My Today Paper Article (9 Mar)

Your friend, your lifeline 

Contacts are your bestbet for a helping hand after retrenchment

Gilbert Goh

SEEING all the negative reports in newspapers and on television has left me somewhat depressed. When I take the train, there is hardly a smile to be seen on the faces of commuters. Many who are working now also fear that they will lose their jobs should the crisis bite deeper in the next few months.

Even though I currently have a job, my contract will end next month and I will add to the unemployment statistics. Right now, I am writing to otherprivate schools to ask for teaching assignments before they get snapped up.

Making early plans to snatch that elusive job seems to be the focus of many Singaporeans now. Job stability and confidence remain very low and some friends tell me they go to work daily with the fear of being retrenched. Most job fairs are jam-packed with those who have been retrenched or who are on the brink, desperate to land any job just to survive.

Some factories, I heard, have no work. Their workers simply sit around idle all day. How long can the bosses keep their workers in such a state? The thought of going to work with nothing to do isdemoralising.

As the founder of an unemployment support site, I have received many emails verging from the desperate to the despondent. Many have been out of work for at least three months while some have just received the dreaded pink slip.

Employers have all but freezed up new hires. The employment pages in newspapers are getting thinner by the day.

A friend of mine was fortunate to get an offer from a contact of mine for an overseas teaching assignment. It was like a bright spot at the end of a very dark tunnel. He had been unemployed for close to six months and has three children, all below the age of 15. I am happy for him.

In this stormy time, let us help and look out for those who are down and out. A shoulder that is broad enough for others to lean on is always welcome. Facing unemployment alone is not only depressing but also unnecessary. There are many people out there willing to help out in many ways, if we only know how to ask.

I got many of my previous jobs through referrals. I emailed some friends and they gave me companies to get in touch with. Often, if the expectations of both parties match, the job is almost secure as there is no competition here.

In this downturn, connection and networking take on a higher priority as people employ from among friends and their contacts. The employers also save on advertising costs and the hassle of having to look through tons of emails and conducting interviews.

It is when many hands help out one another that we can emerge victorious from this crisis.

The writer is the founder ofunemployment support site Transition.org.
(It should read as Transitioning.org) – Gilbert

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