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