“LEVEL UP THE PLAYING FIELD”
To make sure the traineeships support the employability of graduates in the long term, Dr Tan said leading organisations have also been identified for the programme.
“These companies come from key growth sectors such as financial services and information and communications, which offer a large number of good jobs,” he said.
“They have a good track record of hiring and training locals, and are committed to offer a good mix of traineeship roles for graduates from all of our educational institutions.”
Dr Tan said some companies that have stepped forward include DBS, Grab, Micron, OCBC, Sea, Sembcorp, Standard Chartered and ST Engineering.
The traineeships include roles in data analysis, robotic process automations, research and development, policy and strategy, marketing, human resources and business development.
WSG will regularly review traineeship development plans containing learning outcomes submitted by the host organisations, and conduct check-ins with trainees.
“These structured traineeships with leading companies will position our trainees in good stead for jobs and for roles beyond or within the host organisations,” said Dr Tan.
MP Gerald Giam (WP-Aljunied) asked how the Manpower Ministry will ensure that high-achieving candidates who are likely to secure jobs on their own will not be disproportionately favoured, while those with weaker credentials are left out.
Dr Tan said his sense was that candidates with better grades and soft skills, and more industry experience would already have been able to secure full-time jobs.
He said the government was trying to “level up the playing field” for graduates who may not have had the opportunity for such industry experience, perhaps because they had other responsibilities while studying in institutes of higher learning.
IMPACT ON MID-CAREER WORKERS
The minister added that the graduate traineeships are designed to mitigate the risk of displacing existing employees, including mid-career workers.
“We have carefully selected host organisations that actively participate in workforce development efforts, including MOM-WSG programmes that support mid-career workers,” he said.
WSG will conduct checks on host companies’ recent retrenchment activities to ensure that traineeship roles are not similar to those of affected workers, said Dr Tan.
The traineeship allowance is also calibrated to be lower than what host organisations can receive for mature individuals on attachment under the Mid-Career Pathways Programme, he said.