food provider Indoguna said the company has been looking to fill the positions of employees who have left, or for new roles created.

"While we are trying to meet our resource requirements, our priority is to the Singapore core," she added.

Security firm Aetos Holdings said it has been actively recruiting and helping affected Singaporeans by offering them part-time and full-time positions as auxiliary police officers or security officers since the pandemic started.

Through such job fairs, it hopes to promote security as a career that is "stable, meaningful and offers much upskilling opportunities".

One job applicant, Mr Lim Kim Hung, a manager at a disco at Golden Mile Complex, has not worked for the past five months. Nightclubs and discos have been closed since late March to help stem the spread of the coronavirus.

"There is no certainty as to when operating restrictions would be lifted," the 56-year-old, who applied for a cleaning job, said in Mandarin. "Rather than stay at home and do nothing, I felt that I should come here and find a job."

Another job seeker, Mr John Ong, said he has sent out over 30 job applications and had a few interviews since he was retrenched from a travel firm a month ago.

The 30-year-old former auditor, who was dressed in office attire, has applied for a business analyst job at Cold Storage.

"It has been quite tough finding a job. Most of the companies have a hiring freeze," said Mr Ong, adding that he is able to get by for now. "I have decided to be more proactive and see whether there are any job opportunities out there."

On Tuesday, e2i held a job fair at the Bukit Panjang Community Club. More than 460 jobs were on offer, including openings for software engineers and retail assistants.