By Jennani Durai

THE National University of Singapore (NUS) has joined forces with a recruitment firm to boost the employment prospects of its graduates.

It is a first for the university, which has typically reported that nine out of 10 graduates find jobs within three months of receiving their degrees. But this rosy picture changed when last year's financial crisis hit.

NUS' dean of students Tan Teck Koon said exact figures are still being collated for last year's graduating class and are expected soon.

The Ministry of Education released the employment figures for the 2008 graduating class at the end of March last year.

Said Professor Tan: 'We presume, naturally, that more students found it difficult to find jobs after graduation.'

Last year's gloomy job market for graduates was a 'wake-up call', he said.

'The economic downturn made us realise we had to do a lot more for our students. So we started exploring partnerships.'

NUS picked Kelly Services, which operates out of 33 countries and matches more than 750,000 people with jobs worldwide each year.

Mr Dhirendra Shantilal, senior vice-president of Kelly Services Asia-Pacific, said he hopes that the partnership will create 10 per cent to 15 per cent more job openings for fresh graduates.

The partnership came at no cost to either NUS or Kelly Services, but brought the recruiters' services to students' doorstep.

The agency will also hold workshops and career counselling sessions to equip students with knowledge of the job landscape, so they know what to expect upon graduation.

'Last year made it evident that a lot of our workforce could not cope with the crisis. Our workforce needs new skills to adapt to unfamiliar territory,' Mr Shantilal said.

Ms Corrine Ong, director of NUS Career Centre, said three such workshops have been conducted on campus, for more than 130 students.

The partnership was announced yesterday at the launch of NUS' Career Fair, where around 3,500 jobs were on offer.

Third-year engineering student Betty Tsai is pleased to have professional help.

'I'm still in Year 3 but I want to start looking at their services earlier so I can be more prepared when I graduate,' she said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.