Career Trial scheme lets jobseekers 'try out better jobs': Josephine Teo
To encourage more jobseekers to try out more jobs and assess new careers, the Ministry of Manpower will be upgrading its current Work Trial scheme to a Career Trial scheme, Second Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo said on Monday (5 March).
Under the Career Trial scheme, qualifying employees can receive a training allowance of between $7.50 and $15 an hour for up to three months, compared with $7.50 an hour for the current scheme.
The cap for payouts under the Career Trial scheme will be $2,400 a month, double the amount under the Work Trial scheme.
“We will expand the current scope of Work Trial to provide workers with more opportunities to try out better jobs, specifically, better paying jobs, and help companies which need more manpower to assess job seekers, ” said Teo.
The Career Trial scheme allows employers to assess a prospective employee’s suitability for a job through a short-term work stint before offering employment.
The initiative comes under the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Adapt and Grow initiative, which aims to encourage employers to support Singaporeans in making career transitions.
Salary support given to employers who employ long-term unemployed individuals will also be capped at $5,400 instead of the current $3,600 under the Work Trial scheme. The ministry will subsidise 30 per cent of the individual’s monthly salary for up to six months.
To qualify for the Career Trial scheme, companies will have to be actively hiring for jobs paying at least $1,500 a month and to offer either permanent employment or work contracts of no less than one year.
The minimum period of long-term unemployment for individuals to qualify for salary support will also be reduced from one year to six months. Candidates must be at least 16 years old and have completed full-time studies and national service, if applicable.
These individuals will also be entitled to a retention incentive if they stay in their new jobs for a period of time. They will receive a one-off $500 incentive after at least three months on the job, and an additional one-off $1,000 incentive if they were to stay on for six months.
“The Adapt and Grow initiative is a viable way to help Singaporeans have better employment outcomes even as our economy restructures,” said Teo.
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