For locals only: Singapore launches first national online job portal

It now lists over 16,000 jobs.

Your next job might be just a click away. The Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) has officially launched the Jobs Bank, an online portal geared to facilitate job matching between employers and local job seekers.

Prior to yesterday’s official launch, WDA implemented a beta version of the Jobs Bank in May 2014. At present, more than 4,300 employers and 12,900 individuals have registered to use the Jobs Bank.

More than 16,000 ‘live’ job opportunities are currently available to Singaporeans, with about half of the current job postings targeted at Professionals, Managers and Executives.

“WDA is pleased to roll out the Jobs Bank as an additional resource to complement existing job matching services available to support local job seekers. The Jobs Bank is intended to benefit all workforce segments and we seek to build an inclusive portal that caters to a wide spectrum of employment and manpower needs. We would like to encourage all employers and Singaporeans to embark on their hiring and job search efforts through the Jobs Bank,” said Ng Cher Pong, Chief Executive of WDA.

Here’s more from WDA:

First announced by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) last year, the Jobs Bank aims to enhance labour market transparency and facilitate job matching between employers and local job seekers.

Through the Jobs Bank, Singaporeans may explore and apply for job opportunities while employers are able to access a larger pool of local candidates to fill employment vacancies.

Singaporeans may apply for an account on the Jobs Bank to:
1. Upload their resumes or be guided to create a resume
2. Set email or SMS alerts on new job vacancies based on their job preferences
3. Shortlist suitable job advertisements
4. Enable their resumes to be searched and considered by employers
5. Apply for job advertisements and track the status of their job applications
6. Employers with an account on the Jobs Bank may perform the following tasks:
7. Advertise and manage job vacancies
8. Receive job applications and resumes online from registered job seekers
9. Search and shortlist candidates within the portal’s candidate database

As the Jobs Bank complements existing job search platforms, WDA has also engaged private job portals to develop a more comprehensive database of job vacancies within the Jobs Bank.

WDA is currently in the consultation phase with private job portals, and will be discussing possible collaboration arrangements in the coming months.

The official launch of the Jobs Bank was held in conjunction with a WDA-organised Jobs Bank career fair held at the Lifelong Learning Institute in Paya Lebar.

More than 1,500 job opportunities across various worker segments, collectively offered by 15 major employers from different industries, were available during the career fair.

The Jobs Bank will support the advertising requirements under the Ministry of Manpower’s Fair Consideration Framework (FCF), which takes effect from 1 August 2014.

Under the FCF, companies seeking to employ Employment Pass (EP) holders are required to post job vacancies on the Jobs Bank for at least 14 calendar days before submitting an EP application to MOM.