The furniture industry has evolved significantly over the past few years. Changing consumer preferences and buying habits have resulted in more furniture retailers and manufacturers investing in e-commerce solutions to meet their customers’ needs and to diversify sales risk. The furniture industry is also moving towards more sustainable production, with greater usage of recyclable and easily available materials.

Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC), through its training and skills development arm SFIC Institute, and Workforce Singapore (WSG) introduced the CCP for Furniture Industry Talent. The programme is targeted at mid-career PMETs who are keen to join the furniture and other related industries (eg. Retail, Manufacturing and Material & Components Supply).

WSG’s Career Conversion Programme for Furniture Industry Talent enables employers to hire and train new hires without relevant prior experience through a structured 6-month long On-the-Job Training (OJT)* to facilitate their conversion into the furniture industry.

Trainees can look forward to existing careers in the following job functions, but not limited to:

1. Retail Operations
2. Digital Marketing
3. Brand Development
4. e-Commerce
5. Supply Chain
6. Sustainability

*May be 100% OJT or complemented with external training if company does not have in-house expertise to deliver OJT.

Note

The programme also complements business transformation and job redesign efforts as furniture companies convert traditional roles into enhanced, digital, or new roles that require reskilling of employees whose jobs are impacted. Please contact SFIC Institute for a discussion.

To qualify for the Career Conversion Programme for Furniture Industry Talent, you have to meet the following criteria:

Individuals

• Be a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident
• Aged 21 years old and above
• Graduated or completed National Service for at least 2 years[1] prior to the point of application

•   Must not be connected to the CCP participating company:
  1. A shareholder[2] of the company or its related companies
  2. Related to the owner(s)[3] of the company
  3. Immediate ex-staff of the company or its related entities

• Must not be undergoing any programmes funded by WSG concurrently
• Must not have prior working experience or been in a similar job role in previous employment[4]
• Must be newly hired (i.e. not more than 3 months) and offered a full-time employment contract on permanent terms or on contract terms that are no less than 12-months.
• Must obtain CCP approval and commence OJT within the first three months of employment

[1] Counted from the date of graduation from the latest qualification, or date of completion of National Service, whichever is later

[2] Does not apply to shareholders who hold publicly traded shares in listed companies

[3] Refers to individuals with shareholding per ACRA profile for non-publicly listed companies

[4] Only new hires who has been out of the labour force or have a continuous employment gap of at least 2 years prior to CCP commencement will be allowed to apply for CCP job roles similar to their previous jobs

Employers

• Registered or incorporated in Singapore
• Committed to work with WSG or its appointed partner on the necessary administrative matters related to the programme

• Offer new hires retail jobs (on permanent basis or at least 12-month contract) with a fixed monthly salary of at least $2,500
• Ensure that the job role is substantially different from the new hire’s previous job role, hence requiring career conversion support

Application and Selection Process

Interested jobseekers can apply through Workforce Singapore’s CCP portal and interested companies can apply through SFIC Institute.

Funding Support

The employing company will receive the following funding upon the fulfilment of the corresponding requirements:

*Note

• For trainees who commence training from 1 April 2024
• For trainees who commence training before 1 April 2024, the funding is capped at $4,000 and $6,000 for Standard Rate and Enhanced Rate, respectively.

Companies will not be allowed to claim Absentee Payroll (AP) for the CCP trainees.