Press Releases
Over 1000 Jobs Via New E-Career Fair for Aspiring Early Childhood Professionals
07 Jul 2017
1. Over 1,000 jobs in the Early Childhood profession will be on offer by more than 30 employers at an upcoming Early Childhood E-career fair. This initiative is part of the Early Childhood Manpower Plan announced in October 2016 by Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, which aims to attract about 4,000 more Early Childhood professionals in the next three to four years. Interested candidates can now search for jobs online, arrange for interviews with prospective employers as well as access career resources at their own convenience, from 4 July 2017 to 15 September 2017.
Growth opportunities in the Early Years
2.To support the increase in provision of infant care services, all five Anchor Operators – PCF Sparkletots, NTUC My First Skool, MY World, Skool4Kidz and E-Bridge – will be offering enhanced training and career opportunities for those interested in working with young children aged 2 to 18 months. They will be recruiting more early childhood educators, including infant educarers and the new Allied Infant Educarer job role, announced earlier in Budget 2017 (refer to
Annex A for details).
More Accessible Opportunities with New e-Career Fair
3. The new e-career fair, launched by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) in partnership with e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), will run over two months from 4 July to 15 September. It aims to help jobseekers, especially those looking for a mid-career switch, to expand their network and connect with potential pre-school operators online. This e-career fair offers job-matching capabilities for jobseekers to conveniently connect with operators and vice-versa, especially if they are unable to attend a physical career fair (To access the e-career fair, please click on this link, http://www.e2i.com.sg/ecce. For more details, please refer to Annex B).
Week-long Career Fair in Punggol
4. The e-career fair will also be accompanied by a week-long physical career fair at Waterway Point Mall in Punggol from 4 to 9 July between 10am to 7pm. The event provides an opportunity for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents to meet prospective employers, training providers and career advisors in person to learn more about career and training opportunities, especially with existing and upcoming centres in the north-east area such as Punggol and Sengkang. The fair will also facilitate the recruitment of early childhood educators to support the two upcoming Punggol large child care centres undergoing construction this year. These two centres will be dedicated to serve children aged two months to four years old, in partnership with MOE Kindergartens. Visitors to the physical career fair can also access the suite of e-career services and resources of the e-career fair and interact with featured employers on the virtual platform (refer to Annex C for details).
5. As part of the Early Childhood Manpower Plan, various initiatives have been launched in recent years to attract, develop and retain a quality teaching workforce to support the growing Early Childhood sector. More information on careers in early childhood can be found at http://www.ecda.gov.sg/eccareers.
Annex A
It is a shorter training programme which includes structured on-the-job training from an experienced and trained mentor (i.e. Senior Infant Educarer). New entrants will take on the role as Allied Infant Educarers and be supervised by the Senior
Infant Educarers.
2. Who can join the Basic Infant Care Programme?
This training approach caters to individuals who have the right aptitude and competency to work with infants, but are either not inclined towards long classroom-based training or do not have the appropriate academic pre-requisites
to join the sector. After completing the Basic Infant Care Programme, they would be able to undergo in-service training (with modular exemptions) to be a certified Infant Educarer.
3. How is the take up so far?
The pilot has commenced in about 30 Anchor Operator child care centres. Till date, close to 30 Senior Infant Educarers have been trained via the new mentoring course designed by SEED Institute. The first
batch of about 30 Allied Infant Educarers are currently undergoing the on-the-job training.
4. Will there be subsequent runs for the programme?
The next run will commence on 4 September 2017. SEED Institute has planned for subsequent runs of Basic Infant Care Programme till end 2018, with 1 course to be conducted in Chinese Language in the second half of 2018.
5. How can interested applicants participate in the programme?
Interested applicants can enquire about the Allied Infant Educarer vacancies with the Anchor Operators at the recruitment fair.
Alternatively, they can indicate their interest on this link. Centres who are keen to employ the applicant will get in touch with the applicant directly.
This e-Career Fair for Early Childhood Care and Education is a pilot by ECDA and e2i to allow more access for jobseekers to careers in the early childhood sector. The Fair can be accessed at
http://www.e2i.com.sg/ecce.
The e-Career Fair platform will include three main features:
1. JobSpot Feature does a job-matching which ranks and scores jobs according to candidates’ profile and shows them suitable jobs and careers they can consider applying for. Similarly, employers will also receive a list of
suitable candidates that are suitable for their positions and consider inviting them for interviews.
2. Invitation Feature allows employers to send hire and interview requests to candidates. Candidates can decide if they wish to accept the requests. Job interviews can also be scheduled and managed, all on the same platform.
3. Resource Microsite allows candidates to access information about the early childhood sector such as job scope, training opportunities and career pathways.
Childhood Care and Education at Punggol Waterway Point Mall,
4 to 9 July 2017, 10am to 7pm
Table 2: List of Training Agencies/Industry Association
- Sharing on sector, career opportunities and development pathways
- Sharing by Early Childhood Educators
- Tips on Successful Online Job Search
Learning Journey on 30 June
A Learning Journey was also arranged on 30 June (Friday) for participants to attend an interview and resume preparatory workshop to enhance their employability skills. They also had the chance to visit PCF centre (Blk 602 Punggol Central) on a guided learning visit to appreciate the working environment in a pre-school.