As part of a nationwide campaign to create jobs during and after Covid-19, the Singapore government has called upon IBM to recruit and train 300 local professionals in the next four years. Focus areas span emerging tech such as cloud, artificial intelligence and analytics.
Singapore has long been invested in workforce future-readiness, evidenced by Skillsfuture – a drive to maximise human capital potential. More recently following Covid-19’s devastating economic impact, the government launched the SGUnited Jobs & Skills Package – an urgent plan aimed at helping 100,000 Singaporeans find short and long term work.
The two initiatives align in many ways, and IBM now finds itself at the forefront. A core element of Skillsfuture is TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) – a programme run by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) aimed specifically at boosting digital skills. Following a new agreement, IBM will recruit and train 300 Singaporeans under the TeSA framework.
“As we push forward with our national digitalisation movement, the ICT sector continues to hold promise for job creation. It remains important to provide opportunities for our professionals to build the necessary skills for tech jobs that power the sector,” explained Kiren Kumar, assistant chief executive at IDMA.
Most of the recruits – roughly 240 – will be young aspiring professionals engaged in the TeSA company-led training programme. The rest will comprise mid-career professionals looking to expand their skillset through the TeSA Mid-Career Advance Programme. Irrespective, the pool will go through rigorous training in the emerging tech space.
Honing in on Industry 4.0 technologies such as artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, blockchain, cloud, cybersecurity and internet of things, a series of workshops, training activities and online modules will help familiarise candidates with future tech.
For practical experience, recruits will be deployed on projects within Singapore and around the world, learning to deliver business transformation and productivity outcomes.
For Singapore, the programme will yield an army of new data engineers, scientists, cloud architects, developers and UX designers – equipped to usher in the future. IBM, meanwhile, gains a significant talent pool and a stronghold in one of the most vibrant tech markets worldwide, where digital is sure to be in heavy demand in the near future.
“The global pandemic has forced businesses to speed up their digital transformation – in many cases, completing in weeks what may have in the past taken months or even years,” noted Hui Li Lee, ASEAN region managing partner at IBM Services.
“To accelerate that transformation even more and help companies in Singapore take full advantage of exponential technologies such as AI, blockchain, cloud and cyber-security, IBM Services will continue to collaborate and co-create with our clients to go beyond ‘random acts of digital’.”
Originally published at Consultancy Asia