Survival Skills to Help Jobseekers in the Ever-changing World

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JobStreet.com and Companies Shared Insights on

Survival Skills to Help Over 200 Jobseekers in the Ever-changing World

More than half of the attendees are not confident in getting a job in 6 months

SINGAPORE, 24 November 2017 - JobStreet.com organised its inaugural Career Fest in Singapore on 28th October with the fitting theme: Survival Skills for The Ever-Changing World. The event was well attended by over 200 undergraduates and job seekers.

The theme reflected the ever-changing dynamics and progression of the job market today. The job climate has drastically evolved, seeing the creation and rapid development of industries that may have never even existed a decade ago. Featuring keynote addresses from various industry leaders such as Google, The Smart Local, and ShopBack, the speakers shared many professional insights on adapting to today's work climate. Discussions spanned from the advent of technology in our twenty-first century world, to talks on networking and management skills.

Kick-starting the event with a welcome address, JobStreet.com Country Manager Ms Chew Siew Mee gave attendees an overview of the employment market in Singapore and Asia. Overall trends for Singapore pointed to a rise in fresh graduates, as well as notable job dissatisfaction within the first year of work. Ms Chew shared that 1 out of 4 fresh graduates stayed at their first job for less than half a year. It was found that one of the main reasons for this was a lack of industry knowledge, as well as a feeling of being unprepared for working life.

Understanding these trends, JobStreet.com introduced various useful career resources for users to make better-informed career choices. Ms Chew highlighted smart website features such as Company Reviews, with reviews from present and past employees for a clearer picture of company climate, as well as Roles Insights for stronger understanding of career roles and market trends. These career tools empower users to make wiser decisions in planning their career routes.

Local Leaders

Carrying on the thread of widening industry knowledge, keynote addresses were made by local start-ups Pezzo and Ninja Van. Both speakers shared on what made their brands work in the food industry and logistics industry respectively.

With over 7000 food establishments in Singapore, how do you make yourself more competitive? Marketing Manager of Pezzo Group, MsAdora Sarah, spoke on how Pezzo distinguished themselves from the crowd with their unique pizza-by-the-slice concept, amidst all other big players in the market selling pizza by the pan. Staying relevant with exciting food innovations, Pezzo launched limited-edition flavours such as their widely-popular Durian King pizza. Pezzo is now the largest homegrown pizza chain operator in Singapore.

Specialising in cutting edge next-day deliveries for e-commerce, 3-year-old Ninja Van is possibly South-East Asia's fastest growing last mile logistics company. Two key factors contributed to their success: people and technology. Head of HR, MrImran Bustamam, emphasized the key qualities that made applicants a "Ninja", such as grit and problem-solving abilities which were greatly valued. Candidates with coding and data analysis skills were also highly sought after to support the data-driven company's cloud computing and virtualisation technology, a core attributor to Ninja Van's efficiency.

The Future is Digital

It is no secret that for one to survive in today's world, technological aptitude is king. Especially in business, everything from e-infrastructure to e-commerce demands digital expertise.

Leveraging on today's digital economy, local start-up ShopBack has built a fast-growing business of offering cash back for e-purchases. ShopBack Singapore's Country Head Mr Vincent Wong advised the audience to pick up tech skills with resources readily available online to give themselves an edge in job applications.

Senior Software Engineer at tech giant Google, MrYohan Launay, spoke on finding one's place in tomorrow's technology landscape. With the advent of new technologies such as smart homes and cashless transactions, there has never been such a huge need for engineers or tech-savvy people to build scalable products and address big societal problems. Yohan, too urged the audience to get started on learning digital skills, such as mobile application creation and web programming. In the rapidly progressing world, it's important to be mobile and build skills such as engineering, design and social networking that can be exported, says Yohan.

For one to adapt swiftly to the ever-changing landscape, an acute understanding of one's industry is also required. Mr Bryan Choo, Managing Editor of local independent media publisher The Smart Local, explained how TSL managed to gain footing in the industry through successful content creation and digital marketing. Recognizing the shift from traditional to digital media, TSL focused on video as a richer medium to engage consumers. TSL is well-known for their viral video content, as well as well-executed lifestyle stories that reach over 3 million Singaporeans.

Other than comprehensive knowledge, Mr Choo shared that employers are also looking out for candidates who stood out from the pack. He cited clever and innovative examples of job applications, such as resumes that took the form of a creative Buzzfeed article or Tinder profile outlining qualities that made them attractive candidates.

Post-Event

On top of the various illuminating insights gathered from the keynote addresses, the Career Fest also presented sessions on developing networking skills, basic financial management skills as well as tips for conducting successful presentation pitches.

With a well-rounded line-up of speakers from different industries, many attendees found the talks relevant and informative for job-hunting and career planning. 98% of the turnout indicated that they would love to attend JobStreet.com's career events again, and 97% would recommend it to their friends and families.

With the Career Fest 2017, JobStreet.com hopes to go beyond their role of being just a job-listing portal by bridging the gap between job expectations and reality with various career resources, and better prepare candidates for their future jobs. For more detailed insights on JobStreet.com Career Fest 2017, please visit this link.

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About JobStreet.com

JobStreet.com is one of Asia's leading online employment marketplaces that helps to facilitate the matching and communication of job opportunities between jobseekers and employers in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. JobStreet.com currently services over 230,000 corporate hirers and over 15 million jobseekers in its database.

For more information, please visit www.jobstreet.com.

About SEEK Asia

JobStreet.com and jobsDB are part of SEEK Asia, which is the leading online employment market place in Asia. SEEK Asia covers 7 countries namely Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

SEEK Asia is the extension of the Australian Securities Exchange listed company called SEEK. The company's purpose is to help improve people's lives through a better career. SEEK Asia's database consist of over 500,000 corporate hirers and over 24 million candidates.

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