Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Thousands throng Changi fair for jobs in aviation sector

SINGAPORE — Amid the uncertain economic and jobs outlook, crowds on Wednesday (Feb 8) thronged a career fair at Changi Airport offering vacancies that span food and beverage, retail, security and other roles in the aviation industry.

Job seekers making queries at the Adapt And Grow job fair at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport on Feb 8, 2017. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY

Job seekers making queries at the Adapt And Grow job fair at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport on Feb 8, 2017. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — Amid the uncertain economic and jobs outlook, crowds on Wednesday (Feb 8) thronged a career fair at Changi Airport offering vacancies that span food and beverage, retail, security and other roles in the aviation industry. 

Over eight hours, long queues formed on the first day of the two-day event — which also featured workshops on the sidelines — as about 2,400 people turned up, among them jobseekers hoping to snag a job from the pool of more than 2,300 openings on offer from more than 40 employers. 

About eight in 10 jobs at the Adapt and Grow career fair held at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport are for rank-and-file workers, from kitchen helpers to aircraft-cabin cleaners and drivers. 

The remaining jobs — including assistant facilities management and customer service managers, as well as electrical and quality-assurance engineers — are for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) who can earn up to S$8,000. 

With the industry gearing up for the opening of the airport’s Terminal 4 in the second half of this year, the wide range of participating employers included airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Tigerair, ground-handling company Sats, as well as government agencies such as the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority. 

Infologic, which provides systems including flight information displays, received 20 to 30 applications for the 12 system support technician jobs it is looking to fill as of 2pm on Wednesday, just four hours after the fair began, said project manager Joshana Villasanta. 

Jobseeker Rachel Chin, 50, has done short-term jobs for the past two years, but is gunning for her first full-time permanent job in more than a decade. “I’m not young, so my expectations I will just moderate,” said the Punggol resident, who is keen on management and administrative positions. She noted that a good employer and compatibility between her skills and the job were key. 

Mr Wong Wei Fei, 42, jobless for a month after his six-month contract in administrative support ended, said the distance from his Toa Payoh home to the airport would be a challenge, given his family commitments including caring for his two children. But he was willing to make the trade-off. “Looking at the job market, and the slow response, to get a job is better than no job at all,” he said.  

A 30-year-old public servant, who does not want to be named, is hoping to make a switch to an operational-support job after nearly six years in her present role. Asked if shift work was a concern, she said: “I would prefer normal working hours rather than shifts … (but) if I really have to, I will (take it on).”  

To woo groups such as mid-career entrants, mature workers and persons with disabilities, some employers are offering flexible work arrangements too. PMETs can apply for schemes such as the Professional Conversion Programme for retail and restaurant managers, ground operations officers and aircraft maintenance technicians. Rank-and-file workers, on the other hand, can tap the Reskilling For Jobs — Work Trial programme to ease the transition into new jobs. 

The job fair is jointly organised by Workforce Singapore, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (Caas), the National Trades Union Congress’ Aerospace and Aviation Cluster, and the Employment and Employability Institute.

While the job fair will end on Thursday, a virtual one — where employers and jobseekers link up online — will run until Feb 22. This is the second time a virtual job fair has been organised. The first one was held between Sept 7 and Sept 21 last year, with 500 jobs on offer from over 50 employers from the infocomm technology, aerospace, biomedical sciences and professional services sectors. 

Caas director-general Kevin Shum said the Republic’s aviation sector continues to see strong growth, with a multitude of jobs for both new and mid-career entrants. 

“Through this tripartite collaboration, we aim to provide more opportunities for Singaporeans to benefit from the growth of the sector,” he said.

Speaking to reporters at the fair, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say said Changi Airport was a major employment hub with “very positive branding” among Singaporean workers. “Response (to the fair) has been most encouraging,” he said.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.