SMEs     TALENT ATTRACTION

Singapore - Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore can look forward to hiring 2,000 young local talents over the next five years upon the implementation of two talent attraction initiatives by the government.

SMEs will receive grants up to S$15,000 for providing training for fresh graduates from any of the Singapore's universities, announced SPRING Singapore at the Business Leaders Forum yesterday. SPRING Chairman Philip Yeo said attracting these young talent onboard will increase the competitiveness of SMEs on the global platform. "Through these initiatives, SPRING will provide SMEs with a leg up in attracting, developing and retaining talent," he said.

Companies will be able to establish branding among the young talent, hence influencing them to consider SMEs as an attractive employer of choice, said Yeo.

Jamie Lim, regional marketing director of Hawaii Furnishings (Scanteak) said it has always been a challenge to hire graduates with high level of competence. "As the company is growing very quickly, we are always on the lookout for such graduates and business interns who can take on key assignments in sales and marketing across our Singapore and Japanese operations," she said.

One of the initiatives, Management Associate Partnership (MAP) scheme, will fund participating SMEs in the preparation of introducing fresh graduates into the workforce. While employers can groom talent to work in their companies, fresh graduates can benefit from the 18-month coaching sessions conducted by the companies' senior management staff.

Joseph Foo, founder and CEO for Jason Marine, said training in SMEs will be a fruitful learning experience for fresh graduates as they will be exposed to more job functions than in multi-national firms. Speaking from the employers' point of view, Foo said MAP will help them "gain greater visibility among a wider pool of graduates".

Companies can also utilise the funding to hire interns from colleges and polytechnics through an Enterprise Internship Programme. Kang Puay Seng, managing director of Super Bean International, looks forward to engage interns from local tertiary institutions. He said, "The opportunity to engage and connect with quality students while they are still in school will give me a head start in my search for future leaders of the company."

The two programmes are part of the SPRING's Business Leaders' Initiative implemented since 2007.

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