Help mature qualified Singaporeans find jobs
Sat, Dec 01, 2007
The Straits Times
http://news.asiaone.com/News/The%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20071201-39139.html
I REFER to Dr Lim Boon Hee's letter about locals being deprived of
jobs by foreign workers and the news on the Government easing up on
S-passes.
Despite the Government and private employers' call to employ mature
Singaporeans, employers generally do not wish to employ them for it
is now easier to hire foreign workers as the Government has relaxed
work-permit approval. It is also cheaper to employ foreign
workers.
Hence, there is now a pool of mature citizens - qualified and with
much experience - who wish to be employed and be relevant to
society but who are unable to land a job.
This pool of workers has not yet been tapped and yet we are
relaxing the rules for employers to employ semi-skilled foreign
workers on S-passes.
I am 60 years of age. From 1971 to 2001, I worked for two
multinational corporations as an administration/human resource
manager.
In the last job, I was retrenched when the company relocated.
Since then, I have sent hundreds of applications for job vacancies
suited to my experience but to no avail.
I am not fussy but rarely do prospective employers call me for an
interview. On the rare occasions when I was interviewed, because of
personal recommendation, I was not successful.
The feedback was that I was too old and could not fit into the
company environment. The prospective employers were being
presumptuous. I was prepared to
work based on employment conditions which would not cause the
employer to worry about my age but there was just no opportunity to
discuss this.
If the Government wishes the people to work till an older age, it
must look into this category of mature people who can fill various
job vacancies. They certainly can be employed and there is no
necessity to issue S-passes, which take away the jobs.
I would like to suggest that the Ministry of Manpower establish a
section to register this category of people and coordinate with
employers who have difficulty hiring such staff.
We would also need to change the mindset of company executives who
think that people above 55 years of age are old and are unable to
fit into today's corporations.
Frankie Ng Puck Nang