The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, in its reply to CNA regarding the future of safe distancing ambassadors, said the Government will work with agencies to offer employment assistance to those in need.
Authorities have also said that many of those employed in short-term COVID-19 roles will return to sectors they had originally come from, such as aviation or the service industry.
Efforts are also being made to absorb safe distancing ambassadors into the healthcare sector, if they have been deployed to areas related to it, a TODAY report cited Manpower Minister Tan See Leng as saying earlier this month.
Given continued growth, the healthcare and community sectors are indeed areas that job seekers can consider, said a private provider of healthcare training.
“The healthcare and community care sectors are growing,” said HMI Institute’s general manager Lee Mun Choon, citing the availability of healthcare support roles such as healthcare assistant, therapy assistant, as well as management roles in operations and administration.
Its certification courses, which have no age limit and do not require prior knowledge in healthcare, can be a reskilling option for those in COVID-19 related jobs. Those undecided also have the option of attending a shorter and subsidised caregiver training course.
“For the past 2 years, many of our students came from industries impacted by COVID-19 and recently swabbers who wish to experience the job scopes of being a care staff,” Mr Lee said.
On top of training, HMI Institute works with 100 healthcare employers to provide job placements. Three in four graduates from its Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) courses have been placed in jobs, it said.
Ms Onishea HC, who runs a chat group on WhatsApp for swabbers to share information about job openings, urged those in COVID-19 related jobs to “never give up”.
The 33-year-old worked as a swabber for nearly one and a half years after the pandemic eliminated her livelihood as a swim coach. To make up for the loss in income, she also worked part-time at a F&B outlet, made deliveries and took up the role of a teaching assistant at a coding school for children.
At one point last year, she was juggling four jobs.
“But the jobs were irregular so I was only earning S$3,000,” she said, adding that it was a far cry from the amount she used to earn as a full-time swim coach. “I had to work hard to save up as much as I can.”
These days, with swimming classes allowed to resume, Onishea is back in the pool with her young students. She has quit all her other part-time jobs, except the role as a coding and robotics trainer. To brush up her skills, she recently attended a course on programming language Python.
“I got promoted from assistant teacher after awhile. Maybe because they saw how hands-on I was with the kids and they thought I was not too bad,” she said, while laughing.
“Initially, I was scared to do the job; I didn’t even know what’s coding. But after trying, I realised that I enjoyed it a lot, even though the pay was lower than swabbing and I had to buy a new laptop to do my presentations for the kids in class. But it’s been so fun and so much more satisfying.”
As such, when asked what advice she would give to those mulling their next steps, she said: “Do not put yourself in just one job; take the chance to do something new and maybe that’ll tell you where you can go next.”