SINGAPORE: Two initiatives aimed at helping Team Singapore athletes build careers outside the sporting arena were launched on Friday (Feb 17).
The first is a one-stop mobile app aimed at matching Team Singapore athletes to career opportunities with 39 companies. A collaboration between local business start-up Jobook Singapore and the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI), the Sports Excellence Business (spexBusiness) application promises to streamline and automate the job application process for athletes and the spexBusiness network – which includes major corporate partners such as Deloitte, HP, Volkswagen, DBS Bank and CapitaLand.
“This app is able to identify each athlete’s career assets, identifying the gaps in terms of what they are good at,” said Jobook’s founder and CEO Raniel Lee.
“Each athlete has certain skillsets that they (might) not know how to translate into a Word document, like a typical resume. But through technology, we are able to identify this information automatically, send it through to the employers and match it to the company’s job requirements.”
Also launched was a career coaching network by SSI and the NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). The joint effort aims to equip athletes with key insights into specific industry sectors to enable them to make better career choices.
“We have conversations with each of these athletes, help them better understand themselves as to the kinds of jobs that suit them better, and what kind of skills they may already have which enable them to do certain jobs better,” said e2i’s deputy CEO, Gary Goh.
Mr Goh added that if an athlete is particularly interested in a job but lacks the requisite skills, e2i can also assist him or her with identifying specific training programmes to bring them up to mark.
Also announced were three new additions to the Sports Excellence Education (spexEducation) scheme, and nine additions to the spexBusiness network including Raffles Medical Group, SMRT Corporation, Pan Pacific Hotels Group and OCBC Bank.
OCBC Bank’s head of HR planning, Jacinta Low, said the bank recognises the discipline, pride and passion of the Team Singapore athletes.
“These are traits that OCBC, or any other employer can reap value (from). So we see them bringing that back into the organisation and contributing to the organisation,” said Ms Low.
(Photo: Loke Kok Fai)
Speaking at the event announcing the initiatives, Culture, Community and Youth Minister Grace Fu said these efforts open up career and education opportunities that allow the athletes the flexibility to focus on training while developing academically and professionally.
“They can devote their time and energy to train, knowing that their career and educational aspirations are being supported,” said Ms Fu, addressing the corporate partners. “Your encouragement and support is invaluable and crucial, and goes a long way in helping our athletes excel at the highest level and bring glory to Singapore.”
