11,000 TRAINEESHIPS OFFER NEW PATHWAYS TO JOBS

The evolving #COVID19 situation has brought about uncertainty to those looking for jobs. One group we are paying close attention to is our recent graduates. It is not the easiest of times to be entering the job market. As a mother of three, I recognise their worries, as well as those of their parents.

We want to help these young Singaporeans start their careers on good footing and not let COVID-19 derail their plans and aspirations. This is why we have introduced the SGUnited Traineeships Programme to provide up to 21,000 traineeship opportunities. The programme will help them acquire valuable industry-relevant experience, develop skills, and expand their professional networks. This will in turn give them a firmer foothold in the job market once the economy recovers.

To ensure that our graduates have a meaningful traineeship experience, we work closely with interested host organisations to put in place traineeships with clear development plans, before these traineeships get approved by Singapore Business Federation (SBF), our programme partner. 

There has been very encouraging interest from both large and small organisations. 

So far, over 1,000 organisations that have stepped forward to offer to host more than 11,000 traineeships, Some are large companies such as UOB, Singtel, DBS and Baxter Healthcare, but the vast majority is from our SME community who have also put their hands up to host our young Singaporeans, companies such as Carousell, Yang Kee Logistics, Spic & Span and SGAG Media. All of them are eager to help our young graduates gain experience.

From tomorrow (1 June), approved traineeships will be progressively made available on the MyCareersFuture.sg portal for application. 

Our graduates can look forward to traineeships across familiar roles in the areas of Marketing, Finance, Sales Support, Supply Chain, and Quality Assurance and also more niche ones such as Sports Nutrition, Social Work, Venture Capital and 3D Printing. A good number of traineeships are in areas such as Security Penetration Testing and Operational Risk Analysis, which are aligned to our plans in the various sectors’ ITMs, giving these trainees a good headstart for the future economy. 

The Public Service has also stepped forward, together with our Institutes of Higher Learning such as Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), Singapore Management University and Singapore University of Social Sciences, to offer traineeship opportunities. 

We will be having a Virtual Career Fair for traineeships later in June to make it easier for graduating students to search for traineeships that suit them.

This would not have been possible without the strong support from SBF and our sector agencies to encourage companies to come onboard and be part of the #SGUnited movement. Thank you for the hard work in providing meaningful traineeships for our young Singaporeans. I especially appreciate the organisations which have pledged their support and encourage more to similarly do so.

To our graduating students – I encourage you to make full use of these developmental opportunities to build your networks, skills and resumes. It is not the same as landing a permanent job, but this traineeship - like a sturdy umbrella amidst the downpour – will help sustain you till you reach the next step in your career. 

With grit and a little help from one another, we can and will weather whatever storms come our way. - Jo Teo