Sure, having a job and spending the hard-earned salary supporting yourself or the family is cool, but you know what’s cooler?
Helping Singaporean women who wants to re-enter the workforce find training and work opportunities.
And that’s what Workforce Singapore (WSG) is doing with herCareer.
herCareer (with absolutely no affiliation to Her World) is an initiative that aims to support Singaporean women who are planning to return to the workforce to access available jobs, transit into new industries and job roles, and build up job-relevant skillsets.
Job seekers have access to career coaching, career trials, upskilling, mentoring and info on childminding options.
And to help you jog your memory, herCareer is line with the recent white paper on Singapore women’s development — a whole-of-society plan to build a fairer and more inclusive society.
In her speech in Parliament in April at the start of the debate on the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development, Communications and Information Minister Josephine Teo said that Singapore women’s development has reached a very high base and while some may have felt no urgency to improve things, the PAP Government wants to further strengthen the position of women in our society.
What makes herCareer cool?
It’s not just jobs, jobs, jobs. herCareer also gives career advice, training opportunities and links women to organisations that offer such support services.
Basically, it provides a suite of support from the Government, NGOs and community partners such as Yayasan Mendaki, Daughters Of Tomorrow and NTUC U Women & Family.
There’s also this Career Trial programme that presents a short-term trial to assess the job is suitable and provides part-time jobs for women who need flexible work arrangements to balance work and family commitments.
Or discover new occupations or sectors with the Career Conversion Programmes. There are about 100 CCPs in about 30 sectors.
Peer support is important and that’s why there’s a Workipedia by MyCareersFuture to read about experiences from similar jobseekers.
SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme and SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme also provide job opportunities for jobseekers aged 40 and above and mid-career folks to acquire relevant skills to improve employability respectively.
Very cool.
More women returning to workforce
At a WSG workfair at Bedok on June 9, 2022, Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang told reporters: “We know that our job market is very tight in Singapore, and that the employers are always seeking out for talent. So caregivers, women especially, actually is a very rich source of talent for employees to tap on… We think that more women will be prepared and willing to come back to the workforce.”
And according to stats from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), indeed more women are joining the workforce.
A MOM article wrote: “The rise in Labour Force Participation Rate among women from 2010 to 2020 suggests that more women are joining the workforce and subscribing to more financially independent lifestyles. This is especially so over the last three years, as female labour force participation rate rose from 60.2 per cent in 2018 to 61.2 per cent in 2020.”
Female Labour Force Participation Rate 2010 to 2020
The Straits Times reported that more than 68,000 women have received help from WSG and the National Trade Union Congress e2i since 2019 to return to work – accounting for almost one in every two job placements by WSG.
MOS Gan added that women she met at the fair told her that it’s about having the courage and the confidence to rejoin the workforce – especially for those who have not been working for a number of years.
“It can be quite mentally daunting to take that step forward, so it takes partnership and maybe some mentorship as well as career coaching.”
The cool herCareer can do just that. Find out more here.
Cover photo credit: WSG