Quarterly career fair for NSFs goes digital with 6,000 job offers online

SINGAPORE — To better help full-time national servicemen (NSFs) who are completing their stint enter the workforce, a career fair has taken things up a notch by offering job listings and other services online for the first time.

The quarterly Enhanced Career and Education Fair, into its eighth run, saw 30 hirers from nine industries, including aviation and hospitality, putting out about 2,000 job positions in all. Singapore Airlines, Citibank and Certis Cisco, for example, had vacancies for cabin crew, banking-sales personnel and security officers.

Held at Paya Lebar yesterday, it was aimed at NSFs in the last three to six months of service, and about 4,000 NSFs were expected at the event.

Complementing the fair this round is a Virtual Career Fair website, where registered users could check out another 6,000 job listings, curated from the national Jobs Bank, a job-matching self-help portal for all Singapore-registered companies and Singapore residents. The service is available until Aug 29. They may also browse the website for career tips and resources offering industry insights.

Registration started about a month ago for servicemen, who could enter their details such as educational background, job interest and salary expectations online.

The information of each user was consolidated into a personalised QR (quick-response) code. With the code given, the NSF could use it when submitting job applications at the fair, to save time completing forms.

National Service probationary inspector Noor Hafeez Abdul Rashid, 24, who serves in the police’s protective security command, said: “It’s so easy that you don’t have to (carry copies of) your own resume (with the biodata available).”

Technology company CSE Global, a second-time participant at the fair, had nearly 30 vacancies at two of its subsidiaries. Its group human resources and administration head Pauline Loo, 41, said data from the QR codes had cut the time needed to record jobseekers’ details.

“We spend more time talking to them, understanding what are their career aspirations and whether they’re suitable,” she said. KENNETH CHENG