By Keith Lin
BECOME an engineer in the manufacturing sector and you can expect, on average, a starting pay of $4,000 a month.
While a less princely sum may await you if you are less qualified, the sweet news is you can pick and choose from a long list of vacancies in a wide variety of jobs, according to a new online career guide.
Produced by the Government, it has been praised by headhunters like Ms Annie Yap as a one-of-a-kind comprehensive guide.
The 35-page guide, called Labour Market Highlights, identifies specific jobs and how much they pay, as well as the specific skills or qualifications that each requires.
Targeted at adult job-seekers, the guide also uses colour codes to indicate the chances of getting hired for a particular job.
It is updated whenever new information is available from surveys like the annual wage survey that is conducted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Job-seekers would not be the only group that will find it useful, said Ms Yap, chief executive officer of human resources consultancy GMP.
'Employers, too, can also refer to it when deciding how much to pay their staff to retain them,'' she added.
The guide, available at www.mom.gov.sg, is produced by MOM and the Workforce Development Agency as part of the Government's effort to ease the labour crunch by opening the eyes of job-seekers to a wider range of job opportunities.
It was launched by Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong yesterday, and is one of two guides the Government has produced this year to help job-seekers chart their careers.
The other, introduced in February, is Career Compass for students. Also available online, it is to help them better understand the job market so that they can pursue the appropriate courses.
The latest publication lists more than 120 executive and rank-and-file jobs in 11 sectors such as construction, retail and logistics.
Each job shows the number of vacancies, with colour codes depicting the extent of the demand.
For instance, hot jobs, like technicians in the construction industry, have a blazing-red circle next to it.
Next in line are jobs in high demand, shown with a yellow sign, and those in average demand, in green.
The guide also gives a broad overview for each sector, describing the industry outlook and estimated number of jobs it will create in the years ahead.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
I am invited to the Istana!
I received great news today! I was invited to the Istana for a reception by the President himself. Wow! Isn't that great? It's my first time going to the Istana. I hope it was not a prank call by somebody. He told me that he would send me the invitation. I think I needed to fill up some forms before I could go. Well, it's for security purpose. Not everyone can go to Istana, you know. :P
Friday, April 18, 2008
HFMD
Thursday, 17th April
I took my son to his nursery at the usual time. We met the grandmother of one of his classmates on our way. We thought we were very late that morning, but the grandmother said that she came back because the mother was there with her grand-daughter. As we approached the centre, we met another grandmother who told us that there were only four kids present in the class. When we reached the centre, the teacher, Miss Joanne, told me that my son was the third pupil who came. I was surprised. She told me that the centre had a few cases of pupils getting Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease, so the centre was very particular with the health condition of the pupils. She checked my son and found a tiny ulcer in his mouth. I couldn't be sure whether he had bit himself, so she told me to take him to see a doctor.
The queue at the clinic was pretty long that day. We waited for almost half an hour or so. The doctor said it was unlikely to be HFMD, but he advised that he should stay home. It seemed that the disease has no definite symptoms. By the time the symptoms appear, the patient would have become the "carrier" of the dreadful disease which has no cure at the moment.
Friday, 18th April
Woke up in the morning. First thing, to check my son for any ulcers. Well, the ulcer in his mouth seemed to have disappeared. Since he could not go to school, so we took him to the MacDonald's in West Coast. He enjoys going there as the MacDonald's is big and there are many playgrounds in the park. He wanted to cycle there, but I could not stay long as I needed to work in the afternoon. My wife didn't need to go to work that day, so we went there as a family.
Saturday, 19th April
Things to do -> need to take my boy for a review at the clinic. The centre requires us to have a memo from the doctor to certify him as "fit to go back to school". I cannot take him there as I have to work in the morning. So I asked my wife to do it. I think he should be able to return to school on Monday. :)
I took my son to his nursery at the usual time. We met the grandmother of one of his classmates on our way. We thought we were very late that morning, but the grandmother said that she came back because the mother was there with her grand-daughter. As we approached the centre, we met another grandmother who told us that there were only four kids present in the class. When we reached the centre, the teacher, Miss Joanne, told me that my son was the third pupil who came. I was surprised. She told me that the centre had a few cases of pupils getting Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease, so the centre was very particular with the health condition of the pupils. She checked my son and found a tiny ulcer in his mouth. I couldn't be sure whether he had bit himself, so she told me to take him to see a doctor.
The queue at the clinic was pretty long that day. We waited for almost half an hour or so. The doctor said it was unlikely to be HFMD, but he advised that he should stay home. It seemed that the disease has no definite symptoms. By the time the symptoms appear, the patient would have become the "carrier" of the dreadful disease which has no cure at the moment.
Friday, 18th April
Woke up in the morning. First thing, to check my son for any ulcers. Well, the ulcer in his mouth seemed to have disappeared. Since he could not go to school, so we took him to the MacDonald's in West Coast. He enjoys going there as the MacDonald's is big and there are many playgrounds in the park. He wanted to cycle there, but I could not stay long as I needed to work in the afternoon. My wife didn't need to go to work that day, so we went there as a family.
Saturday, 19th April
Things to do -> need to take my boy for a review at the clinic. The centre requires us to have a memo from the doctor to certify him as "fit to go back to school". I cannot take him there as I have to work in the morning. So I asked my wife to do it. I think he should be able to return to school on Monday. :)
Monday, March 31, 2008
Wish me a Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday to me!
Thanks for all your greetings; my ex-pupils, ex-colleagues, "daughters", friends and family!
Today, I am supposed to "take the day off" since it was my birthday. But I have a commitment to teach in a secondary school and it was the last session today too. I did not manage to complete the whole booklet of activities due to the time constraint. It was a 2-hour session, but a lot of explanation took up quite a bit of time. I had to make sure they were clear about the tasks and the problems presented to them. I was happy that they were very cooperative even though I sensed that they were tired and brain-drained after a few tasks. Then, I gave them some sweets and asked them if they knew why I gave them. They replied they were behaving well. That's true. I told them it was my birthday and some of them did not seem to believe it. Anyway, I did not bother about it. They were very nice and wished me a happy birthday!
Thanks for all your greetings; my ex-pupils, ex-colleagues, "daughters", friends and family!
Today, I am supposed to "take the day off" since it was my birthday. But I have a commitment to teach in a secondary school and it was the last session today too. I did not manage to complete the whole booklet of activities due to the time constraint. It was a 2-hour session, but a lot of explanation took up quite a bit of time. I had to make sure they were clear about the tasks and the problems presented to them. I was happy that they were very cooperative even though I sensed that they were tired and brain-drained after a few tasks. Then, I gave them some sweets and asked them if they knew why I gave them. They replied they were behaving well. That's true. I told them it was my birthday and some of them did not seem to believe it. Anyway, I did not bother about it. They were very nice and wished me a happy birthday!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Long time no blog!
Well, it has been a long time since I last blog. I was busy OBVIOUSLY! Haha! Anyway, I went to a secondary school in the North-Eastern part of Singapore to conduct a programme. I was happy when I saw the class list as I saw a few of the familiar names in it. There was a change in the class list just before the day, but I still got to see a few of them. Some of them were in the other classes which I did not teach.
I was so glad that one of the boys actually came by my class to greet me. He was Bing Ren. I taught him when he was in P2. He was one of the fastest runners that I knew that time. He was also one "loud speaker". I had Wei Qin and Felicia in my class. Wei Qin was one of my best pupils at that time. It was a pleasure teaching her as she did her work and corrections diligently. There wasn't even a need to ask her to do corrections as she would do it AUTOMATICALLY. Her handwriting was and is still very neat and tidy! Felicia was my CCA member. She was responsible and would follow instructions diligently, even though she might "grumble" occasionally. :D
Another great ex-pupil is Yan Yi who always remembers my birthday. She would always send her greetings on special occasions throughout the year. She still hand-makes birthday and greeting cards every year. I remember I only told her (and my class) when she was P3 that I like things that are hand-made from pupils. The main idea was to discourage pupils from spending money buying "gifts" that I had to keep in the storeroom! The hand-made gifts, no matter how "small", show the efforts and sincerity. I remember one of my pupils, Little Lok, who passed me a Teacher's Day card and told me it was his mum who asked him to give me!!! Thanks, Little Lok. I will not tell anyone your full name to protect you. Haha! But I know my sister, Ms Ng, will know who I am talking about!
I hope she will have a smooth "sailing" year this year.
I was so glad that one of the boys actually came by my class to greet me. He was Bing Ren. I taught him when he was in P2. He was one of the fastest runners that I knew that time. He was also one "loud speaker". I had Wei Qin and Felicia in my class. Wei Qin was one of my best pupils at that time. It was a pleasure teaching her as she did her work and corrections diligently. There wasn't even a need to ask her to do corrections as she would do it AUTOMATICALLY. Her handwriting was and is still very neat and tidy! Felicia was my CCA member. She was responsible and would follow instructions diligently, even though she might "grumble" occasionally. :D
Another great ex-pupil is Yan Yi who always remembers my birthday. She would always send her greetings on special occasions throughout the year. She still hand-makes birthday and greeting cards every year. I remember I only told her (and my class) when she was P3 that I like things that are hand-made from pupils. The main idea was to discourage pupils from spending money buying "gifts" that I had to keep in the storeroom! The hand-made gifts, no matter how "small", show the efforts and sincerity. I remember one of my pupils, Little Lok, who passed me a Teacher's Day card and told me it was his mum who asked him to give me!!! Thanks, Little Lok. I will not tell anyone your full name to protect you. Haha! But I know my sister, Ms Ng, will know who I am talking about!
I hope she will have a smooth "sailing" year this year.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I killed one last night!
This is a picture of the American cockroach which was killed by me last night. It was spotted at the "border" between the living room and the kitchen. Instantly, I was tasked to terminate its life. I grabbed some old newspaper, rolled it into a "stick", approached the poor little soul and hit it straight on its head! I gave it a second hit just in case. Death was instant. There was no struggle.
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