700 jobs up for grabs in Jurong Point hiring blitz

Outlet supervisor Lawrence Sia (left), 27, and operations manager Clifford Lim, 36, both from Bengawan Solo, holding interviews at the job fair. -- ST PHOTO: NURIA LING

THE tenants of Jurong Point Shopping Centre are hiring, and they are running a two-day job fair aimed at filling 700 vacancies they have among them.

At the job fair being held on the third floor of the mall, 26 tenants interview walk-in job applicants in the booths they have set up.

Another 44 tenants are also looking to hire, but have not taken up booths because they do not want to commit staff members to man them.

The job fair, which opened yesterday, has made it easy for job seekers as they need to fill up only one application form to apply for any of the jobs offered by all its tenants.

The job fair is open exclusively to Singapore citizens and Singapore permanent residents.

Mr Kevin Tay, a recruiter for fast-food chain Long John Silver's, said Singaporeans are now sought after because the supply of foreign workers has tightened.

Jobs available at the fair range from sales assistants and cooks to restaurant and shop supervisors.

None pays less than $1,000 a month.

Games arcade Zone X Leisure, for example, is looking for people to man its cash registers and to guide customers on how its arcade games should be played.

The mall's location in the far west could be a stumbling block, say the tenants, but they hope residents living in the west will bite.

A case in point is Ms Swati Kumari, a 37-year-old mother of two who lives in The Centris, a condominium above Jurong Point.

She is looking for a part-time job in retail or at a food and beverage outlet near her home so she can care for her children, she said.

The fair is being organised by the Employment and Employability Institute of the National Trades Union Congress.

Jurong Point spokesman Lynette Lee said the idea for the job fair arose when the mall's management heard that many tenants were having difficulty looking for workers.

Ms Emilia Phua, a human resource assistant for cosmetics retailer Sa Sa, knows filling vacancies in the retail sector is an uphill slog.

'No one wants to work retail hours, with its six-day weeks and work on public holidays,' she said.

More than half the approximately one dozen employees in Sa Sa's Jurong Point outlet are Malaysians.