About half of the vacancies listed on the portal are for PMEs
By Joanna Seow, The Straits Times, 15 Jul 2014
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THE national Jobs Bank has been officially launched with more than 16,000 open positions, a strong start comparable to some private employment websites.
By Joanna Seow, The Straits Times, 15 Jul 2014
About half of the jobs advertised thus far are for professionals, managers and executives (PMEs). These include marketing executives, restaurant managers and director-level positions at educational institutes.
"We are creating many job opportunities in our economy, but we need a better, more systematic way to match job seekers to vacancies," said Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin at the launch at the Lifelong Learning Institute in Paya Lebar yesterday.
While the listings volume falls short of those of market leaders like JobStreet, with more than 51,000, the portal's manager, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), was encouraged.
An agency spokesman said it is pleased with the warm response and expects more users to come on board www.jobsbank.gov.sg
First announced last year, the free service matches employers exclusively with local job seekers.
The portal, added Mr Tan yesterday, will "provide another avenue for Singaporeans to explore and apply for job opportunities, as well as allow employers to access a larger pool of local candidates".
Its Singaporean focus is its unique selling point, said experts.
"On private job portals, sometimes more than 50 per cent of the applications received can come from foreigners, so it's good that there is this exclusive gateway helping Singaporeans," said recruitment specialist David Leong.
Under the Fair Consideration Framework, which kicks in on Aug 1, employers with businesses of more than 25 people must post job vacancies on the website for at least 14 days before applying for an Employment Pass.
The Manpower Ministry said S Pass and work permit applications are excluded from the rule for now as there are other tools, such as levies and dependency ratio ceilings, that spur firms to search for suitable Singaporeans before applying for the passes.
The Manpower Ministry said S Pass and work permit applications are excluded from the rule for now as there are other tools, such as levies and dependency ratio ceilings, that spur firms to search for suitable Singaporeans before applying for the passes.
But the WDA stressed that the service is for all types of jobs and not just for PMEs.
Since the beta version of the site was launched in May, 4,300 employers and 12,900 people have signed up for accounts.
Bosses and workers said the website is easy to use. For example, it even provides resume templates.
Madam Justina Lee, 45, was hired as a project manager at credit bureau DP Information Network within a week after posting her resume on the portal last month. Said the firm's senior general manager, Ms Ong Siew Kim: "It's been a challenge to get local hires, so we were surprised at the pool of good-quality candidates."
1 in 2 S’poreans apply for PME jobs in Jobs Bank
By Loi Kar Yee, Channel NewsAsia, 15 Jul 2014
By Loi Kar Yee, Channel NewsAsia, 15 Jul 2014
One in two Singaporeans who used Jobs Bank, an online job portal for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents, applied for professional, manager and executive (PME) jobs.
The initial launch of the portal took place in May, and 90 per cent of the applicants were Singaporeans.
Many food and beverage (F&B) establishments have been using the portal, but some of them said they are still facing difficulties in hiring workers.
RecruitPlus employment agency said that to draw more locals to take up jobs in the F&B sector, there must be more community job fairs within the neighbourhood to reach out to residents.
Han's Cafe has been using the job portal since the start of this month to hire more local workers, but it has only received two applications after two weeks.
Judy Lee, human resources and administrative manager at Han’s (F&B), said: "All the applications are mainly for admin executive positions.
“We don't see a lot of rank and file applicants, partly because maybe they are not familiar with using computers or they are not aware that WDA has such a website that they can go in and apply for this kind of positions for rank and file, mainly for operations staff."
Going forward, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency said it will be creating more awareness of the portal at job fairs.