Mothercare Singapore nurtures mid-career switchers with e2i’s Hiring & Training initiative to expand its talent pool

As the number 1 retailer in Singapore for parent and baby items, Mothercare Singapore understands the importance of a caring and nurturing environment to retain and hire the right talent.

Mothercare Singapore started in 1984 and has 11 stores island-wide. With a strong reputation in quality, safety, and product innovation, the brand prides itself in matching excellent products and providing warm service to its customers. This ethos drives hiring and training only the best retail staff for Mothercare Singapore.

Retraining and upskilling staff with NTUC Employment & Employability Institute’s (e2i) Hiring & Training initiative

As Mothercare Singapore sees value in jobseekers with transferrable skills, the group partnered e2i in 2017 through USME for hiring assistance. The initiative targets at PMETs including mid-career switchers. This allows them to undergo skill conversion and land new careers in sectors with better prospects and opportunities.

Like many other small-medium enterprises (SMEs), Mothercare Singapore faced issues with hiring and retaining staff, given the limited labour market and increasing restrictions on foreign labour. The rising career aspirations and expectations of Singaporeans has also been hard on SMEs as they have to compete with the multi-national corporations with more resources. The hiring initiative has helped the SMEs such as Mothercare Singapore widen its net to include candidates that may not have the necessary technical skills or qualifications but have the right ‘soft’ skills and suitability for the company’s culture. 

A spokesperson for Mothercare Singapore says: “Switching from one industry to another is not easy for both employers like ourselves and the employees, given that it comes with a high level of risk arising from the potential skill mismatch. The programme effectively defrays this risk and addresses any gaps in skill amongst applicants who are keen on taking on these available jobs through provisional training and salary support. This helps us rank and file reskilled workers onto new roles in different sectors. This scheme helps companies like us alleviate the manpower shortage.”

Candidates hired through the programme are trained with the relevant skillset and knowledge for the retail sector pertaining to their role in Mothercare Singapore before they are potentially converted to a full-time position at the company. Being a corporation that strives to provide the best retail experience for parents and their children, this programme allows the brand to address any skill-gaps and support any career switch into retail.  Through this initiative, Mothercare has hired many employees including 57-year-old Michelle Woo.

Building upon existing skills to boost a new career

Although Michelle has had prior experience in the human resources division, her expertise lay in the engineering sector, and she was growing increasingly dissatisfied at her stagnant role. She joined Mothercare Singapore and had to undergo training for her new role at the brand for the first six months as part of the hiring initiative. Happily, she has now been employed by the firm for more than a year as their Human Resources Administrator and Payroll Specialist. With her new set of skills, she is able to utilise complex payroll systems and harness the tools needed to do her job efficiently and effectively.

Michelle says: “The scheme really helped me broaden my horizons by challenging my existing skill set and pushing me to improve myself. It was a difficult decision, but I decided to switch careers at the age of 56, as I yearned for a more challenging job that would help me better my skills and experience in human resources administration. Being a motivated self-starter, I worked hard during my training sessions and put in all the extra hours required to improve. In addition to that, my manager provided me with good guidance, and I am very grateful for his mentorship.”

At her day-to-day job, Michelle is now equipped with the right skills to handle a higher level of human resource administrative work such as preparing letters of employment, salary adjustments, on and off-boarding emails, as well as liaising with the Ministry of Manpower regarding the requirements of work permits, insurance company claims and staff movements.

She enthuses: “I only heard of this scheme when I joined Mothercare, and I am really glad that I’ve been given this opportunity that has greatly aided my career switch. Switching careers as a youth is hard, but it gets harder when you get older. But with schemes like this – it really helps people improve their employability and gives trainees an opportunity to grow with the company. It’s a lot of hard work, but it is worth it at the end of the day!”

“The most important thing to me in a career, is job satisfaction and motivation. After the training I have received with the hiring initiative, I am more confident and I can say that age is definitely not a limitation when learning new skills,” Michelle concludes with a smile.