Profiling tests a focus in this year’s Career and Education show
The Career and Education 2015 show at Suntec Singapore. Photo: Robin Choo
SINGAPORE — Efforts to encourage career and personality profiling among job seekers and school leavers are a key feature in this year's Career and Education 2015.
The three-day fair being held at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre was launched today (March 12) and showcases over 300 education institutions, as well as employers offering over 65,000 jobs for job seekers.
Before the launch, more than 200 secondary school and junior college students from 12 schools took a profiling test to gain a better understanding of their career directions. These tests were sponsored by the Research Communication International (RCI) who is an exhibitor at the fair.
“Profiling will help people understand themselves, the gifts, the strengths, the natural competency they have,” said RCI’s Management Consultant Ms Lydia Chang. For institutions, this means teachers know which teaching methods are appropriate for their students based on their profiles, she added.
The fair’s focus is in line with recent efforts to direct more efforts to help individuals to make informed decisions when it comes to deciding on one’s career or future study plans.
The SkillsFuture initiative introduced recently in the Budget Statement included an Individual Learning Portfolio (ILP) which would be open to all Singaporeans and permanent residents. It will have inventory assessment tools to help users understand their work interest and skills confidence better. The portal also links users to the relevant types of industries and occupations, and the National Jobs Bank.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) has also announced the recruitment of nearly 100 education and career guidance (ECG) counsellors, who are expected to be deployed from July onwards. These counsellors will be dispatched to secondary schools, junior colleges, polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) colleges to help students.
Also present at the fair was Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). The organisation said that clients who approached them for profiling services are generally those who are uncertain of their direction in life.
“They study one thing and wish to explore something else. For example, they study a particular course and realise they do not have the passion for that,” said e2i’s senior employability coach Foo May Ling.
Employers TODAY spoke to had mixed reactions over the need for profiling test. Déliciae Hospitality Management Human Resource Manager Dorothy Chua said that profiling test is a plus point that her company would welcome since it helps the company to learn more about the job applicant’s personality. “We don’t mind to take in those with no experience at all … What is important is their attitude. We are willing to train but one’s personality comes from within,” she said.
Other companies felt that profiling was not a must.
Mr Steven Kho from Modern Montessori International said that in the preschool sector, teaching candidates have to possess a passion for children and a high EQ — qualities that preschools would ultimately look out for in interviews with prospective candidates.
For students who took the profile test, the results came as a form of assurance. Siglap Secondary School Student Oscar Fong said that the test results better assured him of his goals in life. The 17-year-old hopes to pursue an IT-related diploma and dreams of becoming a game designer one day. “I felt more confident about taking this course because I(now) know where I stand … (Back then) I wasn’t sure which course suited me more and it got very frustrating at times and I was afraid I cannot go to the next level of my life,” he said.
In the event that the test results had suggested otherwise, he said he would still persevere and continue with his dream. “Even if the results may be true, I won’t give up that easily until I try my very best,” he said.
