PAP Spin - PMET lose jobs because they are not learning

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

PMETs need to keep learning

Gayathri Ramesh
tabla!
Friday, May 23, 2014

Eight professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) received scholarship awards at the Management Development Institute of Singapore's (MDIS) 19th Scholarship and Bursary Awards Ceremony on May 17.

This is part of MDIS' role in extending the Government's efforts in continuing education and training (CET). CET helps PMETs gain confidence and new skills to meet new economic challenges while helping them stay employable.

According to a report by the Ministry of Manpower, 56 per cent of the total number of people who lost their jobs in 2013 were PMETs.

Addressing the issue of PMETs facing retrenchment at a young age, secretary-general of MDIS Dr R. Theyvendran said: "The world is changing at an alarming rate nowadays. What is relevant today may not be relevant tomorrow. In such a fast changing environment, youngsters will lose out if they stop updating themselves. They should take the effort to think ahead and upgrade themselves to stay relevant in the job market."

MDIS actively reviews and changes their course curriculum as necessary to keep it up-to-date, while making lessons engaging, inspiring and fun so that PMETs who return to studying after years of working can relate to and benefit better from the courses they pursue.

So what should youngsters do to make themselves more attractive to employers?

Dr Theyvendran said: "They should attend at least one internship opportunity, push themselves to keep learning, attend workshops, talks or seminars and interact with people."

Mr Jaya Chandran, 44, and Mr Aravindran Selvakumaran, 23, were among the 672 recipients who were awarded scholarships and bursaries this year.

Mr Jaya, father of two, worked his way up with a diploma in electronics and communication engineering, advance diploma in business administration followed by a bachelor's degree in business.

From a maintenance and repair supervisor, he progressed to becoming a manufacturing engineering manager at a semiconductor equipment firm. After a 11-year break, he is back in school to study for his part-time Master of Business Administration programme with UK's University of Sunderland on an MDIS Merit Scholarship.

Mr Jaya said: "Learning is a never-ending journey. Getting a higher academic qualification will not only open up more opportunities for me in the marketplace and enable greater job mobility, but also help me to keep up with the times and remain relevant in this society.

"When I engage in continued education, I get to hear colleagues and lecturers from different industries share their experience and knowledge during the class discussions and view presentations which keeps me current and updated about industry trends, management practices and developments. This is in fact a major knowledge gain apart from academic learning, for me to stay employable and competitive in seeking new career growth opportunities.

"I would urge other PMETs to continually seek out opportunities such as leveraging on scholarships to upgrade their skills and knowledge to be able to bring added value to their companies and the society.

"The MDIS scholarship helps to reduce my financial burden. Ever since my part-time bachelor degree was completed 10 years ago, I wanted to do the master's programme. However, I always held back because of financial constraints, given that I am the sole breadwinner of my family. Hence, this scholarship will be very helpful and I would like to take this opportunity to thank MDIS.

"Going through an MBA programme will empower me to handle challenges in different situations and will help me to make better decisions - with the understanding at the macro level. I will also learn a lot from continuing education through the class interactions and working as a team for assignments and projects since my colleagues come from different industry backgrounds."

Mr Aravindran, on the other hand, is a student who has a Higher Nitec certificate in Mechanical Engineering from ITE College West. He took a loan to do a Diploma in Engineering at MDIS and plans to further his studies in engineering after gaining a few years of working experience first.

He said: "The bursary has helped to ease my family's financial burden and the diploma has helped me to grow intellectually. MDIS had the course I wanted and it was also more affordable than what the other private institutions offered. I also found out that the certificate from MDIS is recognised in several engineering firms. With these, I believe I can do well in future."

Since the MDIS Scholarship and Bursary Awards began in 1996, MDIS has invested a total of more than $4.16 million in awarding scholarships and bursaries to over 6,000 students. MDIS gave out a total of $600,700 in scholarships and bursaries this year.


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.