Rail professionals in Singapore get 3 new PCPs to meet manpower needs

Three new Professional Conversion Programmes (PCPs) have been launched in Singapore today for rail professionals, announced at the Adapt and Grow Career Fair held at Kallang Community Club.

With a view to meet manpower needs of the public transport industry, Workforce Singapore (WSG) has launched the new PCPs, targeted for (i) Station managers / assistant station managers (SM/ASM), (ii) Executive engineers (EE) and (iii) Assistant engineers (AE).

The first programme for SM/ASM is a company-initiated place-and-train campaign, hosted by SMRT and SBS Transit. It is open to mid-career switchers, aimed to train them to become qualified SM/ASM. Candidates must secure employment with either company in order to qualify, where they will undergo training for up to four months. There are a total of 110 such vacancies.

The second and third programmes for EE and AE are also place-and-train campaigns, both hosted by SMRT. As with the previous programme, it helps mid-career switchers qualify for such roles once they they secure employment with SMRT, and are trained for up to six months.

Such training will be customised based on different job occupations as well as railway engineering specialisations, such as rolling stock, permanent way, signalling, and communications. There are a total of 50 vacancies available for this.

The course fees and salary under the PCPs are fully funded by Workforce Singapore and the employers involved, no fees are incurred by participants.

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The event, attended by Human Resources, saw Land Transport Authority (LTA) and all four public transport operators (SMRT, SBS Transit, Tower Transit Singapore and Go-Ahead Loyang) recruiting from the same common platform for the first time.

"The introduction of these PCPs signify WSG’s commitment towards creating more employment opportunities to help mature workers and additional support for mid-career job entrants to enter growing industries," a WSG spokesperson said at the event.

"Through these PCPs, WSG supports Public Transport Operators with course fee funding and salary support, publicity efforts and referrals for job seekers."

Senior Minister of State, Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Ministry of Transport, Josephine Teo was the guest-of-honour for a learning journey hosted by SBS Transit. It showcased the day-to-day operational duties of a station manager, hosted by Thavasekaran s/o Mulaiyan Arumugam.

The Adapt and Grow Career Fair offered more than 400 jobs with salaries ranging from S$1,500 to $5,000. of which about one-quarter were for professionals, managers, executives, and technicians (PMETs).

Lead photo / iStock