Mr Desmond Tan, Deputy Secretary-General, NTUC, educators, students, graduates, and guests.
Introduction
1. Good afternoon. I am very pleased to join you here at NTUC's e2i's University Graduates Fair today.
2. Today's event is taking place at a timely moment for our graduates. Many of you have either recently graduated or will be graduating soon. You are considering your options, you are considering your next steps, and what can you do to optimise things for yourself as you enter the workforce.
3. The transition from school to the workforce is an exciting life milestone but also brings uncertainty. You know it's coming, you know it's necessary, that it's important, but still, it can bring uncertainty.
4. Well, why is that? Firstly, it can be challenging to navigate the job search process, and it can be challenging to go for interviews. These are all new steps, new milestones, which you haven't necessarily had a chance to perform. And so, it is very important that we give you the opportunity to practice and have a taste.
5. Another reason for uncertainty is the rapid changes in the nature of work, with new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) reshaping industries, changing how the job looks like even as you are studying and you are going out, doing your internships and your attachments.
6. Or one way to think about it is, fortunately, this is now the new norm. And if you can navigate that properly, you can create opportunity for yourself, you can be nimble, you can be adaptable, you can be agile, therefore you can take a career path which perhaps did not exist five years ago, but it creates opportunity for you for personal development.
7. But thirdly, even if you do all of this right, there are some factors outside which cause uncertainty for all of us.
8. We are facing a more challenging external environment and heightened global economic uncertainty. This is not directly under your control as a fresh graduate or as someone entering the workforce, but you can read the news, and you can see that it does affect our considerations.
9. So, it is understandable if some of you feel anxious about these changes. But I want to assure you on a number of fronts. The first assurance is that the labour market continues to be resilient. There remain good job opportunities available.
10. And the second reason that you should be assured is that the range of opportunities is not limited to one sector. At today's job fair and out there in the labour market, business, tech, engineering, and a multitude of roles require filling, and so there will be opportunities for a wide variety of people who have come through education across a wide variety of paths.
11. And the third reason that you should be assured, I hope, is that we are providing a series of support measures, things like career talks, career guidance, panel discussions, giving you the information, the knowledge and the processes to help you navigate all of these uncertainties.
12. The fourth reason that I hope you are assured is this thing that we have in Singapore, which is very special, which is called tripartism. That we have a process and a platform and essentially a recipe that we have been cooking for many, many decades, bringing together the employers, the labour movement and the government.
13. And we are using the best of what we have done with tripartism to deal with the problems that are in front of us today. The long track record of tripartism that we have means that we think we have some good ideas for how we can deal with the challenges of today.
Strengthening Support for Graduates
14. Today's event is a good example of this — the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), Government agencies, employers, and the labour movement coming together to support our graduates as you transition into the workforce.
15. The IHLs play a foundational part of the journey.
16. But beyond equipping graduates with the necessary skills for the workforce, our IHLs offer education and career guidance services that bridge the gap between school and work.
17. This is something all our IHLs understand is very important. And so, they have strengthened support for graduates even after they leave the school to ensure that they receive the support that they need.
18. But beyond the IHLs, graduates can also tap on services by Workforce Singapore (WSG) and NTUC e2i to help them in their immediate job search and for longer term career planning.
19. There's no single recipe for how to help you, but there are multiple people, WSG, NTUC e2i, and the IHLs themselves, all applying themselves to try to help our young graduates in their transitions.
20. Our employers also play a very important role in providing opportunities for our graduates.
21. And even in times of economic uncertainty, it is vital for businesses to look beyond the immediate horizon and continue to invest in our young talents, people who will be the leaders of tomorrow.
22. I am glad that many companies, including those here today, have remained steadfast in this belief. They are indeed thinking not just about the tomorrow or the next week, but the long-term development of their capability as a business that will require the talent that our graduates represent. That is why they partner with our tripartite partners. That is why they are on the board outside as e2i's partners, because they are taking a longer-term view on how to thrive as a company, and in order to do so, develop the talent that they need and provide opportunities.
23. They remain steadfast in this belief, demonstrating through action their commitment to developing the next generation.
24. I would also like to thank NTUC e2i for the very close partnership in strengthening support for our graduates.
25. Today marks the launch of NTUC e2i's "Prepare, Connect, Advance" career development framework. This initiative will not only help our young jobseekers confidently transition into their first jobs but also equip them with the information necessary to navigate career pathways in the future.
Conclusion
26. There is a very important component that we are also interested in and that is our graduates themselves, the young people who are navigating this journey.
27. You have a part to play. We can do all this, and we will do this, and we can walk alongside you, and we will but you also have a part to play, because it is your career, it is your journey and your future. As you navigate your career journey, I will encourage you to bear a couple of things in mind, explore a wide range of opportunities and expand your network.
28. This is how life is likely to be for the time that you are working for the rest of your professional careers. And so have that mindset that not only can things change, but you can take advantage of how industry that will require you to think about a range of opportunities, not just one narrow outcome, and it will need you to have networks and friendships and partnerships. Just like we as agencies have multiple partners and partnerships to be able to deliver these outcomes on your behalf, you will have to think about how can you expand your networks and give yourself the opportunity to chart new paths that may have differed from what your predecessors or your seniors in class may have done.
29. And then the second point, even if you are unable to find an immediate job that ticks every box on your wish list, consider that the job may open doors to new opportunities to give you the opportunity to gain work experience, to give you the opportunity to grow your own skills and develop and hence have more opportunities in the future and make contacts and networks that will be useful to you across your career.
30. So, it is a career journey, and it's a career journey that will be long. You are only at the beginning, but if we put all of these things together, the assistance, the partnerships, the networks that we can bring to bear a mindset of curiosity and engagement, be open to a range of possibilities, this long career journey will be rewarding and fulfilling and successful. And I wish all of you the very best as you embark on this journey.
31. Thank you very much.