Dear Friends,
This site is specially set up in Jan 09 to cater to the emotional needs of the unemployed. It is NOT an employment agency and we do not offer jobs here. We are also a non profit society and registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS):-
Registrar of Society (ROS) number: T09SS0079H
Transitioning – Unemployment Support Service (TUSS)
It is hope that the unemployed can find support and solace here while they go about frantically searching for a job.
It is estimated that as many as 80,000 Singaporeans are now unemployed with many of them in the 40s and 50s age group. Under employment is also rampant as retrenched mid-career PMETs took to driving cabs or become property agents in the fight for survival – ironically in our prosperous high-GDP city state.
A friend, who is an engineer and jobless for six months, told me that he felt very alone and isolated during his period of unemployment. Likewise, been unemployed myself for 20 months before during the Sars period, I shared his sentiments.
The unemployed faced a daily challenge of going for interviews, facing rejection from employers and yet trying his best to continue living his life as normal as he could.
Over the past one year, we try to showcase the positive part of the whole unemployment experience. There will be many articles posted to help the jobless to resolve certain emotional hiccups of being unemployed.
We all know that finances are also a big part of the jobless problem so we will try to cater a portion of the site’s articles to provide for this need.
We also have an online counselling service specially catered to the needs of the unemployed. The retrenched worker can email us and we will provide you with an online counsellor. If need to, the service can be done via face to face or phone mode.
We a have regular support group meetings conducted by a counsellor. The 4-part series recently ended in May 09 and we will come up with another series soon. The unemployed can now come together to support one another in a formal setting. They also can network with one another for opportunities.
We give free talks to the unemployed through sponsored organisations. So far talks have been provided at Care Corner Counselling and Executive Counselling & Training Academy (ECTA).
We are please to announce that through your support, the site has a daily hit rate of 7,000 now and readership has gone very international. The top five countries are from Singapore, USA, Australia, Malaysia and China.
If you want to watch a television clip on us done by Channel News Asia in March 09, please follow this link – http://www.transitioning.org/2009/02/27/video-more-pmets-seeking-help-at-e2i/
We also cherished any donations from well wishers to offset the costs of booking rooms for the various activitites that we organised. Please email me at goh_gilbert@yahoo.com or gilbert@transitioning.org.
Thanks and have a good time surfing the site. Please give us your comments to improve the site if any.
We are here for you. Feel free to share with us your transitioning experience. No man is an island.
Gilbert Goh
Founder/President
gilbert@transitioning.org
Registrar of Society (ROS) number: T09SS0079H
Transitioning – Unemployment Support Service (TUSS)
Editor’s Note: Do go to our May 1st labour day official facebook page: 1602Protest for more updates on the event. See you soon Singapore!
In addition to jobs that goes to foreigners, latest trend is that, even children home take care of their children too.
One example is Children’s Aid Society at clementi road.
They have Thai and Malaysian children but the irony is, they are using our tax payer money to do so.
Dear Gilbert,
What you are doing is truly noble. I salute you!
When I retired from the Advertising industry, I chose to as I was burned out. I went on to driving a taxi. I did not actively apply for jobs after seeing all the dissappointments my middle-aged friends had gone through. However, whenever I see a position which I feel I can fit very well into, I would try. I had never gotten any replies. Gilbert, I am sure you remember the days when we send in hard-copy job applications, the companies would reply with a letter on their appreciation of your interest in joining their companies. I wonder what has happened to the decorum or the lack of it in companies these days. One case in particular that I have to mention is that of ComfortDelgro, the company I hire my taxi from. I came across a job posting on their website for a `Driver’s Recruitment Officer’. It stipulated that the job requires one to have pleasant dispositions and the capability of interpreting statistics and put together a presentation to the management. I wrote to them indicating my interest and how I am confident of filling the position. I mentioned that in my previous jobs as an Account Director in an international Advertising Agency, I often had to give such presentation to Clients across the region. I added that on top of all that, I am also a Taxi Driver which gives the edge when interviewing people who are keen to join the company as a Cabby. Guess what, no reply at all. And the government is asking people to attend all these re-training. What can all these re-training do when one who is perfectly suited for the job do not even get an interview.
Gilbert, if you wish to publish my story, I have absolutely no qualms about revealing my identity and that of CofortDelgro. Cheers and God Bless You.
P.S
Gilbert, I wrote my posting without checking my typos and grammar. Please feel free to correct them. Thanks!
I hope to see more of this protest next time!
Hi,
I stumbled upon your website months back and found a person’s comment post very interesting. Had been wanting to get a reply from him but now that I am back at your website, I cannot locate his comment.
I remembered he is a volunteer whom teaches free courses on e-trading to retirees and individuals interested to pick up new skill. I am recently divorced. I do not have a good income and now made worse with a single income as my ex-husband does not give much alimony. I have a 5-year old daughter to care for. I hope you can help give me his contact if possible. I hope to pick up a new lifetime skill like e-trading which I may find useful.
I hope to have your reply.
Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Sarah Ng
Tel: 97635441
(email: ngsshan@yahoo.com)