Finding work close to home is now easier in the north-east

Job seekers in the north-east will now get more opportunities to work near their homes under an initiative by Workforce Singapore (WSG).

A "career exploration bus" will ply the district up to twice a week to bring job seekers and participating employers together for on-site interviews.

The three-month pilot was launched by Mrs Josephine Teo, Second Minister for Manpower, at the opening of WSG's Careers Connect at Our Tampines Hub (OTH) yesterday.

The programme, a collaboration between WSG, North East Community Development Council (CDC) and OTH, is named R3 (Recruit, Reskill, Retain) and will bring "job seekers to the door step of employers", said Mrs Teo.

It will tap on available job opportunities offered by employers participating in WSG's Adapt and Grow community job fairs and Jobs Bank.

For now, there are five companies participating in the programme - facilities management firm CBM, transport company Go-Ahead Singapore, electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit, Neurones IT Asia and supermarket chain Giant.

Mayor of North East CDC Desmond Choo, who was also at the launch yesterday, said there is a network of more than 15,000 employers in the community that they hope to tap on.

Besides recruitment, potential employees will also get reskilling and post-placement support.

Mrs Teo said the move will make job matching more effective, and if the pilot programme is successful, it can be replicated in other districts in Singapore.

She added: "(Some job seekers) may have family commitments and would not want to work too far away. At the same time, we want to help employers in the community to have access to a wider pool of talent."

Ms Iming Bahari, Giant's head of human resources, said: "Retail is not the most glamorous industry and it is not easy to attract workers.

"The programme is beneficial as it provides an avenue of potential workers."

Locally-developed app JobsRibbon, which matches potential employees to jobs near their preferred location, saw close to 8,000 app downloads and nearly 2,500 jobs posted since it launched in November.

Verztec founder Nicholas Goh, whose company is behind the app, said the match rate is about 70 per cent and location is becoming a key factor.

"People choose jobs within their neighbourhood so that they do not have to commute to the city...

"This also translates to better work life balance," added Mr Goh.