Huge turnout on first day of Singapore aviation career fair as employers jostle for talent

Published date28 May 2022
Publication titleMalay Mail Online

Despite arriving at the OneAviation Careers event at around 9.30am today, about half an hour before the doors to the job fair at the Suntec City Convention Centre swung open, there was already a crowd of jobseekers standing ahead of Mr Suzaki Abdullah waiting to enter.

'I expected that there would be a lot of people, but not this many,' said the 49-year-old who currently works in the security sector.

When TODAY arrived at around 10.30am, there was a steady stream of visitors entering the exhibition hall to visit more than 20 booths set up by firms such as aerospace companies Pratt and Whitney, Rolls-Royce and the Thales Group.

Aside from these engineering companies, visitors to the fair, which started on Friday morning and ends on Saturday, would be able to find out what jobs are available with airline carriers such as Singapore Airlines, Scoot and Jetstar.

Ms Cynthia Tan, Pratt and Whitney's talent acquisition manager, said that the attendance was so overwhelming that her booth had run out of printed job descriptions to hand out to visitors.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), more than 6,000 visitors attended the first day of the fair.

CAAS had organised the event together with the National Trades Union Congress, the Employment and Employability Institute, and Workforce Singapore.

Senior Minister of State for Transport Chee Hong Tat, who visited the fair in the afternoon, said employers at the event were hoping to fill close to 2,000 vacancies.

The roles range from careers in airport retail, services and operations to aviation policy, aerospace engineering and information technology, said Mr Chee during a keynote address at the event.

'With these recruitment efforts, we anticipate that the sector could restore close to 85 to 90 per cent of its pre-COVID workforce by the end of the year.' While Mr Chee did not give details on how many vacancies there are in the aviation sector in total, Changi Airport Group said this month that it had more than 6,600 jobs available at Changi Airport.

Mr Suzaki said he is hoping to snag one of those roles in airport operations as he wants a 'change in environment' after working in security for over two decades.

Similarly hoping to make a career switch was Ms Stephanie Goh, who currently works in the construction sector.

The 30-year-old said she has always wanted to join the aviation sector ever since she was an architecture student studying airport design.

Aside from the career switchers, there were also...

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