Centre For Seniors boosts its mission to support “Active Ageing by Staying Employed” by partnering job portal, FastJobs

Singapore,1 October 2020 - The Centre for Seniors (CFS) has enhanced its outreach efforts to seniors by partnering with FastJobs, a mobile app job portal. As part of their joint efforts, the two organisations have teamed up to relaunch an improved website with a “resume drop” function and launched a #SeniorsWelcome movement to improve job matching for mature jobseekers. 

These initiatives are part of CFS’ social mission to support work-life transition discussions and senior employability issues, as well as its project “Active Ageing by Staying Employed” to support seniors’ training and placement, supported by the Tote Board and Agency for Integrated Care. Since the start of this programme, CFS has worked with more than 20 partners to explore elements of work redesign, micro jobs and gig assignments for more than 70 seniors.

New and improved SilverJobs portal that taps on FastJobs’ digital expertise

With FastJobs as a technology and job search partner, CFS relaunched its SilverJobs portal (www.silverjobs.sg), where seniors can look for jobs and deposit resumes for potential jobs. FastJobs adapted its tried-and-tested design for effective jobseeker experience and linked up its user database so that jobseekers can easily use their FastJobs profiles to apply for jobs listed on SilverJobs. 

Knowing that seniors face difficulties in being shortlisted, CFS also enhanced its support for age-free hiring with an extended feature. This feature, known as Silver Skills, allows seniors to list their job experience and expertise so that potential employers can recruit seniors based on job requirements instead of age profile. Jobseekers can simply deposit their resumes on the website to benefit from this scheme. 

CFS also obtained WSG’s support on funding schemes to Trial, Train and Place seniors in certain new careers that will enable seniors to adapt and train when transiting to selected job roles. Ms Amalorpuspha D/O Michael was referred to United Medicare Centre by CFS and was put on a career trial by Workforce Singapore and she is currently enjoying her work as a Programme Associate.

Mature jobseekers have also shown that they are willing to go for training and upskill themselves. Tock Liang Lim, winner of the Lifelong Learner Award at the 2020 FastJobs Excellence Awards, says that completing WSQ courses allowed him to learn new skills, challenge himself, and share the joy of training with his colleagues. The SilverJobs portal curates relevant training opportunities for senior jobseekers to identify training opportunities that will enable them to pick up valuable skills to join new industries.

 

To further highlight the employability of older jobseekers, FastJobs asked its employers to add a hashtag #SeniorsWelcome to jobs they are posting on FastJobs if they are open to hiring mature jobseekers. Since the campaign started on 15 July 2020, more than 469 jobs from 171 employers have been posted, across popular sectors such as F&B and Hospitality. These jobs see a higher percentage of mature applicants being hired as compared to younger applicants, showing that the employers using #SeniorsWelcome are sincere about hiring older jobseekers. 

CFS and FastJobs will be promoting the use of this hashtag in platforms beyond FastJobs to encourage employers to hire seniors. Ms Deborah Mui Yan Wing is an example of a successful senior jobseeker. An Operation Assistant working with the disabled in data entry and administrative work, she was hired for her job despite being in her 60s, showing that senior jobseekers have much to bring to the table at the workplace.

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About FastJobs

FastJobs is Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing mobile job app that focuses on recruitment for customer-facing, support, and operational roles. By applying technology alongside data insights, our vision is to simplify job matching and provide everyone with equal access to job opportunities from trusted employers.
Incubated by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and officially launched in April 2015, the FastJobs app has since been downloaded more than 2.5 million times across the region. At the HR Vendors of the Year 2018 Awards, FastJobs emerged as Best New Recruitment Solution Provider (Gold, Singapore, and Malaysia), Best HR Start-up Company (Silver, Singapore), and Best Recruitment Portal (Bronze, Singapore).
Business success depends on finding the right people, and FAST. This is at the heart of FastJobs and inspires us to continually re-imagine the way people are connected to jobs. As FastJobs expands across Southeast Asia, we strive to improve people’s lives with better access to economic opportunities. 

About CFS

The Centre For Seniors (CFS) is a non-profit, Social Service Agency (SSA) with IPC status, that is committed to promoting the total well-being of older persons in Singapore, specifically their vocational, financial, and psycho-social health. Its vision and mission is to foster a positive active ageing mindset in our seniors, by encouraging them to be gainfully and meaningfully employed for as long as possible and to remain actively and purposefully engaged in the everyday community. CFS manages training programmes, activities, and projects to prepare mature workers in understanding ageing, staying healthy, up-skilling to stay relevant, financial literacy, and retirement planning.  
Since the organisation’s inception in 2006 by its founder member, NTUC Health Co-operative Ltd, CFS has trained more than 20,000 mature workers of whom almost 80% of them attended senior employability programmes that prepare them for re-employment, reinforce positive mindset on life-long learning so that they can stay employed for as long as they can. In 2018, CFS expanded its services to include facilitating employment opportunities for seniors.