SG Career Search

MR GILBERT Goh, laid off for 20 months in 2003, found out then how little support there was for people who lose their jobs.

A friend of his, jobless for six months, confirmed it when he confessed that he felt 'very alone', and that there did not seem to be any place to which he could go for help and support.

Today, Mr Goh, 47 and a teacher in a private school, runs a two-month-old counselling and support service on the side to help the newly retrenched. He has help from 10 volunteers and seven professional counsellors to run the service, which has a website offering online counselling and information on support groups and networking sessions.

The group also sends out motivational text messages to those who register with it, and tip-offs on job fairs.

Mr Goh has tied up with job agencies like JobStreet to provide career counselling, and invites the jobless to send in their resumes, which he forwards to his network of contacts. But he stressed: 'We are not a job agency; we're here to provide support.'

Support groups for the retrenched, though rare, do exist: The Central Singapore Community Development Council started one at the end of 2007; this month, the Catholic Prayer Society set one up.

The first thing that Mr Goh, a former counsellor, did was to set up the website, www.transitioning.org

Explaining its name, he said: 'Being jobless is not permanent. It can be a good thing. One can learn new things, explore new opportunities and reflect on what you really want for your life.'

The website, which gets about 7,000 hits daily, has drawn responses from as far away as the United States.

To run the text-messaging service, Mr Goh and two volunteers send out text messages to 100 recipients a few times a week.

Fortnightly support-group meetings are being run, each limited to 10 participants so all will have a chance to speak.

And at the monthly networking sessions, guest speakers from different industries - his friends - give tips, for example, on how to set up a food business.

Some of those he has helped end up wanting to help him run his support service too. A 42-year-old, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, said he went to the website to join a support group and to seek advice on his resume.

He is now job-hunting and taking courses to pick up skills, but also helps Mr Goh to organise the support groups and networking activities.

Mr Goh disclosed that he himself may need support soon as his teaching contract will not be renewed. His wife, who works in a bank, will support him and his daughter for a while. He said: 'Of course, I am afraid too, but I'll stay positive.'

But work at transitioning.org will go on for him and his band of volunteers, he said

By Tan Weizhen