SINGAPORE – A home-grown job portal with more than 7,000 job vacancies was launched on Friday (Sept 24) at the South West Community Job Fair held at Jurong Spring Community Club.
Known as qood, it also helps jobseekers write resumes and shortlist employers.
The portal offers jobs from more than 400 employers across different sectors such as food and beverage, hospitality, engineering and retail. These include both PMET (professional, manager, executive and technician) and non-PMET roles.
Some of the employers include Resorts World Sentosa, PCF Sparkletots, Hanbaobao and Singapore Post.
The community-centric initiative is a collaboration among South West Community Development Council (CDC), Maybank Singapore and qood.
It aims to help local businesses ease their manpower crunch and help residents in Singapore find employment.
The portal was launched by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and adviser to Jurong GRC Grassroots Organisations (Taman Jurong), on Friday.
Ms Low Yen Ling, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Mayor of South West District, was a guest.
A soft launch of the portal, which is free to use for both jobseekers and employers, was held in July. More than 2,000 job seekers have signed up so far.
The job portal requires employers to notify jobseekers of their application outcome within three weeks, which reduces waiting time for jobseekers and enables them to make more informed decisions in accepting suitable offers.
Those who have trouble writing their resumes and applying for jobs can get help from qood’s community outreach advisers. There is also a helpline and people can message via WhatsApp on 9182-6801 for help too.
Maybank has pledged more than $500,000 over two years to support all five CDCs here in their job fair efforts through a programme named Maybank-CDC Jobs and Skills Series.
Some employers are using the qood job portal and job fairs to expand their employee count. One of them, Qiren Organisation, has 400 job vacancies in roles like marketing, talent acquisition and administration.
The company, which currently has 600 employees, plans to increase its employee count to 1,000.
Engineering company Ebenezer Group, which is offering 31 job vacancies on qood, plans to increase its work force by 40 per cent.
“I am open to retraining new joiners as long as they have an optimistic attitude and are open to learning new skills,” said Mr Lawrence Kim, 39, CEO of Ebenezer Group.
Mr Teh Yong Kang, 40, tried in vain for two years to look for a job after his previous company closed down.
His job search was delayed by his visual impairment and the Covid-19 pandemic. With the help of the qood portal, he secured a dishwasher job near his home within one month.
A community outreach adviser from qood had helped him draft his resume and also shortlist employers.
“I am grateful that I was given personalised assistance and happy to have found a job despite the current Covid-19 situation,” said Mr Teh, who has been working in his new job since July.
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MCI (P) 031/10/2021, MCI (P) 032/10/2021. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2021 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.