Over 13,000 work attachments open to mid-career job seekers from Aug 1

SINGAPORE - From Saturday (Aug 1), mid-career job seekers will be able to apply for more than 13,000 company attachments through the MyCareersFuture.sg portal, Workforce Singapore (WSG) said on Wednesday.

These will come from the pool of positions earlier approved for fresh and recent graduates.

The mid-career attachments can range from four to nine months and must start by March 31 next year. A job is not guaranteed after the attachment, but host organisations can consider hiring workers who perform well when business conditions improve.

Workers on the attachments will receive a monthly training allowance of between $1,400 and $3,000, of which 80 per cent will be funded by the Government, said WSG in a media release on Wednesday.

The attachments are part of the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme and include roles such as business development managers, software engineers, finance analysts and e-commerce associates.

A separate traineeship scheme for fresh graduates has attracted interest from more than 6,400 organisations offering more than 35,000 positions, which is far greater than the number of fresh and recent graduates who are likely to fill them, said WSG.

In light of this, WSG and the Singapore Business Federation - which is the programme manager for both schemes - will work with the organisations to open up 13,000 of these earlier-approved positions to mid-careerists.

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"This will give host organisations the option to fill these positions with experienced mid-career individuals, who bring with them a wealth of work experience and skills," said WSG.

Some firms already on board are GIC, United Overseas Bank and Watsons Singapore.

WSG chief executive Tan Choon Shian said in the statement: "We empathise with the anxieties mid-career individuals face during this difficult time and have stepped up efforts to ensure quality attachments with clear development plans so that they can quickly and confidently embark on permanent jobs once the economy recovers. We hope that they will make full use of the attachments to embark on a new pathway that can help lead them to the next stage of their career."

The attachments for mid-career workers and fresh graduates are part of the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package announced in the Fortitude Budget speech in May.

In total, some 100,000 job, traineeships and training places will be created to help job seekers over the next year.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.