On 23rd July 2022, the Youth Taskforce was launched at LIT DISCOvery 2022, an aggregated career discovery resource platform organized by Young NTUC, held annually.
The event’s Guest-of-Honour, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong launched the Youth Taskforce along with NTUC President Mary Liew and its Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, Assistant Secretary-General Desmond Choo, and Young NTUC Executive Secretary Wendy Tan.
LIT DISCOvery 2022
The event was attended by many students from institutes of higher learning, browsing from booth to booth, experiencing what the different booths had to offer.
At the Youth Taskforce exhibition, participants got to personally vote for their top concerns, via stickers and at the same time, notice the top concerns of their peers in their age group.
Thereafter, participants also got to answer questions and find out what their career archetype/hero was, based on their personality, aspirations, and goals. It gave them a sense of guidance on what are the possible careers that would suit them.
Participants got to pick up and keep the little cards featuring their career archetype, represented by cute cartoon monsters which came along with stickers as well!
There was also a queue formed in front of a “fortune-teller” — a machine that dispenses career and advice from working adults (not fortune cookies!). Friends in groups were comparing their advice(s) with one another before visiting other booths organized by different partners of the event.
The SkillsFuture section was well attended by participants who hoped to gain clarity on how they can best make use of their SkillsFuture credits, as well as some advice from the SkillsFuture career counsellors that were on-site.
Queues snaked at booths set up by NTUC FairPrice and SNACK by NTUC Income! NTUC FairPrice allowed participants to experience the ease of using technology to shop — through their Scan&Go technology, and participants got their hands on claw machines to catch snacks and little toys provided by NTUC Income’s SNACK.
Life is not all about work — participants also got to sit back and relax at the absolutely-comfortable recliners provided by M Media and watch some local and regional films. At another corner, participants could be seen practicing wellness through yoga, guided by in-house yoga instructors.
All these were followed by keynote panels by C-suite speakers to understand norms of the future workplace and how participants can best move forward in their respective careers. Toward the end of the event, there was also a panel discussion to explore sustainable approaches that participants can undertake to avoid sacrificing their mental health while hustling.
Missed the event? Fret not — an array of online offerings remains available after the event here: https://www.lit.sg/lit-discovery-2022 .
Youth Taskforce
NTUC’s Youth Taskforce aims to engage up to 10,000 youths aged 18 – 25 to understand their aspirations, goals, anxieties and worries as they step into the workforce. Engagements will take the form of surveys, focus group discussions and a plethora of other activities.
At the end of the year-long engagement, the NTUC Youth Taskforce will distill the key insights and put forth recommendations on how the Government can better support the work-life aspirations of Singapore’s youths.
Engaging diversely — the Youth Taskforce will partner government agencies, Institutes of Higher Learning, self-help groups, youth-targeted and youth groups. Young Singaporeans who pursue non-traditional tracks like sports, the arts, entrepreneurship will also be part of the engagement. Youths who have struggled in their earlier years or require second chances are part of the diverse engagement too.
NTUC has resolved to refresh and strengthen its workers’ compact — and the taskforce is one of the many ways it is maintaining its relevance. Today’s youths are tomorrow’s workers, and it is of paramount importance to engage youths who enter the workforce in tumultuous times.
A young Singaporean concerned about issues workers face. As humans, we spend a third of our lives sleeping and recharging, and another third for our personal life, and the last third at work (based on a 24-hr distribution). That’s why we should pay attention to issues surrounding work.
