SINGAPORE — Jobseekers hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak have a chance to find a quick gig as a customer service assistant, relief teacher or even an ambulance driver.

Around 3,000 such positions have been made available via Workforce Singapore’s (WSG) SGUnited Jobs Virtual Career Fairs, which will last from Friday (March 27) to April 12.

These vacancies are part of the first tranche of 10,000 jobs promised in the Resilience Budget that Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat unveiled in Parliament on Thursday.

During a visit on Friday to WSG at One Marina Boulevard, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said that the career fair’s priority was to create job roles that are “immediately available” for those who may be in dire need of employment and income.

Speaking on the types of jobs up for grabs on the online career fair, Mrs Teo said that 70 per cent of these jobs are positions for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), while 30 per cent are for rank-and-file employees.

“In terms of the pay it’s quite decent also, from around S$1,700 a month to S$5,000 a month,” she said, adding that some of these jobs were from the public sector and from Government agencies where manpower was stretched thin.

Around 80 per cent of the jobs from WSG’s online career fair will last less than 12 months, though some employers may eventually offer more permanent employment to those hired through the initiative, she said.

Furthermore, the Government has encouraged companies to bring forward their existing hiring plans if possible, Mrs Teo, who is also Second Minister for Home Affairs, added.

Mrs Teo said that some employers were more flexible with their hiring requirements for jobs that would last for less than a year.

“If I’m bringing on board a person for a permanent position, then maybe because they don’t check all the boxes, I would say for the time being: ‘Thank you very much, not for you’. But because I’m bringing them on for three months, six months, nine months, then okay, come on board first. Maybe it turns out to work quite well and we’ll offer you a more permanent position,” she said.

Mrs Teo also said that the Ministry of Manpower has been working with unions and employers to consider allowing employees to take on additional work with different employers to supplement their incomes, should their original companies shorten working hours or implement flexible work schedules.

“Some work arrangements involve basic salaries and then commissions. If sales are down, and commissions are down, overtime is down, then if people have financial commitments, they will need additional supplements in order to meet these financial commitments,” she said.