“Infocomm media is one of the fastest growing industries and an important enabler in Singapore’s ambitions to be a leading Digital Economy and Smart Nation. There are many exciting job opportunities in this sector, ranging from deep technical roles such as Data Scientists and Cybersecurity Forensic Analysts, to business-strategy roles such as Chief Digital Officers and Enterprise Architects, and more. Recognising that people are at the heart of our digital transformation efforts, we are pleased to support the talentguru portal and its efforts to bridge the skills and jobs gap, so as to build up a more vibrant ICM ecosystem,” said Tan Kiat How, Chief Executive, IMDA at the launch last month.
Talentguru is focused on building capacity in the industry by enhancing the pipeline of ICM talent and deepening the pool of local skills. This initiative is backed by a suite of programmes and a strong community of support from the industry as well as SiTF’s network of partners including government agencies, institutes of higher learning (IHLs), trade associations and training providers.
Talentguru intends to grow the local pool of ICM skills and talent, by helping four groups of people:
· Students – prepares them to launch their careers with confidence by using insights from data to understand skills requirements for jobs and their desired careers pathways;
· Career switchers – empowers and motivates them to re-skill and reach new career peaks in the ICM industry;
· ICM professionals – enables them to stay competitive and relevant by acquiring new skills, widening professional networks and keeping up to date with industry trends;
· Employers – facilitates more effective hiring processes with a focus on objective assessments based primarily on skills.
“Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups will now have a dedicated platform that links employers with fresh graduates and job seekers – a resource that many did not have in the past. Talentguru will also drive industry-wide cooperation by bridging technologists, entrepreneurs, multinationals and Singapore companies with IHLs and government agencies to uncover new science, business and technology talents,” said Benjamin Mah, Co-Chairman SiTF Talent & Capabilities Committee.
Powered by JobKred’s proprietary data analytics technology, talentguru allows users to create their own profile of skills and compare themselves against what the industry needs at any given point in time. This allows users to glean useful insights on skills requirements and explore possible career pathways, which is particularly useful for anyone interested in entering the ICM industry for the first time, such as students and career switchers.
Lim Kang Song, Co-Chairman SiTF Talent & Capabilities Committee, said that the rapid pace of change in the ICM industry can result in job seekers feeling lost and insecure. "Many ICM students also choose not to pursue a career in the industry after graduation because they feel unprepared," he said. "Through some early testing with IHLs, students said that talentguru helped to alleviate some of these concerns by providing a clear picture of the skills they needed to get the jobs they wanted. This is an outcome we hope to replicate with career switchers as well.”
As part of the ecosystem of initiatives supporting the talentguru platform, SiTF is making extra effort to help SMEs and startups attract and retain talent. SiTF is working with SPRING to run a structured internship programme to train internship mentors and facilitate the matching of ICM students with quality internships. In recognition of its efforts, SPRING has appointed SiTF as a Partner for SME Talent Programme (STP), to help strengthen the ICM talent pipeline for SMEs and provide meaningful internship opportunities for local students.
“People are strategic assets to businesses and it is important for SMEs to invest in resources to attract and develop talent. With support from SPRING’s Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) programme, SiTF aims to improve the way job and skills matching is done for the ICT sector, benefitting both job seekers and employers. SiTF is also working on other industry projects such as technology adoption and building up their research capabilities in ICT to strengthen their competency,” said Chew Mok Lee, Assistant Chief Executive, Capabilities & Partnership, SPRING Singapore.
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| Source: talentguru website. The talentguru initiative will help job seekers tailor their skillsets to market demand. |
SiTF is also partnering Proxor, a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff, to administer a rigorous and certifiable skills assessment for Java programming. Proxor’s solution will help test a candidate’s ability to solve real world problems and provide an assessment benchmarked against a global cohort. SiTF hopes that such assessments would gain more industry recognition and help ease the transition for career switchers who have re-skilled to join the ICM industry.
Finally, talentguru will be complemented by a suite of offline events to help build a vibrant and mutually supportive community. Apart from networking sessions, industry talks, and outreach to schools, SiTF and e2i have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to mark a shared commitment to empower local career switchers and displaced professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) transition smoothly into the ICM industry by collaborating on a series of career fairs and seminars over the next two years.
“The ICT sector offers many opportunities and growth potential, and faces a rising demand for tech professionals. To support the demand to attract and groom Singaporeans in this sector, e2i has collaborated with industry partners to recruit manpower through career fairs and professional conversion programmes, as well as bridge skill gap through masterclasses. Talentguru is a platform where Singaporeans interested in joining the sector can identify their training needs, get matched to a suitable job and be part of a vibrant ICT ecosystem,” said Gilbert Tan, CEO, e2i.
Over the next three years, talentguru seeks to engage 500 companies and 10,000 users, facilitating the placement of 3,000 ICM professionals and 1,000 students. It also hopes to train 300 internship mentors in SMEs.
Interested?
View the video introducing talentguru
