Inmates get pick of 1,274 jobs at prison fair

PICKY Singaporeans turn up their noses at car-cleaning and hospital housekeeping jobs, so it looks like these will be taken up by soon-to-be-freed prisoners instead. Nearly 400 of them had 1,274 such job options to consider at the Yellow Ribbon Job Fair yesterday, courtesy of 18 employers, mostly from the food and beverage and service industries.

The fair, held within Changi Prison for the third time, has grown in size. Last year, 17 employers offered about 900 vacant positions.

Some employers are open to hiring former offenders because they want to give them a second chance, or because ex-offenders are known to be less choosy.

OFFERS GALORE: About 400 soon-to-be-freed prisoners checked out job offers at the Yellow Ribbon job Fair held within Changi Prison yesterday.

Parkway Hospital is part of the Parkway Group Healthcare, the umbrella company which owns private hospitals Mount Elizabeth, Gleneagles and East Shore.

The group's human resources general manager Bella Ong said Parkway had tried - and failed - to hire housekeeping staff from the general population in the last two months. 'We are concerned that we may not have enough locals to replace the foreign workers we are losing.'

A quarter of Parkway Hospital's 250-strong pool of housekeepers are foreigners.

Another employer open to hiring former offenders is Cars International, which offers cleaning and polishing services. Half its staff of 70 are former prison inmates.

Said its general manager Michael Tan: 'Ex-offenders are really looking to prove themselves and don't mind working hard. Compared to them, non- offenders are choosy. They ask if their workplace is near an MRT station and if it is a five-day week job.'

Apex-Pal International, the home-grown food and beverage company which owns Sakae Sushi and Crepes & Cream, offered 100 more jobs yesterday than the 35 at last year's fair because it is opening six more outlets soon.

Its chief executive officer Douglas Foo said the former offenders it hired initially gave some problems and needed more guidance.

'But when they turned the corner, they outperformed the non-offenders,' he said.

In August, the National Trades Union Congress said industries that depended too heavily on low-skilled foreign workers would be overhauled - such low-skilled workers will be replaced by Singaporeans to fulfil the 2011 vision for a more skilled and competent labour movement.