SINGAPORE: Students will be able to learn more about their strengths and interests through online games as part of a new Government initiative to prepare Singaporeans for jobs in the future.
The Individual Learning Portfolio (ILP), which will also help adults find the career best suited to their lifestyle, is to be rolled out in stages from 2017 and reach up to 1.5 million users.
The one-stop portal for education, training and career information, is a key plank of the SkillsFuture initiative that seeks to help Singaporeans take ownership of their job search.
Based on tender documents put up by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) on the Government procurement website GeBIZ, the portal will enable adults to conduct self-assessment tests to match them with a suitable career, as well as training courses to meet these aspirations.
Targeted at all Singaporeans, starting from those in Primary Five, the portal can accessed from smart mobile devices and via the Internet using a laptop or desktop.
“The ILP is envisioned to be a comprehensive suite of services that would support individual’s pursuit to embrace life-long learning for career development over one’s lifetime,” the documents said.
Access to the information on the portal has to be “strictly controlled and accessible only on a need to know basis”. The documents added: “Strict administrative control must be in-place to manage all information access and extraction requested by any users.”
The documents detailed the features of the ILP. For example, it will provide students with information on the various industries through an interactive platform. Students can click on visuals to learn about different occupations and job scopes, as well as wages and demand for manpower in each sector. The portal will also provide related information such as the required skills and educational qualifications.
Using the portal, individuals can apply for grants and tap on their SkillsFuture credit to enrol and pay for courses.
Working adults can put up resumes and references, which can be accessed by potential employers. Online psychometric tests will help individuals discover their skills and work preferences, and based on the results, they will be matched with suitable job openings posted by employers.
The National Jobs Bank, which was set up last year, will be integrated into the ILP. The system shall maintain a “listing record of blacklisted employers or type of occupation as a precautionary measure of isolating certain ‘undesired’ employers and occupation or jobs from being posted in the jobs bank,” the documents said.
The jobs bank was set up as part of the Fair Consideration Framework, which requires employers with businesses of 25 or more people to post job vacancies for at least 14 days before applying for an Employment Pass. The requirement aims to ensure employers consider Singaporeans fairly before seeking foreign manpower.
news source & image credits: channelnewsasia.com
