Quickly bouncing back after a career setback

By Arul John

After Mr Chew Tai Heng was laid off from his job in 2018, it was not long before he started his job search again.

Mr Chew, 62, was previously a project manager at Vodafone Singapore, whose Telecom Expense Management division was later acquired by
Tangoe Singapore.

But Tangoe later closed its Singapore office to manage its operations from the US and Mr Chew was then retrenched.

Thanks to help from Workforce Singapore (WSG) and its appointed partner Ingeus, Mr Chew found a new job at Janison Asia in September 2019, where he is a project manager managing the deployment and maintenance of the electronic assessment software for Janison Asia’s
educational clients in Singapore.

Janison is an electronic assessment and learning software company headquartered in Australia.

The father of two adult children stepped up to the challenges in his current job confidently.

Mr Chew, who has a master's degree in Computer Science, said: “I am tasked to complete our long-delayed electronic assessment deployment for one of our clients.

"After all the groundwork laid by our predecessors and dedicated support from all stakeholders including our Consortium partner, Product, Development, Test Support & Management internal teams, and also our client, we have managed to finally sign off our significant Go Live project milestone.”

Comprehensive help

He is grateful to WSG for the help in getting his current position, and said: “I was catching up regularly with my ex-work colleagues who were also searching for jobs. After taking courses, doing volunteer work for the Silver Generation Office while searching for jobs on my own for eight months, one of my buddies, who was familiar with WSG, recommended that I tap on their vast resources, workshops and network. I decided to contact WSG who assigned Ingeus to guide me on my job search journey.

“Ingeus had supported me for more than three months before the interviews materialised into a job offer for me.”

Ingeus is a career matching provider appointed by WSG to augment WSG’s suite of career services.

The career coaches at Ingeus devise action plans for their clients and help them define their job goals.

Mr Chew pinned his success on the emotional support from his career coach and professional tips from the workshops he attended.

“Ingeus offers a number of very useful career and development services such as career planning, CV writing and interviewing skills workshops, LinkedIn and Networking sessions, and referrals to their large network of partners and hiring companies.

“Their professional team members conduct one-on-one personal coaching. Most of them are highly experienced in Human Resources and Talent Acquisition, and several serve passionately because of their ‘callings’ to contribute to society,” Mr Chew added.

Vast network

With its vast networks, Ingeus is able to advise their clients on the interviewing company’s background and job requirements, as well as refer them for potential new positions and interviews, such as the project manager position in Janison Asia for Mr Chew.

WSG and Ingeus offer career matching services, which include professional and emotional support in career coaching, development and job search.

Their success is evident in Mr Chew’s story and his tongue-in-cheek parting comments: “WSG’s services are available to all Singaporeans and PRs. I should have tapped on their excellent services sooner.”