Taking on an unfamiliar role or stepping into a foreign industry may seem daunting at first. Find out how companies work with e2i to help new hires step out of their comfort zone and take on a brand-new challenge.
Humans are curious by nature and often than not, some of us may look into switching to a new job to pursue a long-lost interest or is in search of different opportunities to grow and learn.
However, it is often easier said than done. Most jobs require candidates to be equipped with some form of related experience or for the candidates to possess relevant skills that are applicable to the new job scope.
The Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) works closely with companies to support the training and career development of our local workers. There are programmes in place to address manpower shortages in many industries and to tackle skills gaps among job seekers interested in taking on the available jobs.
One of them would be the Career Conversion Programme. This programme allows for new hires to undergo skills conversion and move into new occupations. This also provides an alternate pool of candidates in the tight labour market and helps to ease the hiring process on the employer’s part.
School of Coffee was one of the companies that benefited from the Career Conversion Programme. Being the training arm of Kaffee Kultur, School of Coffee provides coffee enthusiasts and aspiring baristas with coffee appreciation workshops and barista training courses on both gourmet and local drinks.
Through the Career Conversion Programme, School of Coffee was able to receive salary support and get the opportunity to meet and train eager candidates with a series of structured in-house and external trainings, to help provide the new hires with a holistic learning experience. With School of Coffee’s willingness to invest in their workers’ growth, it has helped them create a unique “pull” factor. Overall, this programme has allowed them to gain a deeper understanding of the development and progress of their new hires, as well as the improved competencies or desired skills attained throughout their training duration.
Nurulhuda looks out for the potential skills and knowledge that could be obtained from a job. With that in mind and with a strong passion for the F&B Industry, Nurulhuda joined School of Coffee and underwent the Career Conversion Programme as a trainee.
Nurulhuda’s time with School of Coffee has exposed her to various learning opportunities such as advanced barista skills on Coffee Grinder Calibration, Food and Beverage Ideation and Preparations, as well as Customer Service. These learning opportunities have given her the chance to get equipped with skills that she can apply to her daily job functions. After the trainings, she is able to better communicate with her customers, provide them with good service and most importantly, educate her customers with the food and beverage knowledge that she has. Nurulhuda’s positive experience with the Career Conversion Programme has enabled her to progress to a Senior Crew upon completion of her trainings and has also encouraged her to venture into exploring new solutions and ideas for the company.
Besides Nurulhuda, Kelis Chia and Tracy Wong were also candidates who went through the Career Conversion Programme and both displayed great interest and determination as they took a leap of faith and embarked on a new adventure with their respective companies.
Angliss Singapore has grown from strength to strength to emerge as one of Singapore’s leading gourmet purveyors. Owing to an extensive suite of top-quality products such as chilled meats, seafood and gourmet produce, Angliss Singapore is proud to be the trusted go-to purveyor for many culinary professionals to bring their creations to fruition.
With the onset of digitalisation, Angliss Singapore was quick to adapt and was able to recognise the value-add of pivoting towards the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) direction. In fact, Kelis was one of the team members in Angliss Singapore who helped to drive and anchor this new direction.
Kelis Chia started in the F&B industry (marketing) since her fresh graduate days. Working for various F&B industries and having switched to real estate thereafter, she found herself back to where her passion lies – the F&B sector and wanting to better serve the end-consumers via her accumulated expertise.
Marketing was no longer the same back then as compared to when Kelis started. She had to go through training to upskill her knowledge on the latest marketing trends and take on training programmes to equip herself with digital marketing, business insights and data mining related skills. Through the programme and training received, she thought out of the box and helped to open up opportunities for Angliss to explore Business-to-Consumer (B2C) on top of their existing Business-to-Business (B2B) strategies.
This resulted in the development of the new concept of ‘Digital Dining’ and allowed the company to engage their customers via a myriad of online social media platforms, such as Angliss Marketplace Facebook LIVE. This not only helped to bring a new digital branding for Angliss Singapore, but it also garnered both new and existing pool of loyal customers. To Kelis, every day is a process of discovery, and she is constantly learning how to market different brands and learning to excel in different marketing strategies, helping to bring Angliss to greater heights.
As for Creative Culinaire, established in 2000 and led by a strong team of Chefs and Principal Chef Judy, they seek to spread the love and joy of baking with their students. Creative Culinaire offers a variety of modules catered to all skills levels, ranging from beginners to professionals. Their vision is to be the epicentre of Southeast Asia’s baking industry, and one of the driving forces behind Creative Culinaire is Tracy Wong.
Tracy Wong never wanted to be in the F&B industry but now finds herself enjoying what is doing today. She went on to become a Secondary School teacher after she graduated with a Political Science and Post Graduate Education background. Tracy joined Creative Culinaire Academy Pte Ltd in the year 2021 as their Marketing and Communications Executive and has undergone four months of Career Conversion Programme training.
Throughout her learning journey, she stepped out of her comfort zone to take on new skills that were very different from what she used to do and know. She was equipped with baking, coffee, café operations, management roles training, which allowed her to step up in her day-to-day functions. When asked about what matters to her in a job, she mentioned “Learning opportunities and experiencing something new” – this was achieved via her Career Conversion Programme with Creative Culinaire. She is now Creative Culinaire’s Course Manager, helping Creative Culinaire to design and curate teaching and learning courses.
Through such programmes, e2i is able to meet employers and workers from all walks of life – employers who are willing to work with e2i to carve out career pathways for their workers and workers who are willing to learn and grow together with their company to obtain relevant knowledge and skills necessary to perform their new roles. e2i continues to reach out and work with our fellow employers to create many success stories and experiences to come.
For more information, contact https://e2i.com.sg/
