A leading politician has warned Singapore employers that they could be making a big mistake if they continue to ignore a valuable source of talent.
Second minister for manpower Josephine Teo said many employers currently overlook local experienced mid-career professionals, managers, engineers and technicians (PMETs) when searching for new staff.
It’s an attitude she said has to change as PMETs are disproportionately affected by modern developments – in fact, workers in this group make up around 70 per cent of those laid off due to technological disruption and changing business models.
While professional conversion programs can serve as a tool for retraining displaced PMETs, Seo said many employers prefer to “plug and play” instead. This means hiring candidates with the pre-requisite skills so that they can “hit the ground running”.
However, speaking at the Singapore Human Capital Summit, Teo warned this approach is unsustainable and could even be harmful for the economy.
“The talent pool does not expand quickly enough to meet emerging needs, talent acquisition costs escalate even as positions go unfilled and business opportunities are not fully exploited,” she said.
“At the same time, experienced mid-career local PMETs remain unemployed or under-employed. That is a loss to both businesses and society.”
First introduced in 2007, the PCP has since been rolled out to 27 sectors and continues to grow in popularity. Over the past year, over 1,500 people signed up for professional conversion programs – more than double the amount in the previous year.
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