Features for Merged SkillsFuture and Jobs Bank Portals
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Ms Sun Xueling's inquiry on the features of the Individual Learning Portfolio (ILP), which merges SkillsFuture and Jobs Bank. Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers for Education Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim stated the ILP will include review platforms for training outcomes and tools to assess career interests and work values. He clarified that internship opportunities are currently managed by institutions but could be integrated in later phases, while job relevance is maintained through an automatic 30-day expiry for postings. The ILP is scheduled for a staged rollout starting in 2017 to assist users in identifying skills gaps and finding employment.
Transcript
1 Ms Sun Xueling asked the Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) (a) whether the merger of the SkillsFuture and Jobs Bank portals will incorporate a review function for training providers to ensure outcome-based training provisions; (b) whether the merged portal can include internship opportunities for young Singaporeans; (c) whether the merged portal can include personality assessments that gauge the fit of the user to jobs as opposed to just skills; and (d) whether jobs listed in the Jobs Bank are regularly updated to ensure relevance.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers for Education (Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim) (for the Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills)): Madam, the Individual Learning Portfolio (ILP) is designed to be a one-stop online portal which empowers individuals to make informed learning and career choices. There will be platforms for individuals to review and provide feedback on the training programmes available on the ILP, and information on training outcomes will be published on the portal.
As internship opportunities are managed by the respective Institutes of Higher Learning, the ILP is currently not built with such a feature. Notwithstanding this, should the need arise to do so in the future, we can consider building it in subsequent phases of the ILP.
The ILP will also have tools and resources that will enable individuals to assess their career interests, skills gaps and work values. Based on individuals' profiling results from these tools, they can then explore possible jobs and training programmes to prepare themselves for those jobs.
Besides discovering one's career interest and identifying skills gaps, individuals can also view and apply for jobs via the Jobs Bank, which will be integrated into the ILP. Jobs listed in the Jobs Bank are regularly updated as each job posting is only valid for a maximum period of 30 days. Employers can renew expired job postings, assuming suitable candidates are not found. Job postings that have expired are automatically removed. This ensures that the list of available jobs in the Jobs Bank is up-to-date.
The ILP will be rolled out in stages, starting from 2017, and we will share more details in due course.