About 5,000 to 6,000 of polytechnic graduates enter fulltime permanent employment each year. But only 3% of them join the financial sector. MAS and financial institutions can do more to harness this talent pool. The quality of our polytechnic graduates is high – as good as college graduates from many countries. The practical training and technical skills of our polytechnic graduates are relevant across a wide variety of financial sector roles from relationship management, product marketing, data and technology, to operations. There is scope to develop meaningful career pathways for polytechnic graduates to do well in the financial sector. Some financial firms have already begun doing this. JP Morgan runs a one-year apprenticeship programme for polytechnic graduates to experience working in corporate, operations, finance and technology roles within the firm. The programme started in 2015 and has seen strong outcomes. One example is Hazel Lim from Singapore Polytechnic. Hazel joined as a business management apprentice in 2020. The apprenticeship developed her understanding of sales initiatives and the use of data analytics to identify sales opportunities. The experience has helped her transition to a full-time role as a Business Manager in JP Morgan. With the support of JP Morgan’s tuition assistance programme, Hazel is currently pursuing a part-time business degree. The work-study arrangement allows her to apply theoretical knowledge to the real world and further hone her skillsets. OCBC Bank has co-designed with Ngee Ann Polytechnic a curated internship programme.
Rather, it is to enable the entry of high-quality global talent in a more transparent and flexible way to complement the local workforce in Singapore. The enhanced framework has three key features that facilitate bringing in of talent that businesses need. First, the framework is based on a transparent points-based system. It clearly lists out the criteria that will be assessed for each application. Second, the system is more flexible. If an application for an employment pass falls short in certain criteria, the shortfall can be offset by scoring well in other criteria. Third, the framework facilitates applications where there is a skills shortage locally for specific job roles. A list of job roles where there is local shortage, will be developed for each sector. We want this list to reflect the needs of our financial institutions. MAS will be seeking the industry’s inputs in the next 1 to 2 months, to identify job roles where there is a shortage. The framework has been designed such that most existing employment pass holders will have no problem meeting its requirements. Of course, some financial institutions may need to adjust their workforce profiles, as they transition to the new framework. But they will have ample time to make these adjustments – at least 15 months for new employment pass applications and 27 months for renewals. MAS will work closely with financial firms to ensure they have access to the talent they need to grow and that is in short supply locally.