NTUC, SCCCI to help SMEs with hiring efforts

NATIONAL Trades Union Congress' (NTUC) Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) is working with the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI) and its members to support local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in their recruitment efforts to match a ready pool of job-seekers to these jobs.

According to a Tuesday joint release, eight trade associations under SCCCI have rallied together to do a joint recruitment to support SMEs to cope with their manpower challenges.

Chief executive officer of e2i and assistant director-general of NTUC, Gilbert Tan, said: "We are glad to work closely with SCCCI to benefit SMEs and trade associations and chambers to support them in their recruitment and job-redesign efforts as SMEs adapt their business models to cope with the challenges ahead."

With e2i's pool of job seekers and networks, SCCCI and e2i aim to bridge manpower gaps by rallying Singaporeans to tap job opportunities and join local businesses which are on uptick with ready jobs.

Although there has been uncertainty due to the pandemic, there is still a group of SMEs which are faced with improved hiring intent, such as food and beverages, logistics, medtech and electronics, where businesses remain positive.

SCCCI, e2i and eight trade associations have also put together a career fair mobilising 70 SMEs across various sectors and hiring over 1,000 positions. More than half of the vacancies are for Professional, Manager, Executive and Technician (PMET) level.

President of Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Roland Ng, said: "Building on the strong foundation of tripartite partnership, we are confident that businesses could adapt well to current challenges and emerge stronger together in the post-Covid world."