Eight in 10 servicemen retiring from the Singapore Armed Forces
(SAF) take only six months on average to land a new job.
This is according to the Defence Ministry (Mindef), which released
the statistics for the first time and has a career transition
centre to help outgoing employees.
Every year, about 100 to 200 regulars - in their mid- to late 40s -
retire from the SAF. Among them, six in 10 get help from Mindef's
Career Transition Resource Centre (CTRC).
SIMILAR GOAL
'It's still about having to appeal to people's logic and hearts to
convince them to get the job done.'
Former military aircraft engineer Gopakumar Nair, who now
works for A*Star, on the similarity between a military job and a
civilian one
NEED TO ADAPT
'You cannot be pulling rank here and ordering people around. You
have to be independent, learn to do everything yourself and work as
a team.'
Former army logistics executive Jaya Sanger, who now works
for Singapore Customs
Venturing out of the comfort zone
FORMER military aircraft engineer Gopakumar Nair did not jump at
the first job offers from a defence-related company, aviation firm
or security industry.
While admitting that they would have been a 'natural fit' given his
experience of nearly 30 years in the Republic of Singapore Air
Force, he noted that taking up any of these offers would mean
'moving into my comfort zone which I did not want'.
'I wanted to explore new horizons and do more to make a
difference,' said Lieutenant-Colonel (NS) Nair, 47, who retired in
June last year.
After attending a series of talks and one-on-one career coaching
sessions provided by the Defence Ministry's Career Transition
Resource Centre, the father of two teenage girls was keen to move
into the logistics or services industry.
He mulled over doing corporate development at the Institute of
Mental Health before settling for a job in the Agency for Science,
Technology and Research (A*Star) to set up its service excellence
and planning department from scratch.
As deputy director since last year, he has to come up with
programmes to better synergise logistics and administrative
functions among the research institutes in A*Star.
He said his relevant military experience, such as his involvement
in planning the logistics needs of the humanitarian and disaster
relief effort in tsunami-hit Meulaboh, Indonesia, back in 2004.
'We had to pull everything together at very short notice, and at
the same time, manage chaos and uncertainty,' he said.
While the civilian job has thrown up new challenges, he noted that
one thing remained constant.
'It's still about having to appeal to people's logic and hearts to
convince them to get the job done.'
JERMYN CHOW
Going back to school helps him snag new job
JAYA Sanger knew he had to have a battle plan in order to get a job
when he retired from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) last
year.
The former army logistics executive assessed that he had to upgrade
his skills or end up jobless when he left the SAF after 34 years of
service.
He had heard stories about his seniors who found it difficult to
adapt to new civilian jobs, with some leaving to become taxi
drivers or worse, remaining unemployed.
'It was up to me to upgrade and help myself. I was still young and
could do it,' said the 50-year-old, who retired as a
master-sergeant.
With the Career Transition Resource Centre's (CRTC) sponsorship,
the father of three, who has an O-level certificate, took up a
diploma course in logistics at the Singapore Institute of Commerce,
with an eye on snagging a logistics-related job.
The CRTC also picked up the tab for his computer courses and vetted
his resume before he sent it to about 15 logistics firms and
warehouses.
The Singapore Customs hired him, though he had to take a 20 per
cent pay cut. 'I cannot expect everything to be the same... At
least I was hired,' said Master Sgt (NS) Jaya, who is now a deputy
team leader of an investigation team based at the Woodlands
Checkpoint.
Even though he is leading a team of three, he notes that it cannot
be business as usual.
'You cannot be pulling rank here and ordering people around. You
have to be independent, learn to do everything yourself and work as
a team.'
In the army, he never had to work on the computer, much less
produce PowerPoint slides for presentations. 'In the army, you used
to be able to just delegate and get the younger, more tech-savvy
subordinates to carry out the tasks,' said Master Sgt (NS) Jaya,
who once had 28 regulars and full-time NSmen under him.
Fast-forward to today and he can now single-handedly come up with
PowerPoint slides.
JERMYN CHOW
Set up in 2009, the centre vets resumes, organises networking
sessions and career workshops and offers one-on-one career
counselling, among other services.
