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A Cut above the Rest:<br />
Enhancing a Client’s Employability<br />
Text and photo by Jason Sim<br />
Three of the 12 NSRS-certified trainees<br />
In today’s competitive employment market, SIA-<strong>MINDS</strong><br />
EDC (SMEDC) recognises the importance of developing<br />
relevant training programmes to support trainees who have<br />
the potential to be placed in the open employment market.<br />
One possible way is to raise their employability by equipping<br />
them with relevant work skills and appropriate certification –<br />
something that is imperative in almost every industry today.<br />
SMEDC initially planned to have its Training Officers trained in<br />
relevant industry skills which are in demand and are suitable<br />
for our trainees. The Training Officers will then teach and pass<br />
on their new skills to their trainees.<br />
However, to ensure proper certification for these trainees –<br />
which will enable us to convince potential employers of their<br />
work skills competency – SMEDC proposed and negotiated<br />
with U-Training Centre to allow our Training Officers to train<br />
our trainees on skills learnt from the Centre, and be certified<br />
13 mindspeak: the heartvoice of special people<br />
thereafter. This gave our trainees more time and flexibility to<br />
better acquire and retain the knowledge and skills. In addition,<br />
our Training Officers understand our trainees best and know<br />
how to best train them, given their challenging learning pace.<br />
To our delight, U-Training Centre supported our proposal and a<br />
team of Training Officers was formed.<br />
The team thus began their intensive in-house National Skills<br />
Recognition System (NSRS) Training Course in Cleaning<br />
Sanitary Fixtures, Fittings & Toilet Floors conducted by<br />
U-Training Centre. This comprised a four-day course, followed<br />
by a compulsory theory and practical test on the fifth day. The<br />
Training Officers then returned to train their trainees.<br />
They also analysed the NSRS on-the-job-training blueprints<br />
and course materials from U-Training Centre, and devised a<br />
simplified sequential training programme to be conducted<br />
within six months’ duration. The team ensured that every<br />
draft and revision of the training programme was done in<br />
consultation with U-Training Centre so that the programme<br />
outline would not deviate from the NSRS standards. On top<br />
of that, U-Training Centre even donated essential training<br />
materials and equipment which catalysed the quality and<br />
productivity of the training.<br />
This collaborative effort eventually paid off within six months<br />
when all our 12 trainees passed the formal NSRS assessment<br />
and attained their NSRS certification in Cleaning Sanitary<br />
Fixtures, Fittings & Toilet Floors! Six of them formed a service<br />
crew at Lee Kong Chian Gardens School and their professional<br />
service has already impressed the school’s staff.<br />
SMEDC is currently exploring opportunity to work with<br />
U-Training Centre on another certification course in cleaning<br />
food shops as we noticed a growing demand in this area.<br />
Our next milestone would be to work with other service<br />
providers to certify our trainees with other relevant industry<br />
work skills based on the changing market demand. We strive<br />
to gain the confidence of potential employers in employing our<br />
trainees, by equipping them with industry-recognised skills<br />
that give them a cut above the rest.
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