Title Professionals' involvement and networking in career guidance Author(s) Elena Lui Hah Wah Source Commonwealth Regional Workshop on Career Guidance, 7 March 1991,

Singapore Copyright © 1991 The Author This document may be used for private study or research purpose only. This document or any part of it may not be duplicated and/or distributed without permission of the copyright owner. The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Citation: Lui, E. H. W. (1991, March). Professionals' involvement and networking in career guidance. Paper presented at the Commonwealth Regional Workshop on Career Guidance, Singapore. This document was archived with permission from the copyright holders.

FEATURES

Professionals' lnvolveinent and Networlring ln Career Guidance

by Elena Lui Hah Wah , Ph.D.

This article includes the paper presented by Dr Elena Lui Hah Wah at the Commonwealth Regional

Workshop on Career Guidance.

C areer guidance is a very important service for the devel­

opment of human resources and enhancement of na­tional productivity. In Singapore, professionals of various disciplines in different fields including medical and health, building and planning, engineering and social services play ,,ignificant roles in career c�uidance for the young people who are seeking information and advice to make career decision. The Singapore Professional Centre, which has a total membership of some 11,000 .ndividual professionals under 30 professional bodies, has been making very valuable contri­butions in this particular area of community service for more than 15 years.

This paper comprises two main '>i�ctions. They are Professionals' . i volvement in Career Guidance

and Professionals' Networking in Career Guidance. The first section is the recapitulation and postscript of the writer's presentation (on asimilar topic) at the CommonwealthRegional Workshop on CareerCuidance held from 6 to 8 March

Dr Elena Lui Hah Wah presenting her paper at the Commonwealth Regional Workshop on Career Guidance.

1991 at.the World Trade Centre and Regional Language Centre, Singa­pore. The second section is the conceptual mapping and the shar­ing of personal experiences in the collaboration of professionals, individuals as well as organisations in career guidance. The Making of the "Commonwealth Regional Workshop on Career Guidance" (a

backstage tour) is used as an illustration of professional networking.

PROFESSIONALS' INVOLVEMENT

Numerous individual professionals in their per­sonal capacities and on voluntary basis, either upon invitation or own initiative, have been involved in career guidance in one way or another.

When the term "career guidance" is used in a loose manner or in an ordinary way, it covers giving career advice, occupation informa­tion, sharing of experiences, and serving as consultants/ experts.

Very often professionals who have practised in their fields for some 3 to 5 years or more are called upon to give "counselling" (which means "advice") to their "young acquaintances" who are children of their relatives, friends or coll_eagues, or students of their alma mater. This is the most common] y ob­served yet very informal mode of involvement in career guidance by individual professionals. A more formal mode of career guidance is the participation in seminars, panel

The Singapore Professionals 19

discussions, publications and exhibitions on career guidance. individual professionals usuaHyserve as the representatives or council/ committee members of their respective professional bodiesto contribute on career informalion and to share their expertise.

Another mode of involvement is to respond positively to the surveyson occupation�! data. This involves providing up-to-date information on their jobs and/or the "traits of the trade" These surveys are doneeither tlmiugh confidential ques­tionhilires by post or personal interviews. There were some 5,000 professlonals of variotls disciplines who participated in the nation-wideresearch and development project on Career guidance conducted by the National Institute ofEdueution.The development of this project, JOBS, was presented by Dr Esther Tan ill the Commonwealth RegionalWorkshop on Career Guidance and published in this jo11mal (Vol 15 No3).

Any of these modes of profes­sionals" involvement, be it formal orinformal, deserves great apprecia­tion from the young people who benefit directly or indirectly from such voluntary services. Teachers,social workers, counsellors; psy­chologists and other professionals who are proViding cureer guidancein their official ca pad ties are aJso grateful for these types of coopern­ti'on and support which are very crucial for the provision of an effective career guida�1ee pro­gramme or practice.

SINGAPORE PROFESSIONAL

CENTRE'S CONTRIBUTIONS

The Singapore Professional Centre (SPC) has a history of 20 years. It was mooted by the thenDirr·ctor ()f the Commonwealth Foundation, Mr John Chadwick, during his visit to Singapore in 1968. Th<' Centre was officially opened by Mr S Rajaratrn.1111, then the Minister of Foreign Affairs, on 18 Janunry 1971 to coincide with theCommonv,1ealth Heads of Govern-

20 Tbe Sing«pOre Profcs.-;ionnts

ment Conference held in Singapore.The experiences Qf Singapore Professional Centre were high­lighted in the brief report presentedat the Conference of Common­wealth Professionals held in July1990 at Sydney, Australia. See Appendix.

Career guidance has been one ofthe SPC' s community service activities for more than 15 years. The Centre staged career talks, seminars, colour slide projects andexhibitions, as well as produced printed materials such as 'The Big

Decision" in the 1970's and 1980's and "Professional Careers Profile"(1990) for teachers and students.

Since l 989, the SPC has. been working very closely with the Ministry of Education and the ITI'Services (Pte) Ltd to hold career exhibitions cum seminars. '"Career'89''; "Career '90" and ''Career '91" were held on a grand scale with professional standard at the WorldTrade Centre,

"Career '92" is already in the process of taking the shape of a megafair. It will be incorporating

/::i�g�'�1::1i�lt�r�,:�i\t�,� 1t_,-_.-_\"t-;;;-,,;-. --'.1} /'-,.--,t;;::>?J-..• ,,, '•"f ... ;.i·.•.· .. ·\·{·•·=.t.l.··.• •. :.i: .•. i:.;; .•• ··.::.•.·.·.·.•.:-.·.·.'.·. T?I:'¥-:'i: J', ·?;";'.�/:;_ :,'.f jfllh--·'·il\1:<a.·--:,: .. i --__ · �fH a1 'h -fifilcf·'lli :- > -.:--- <-./<; �- -· �' - -- - - ' .. ·::;;I.�.t.:.;·;·'·'.··.'.�.�.:.•.L.:.t.::.(::�_:�;,_ .; .. ·<P···.·.----ss.

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• ··•·� Sil'i�f p�r¢ lnstitu.te •f fcx4 Sclefl'c.e &Technqlogy . .. );) · .. (SIFST)

i{illlt i�";i itj¼,:: "'

_/)8/'�lff t:,.nan R�_durc�--Q'et�.l�:��-;_t;n#-.¼�n��emJ#i'.';lritii{�I�_ere are:• Asscjci�tion oflnternati¢nalAc176,�t�rits · .... ·

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; Associ�Hon of Prmcipals oft� #clJ"".ls . . ·. . (A'l:'PS) • In5Hfute of Manai;emerit Servi�•r .· .. · . . • \ te . {lly!S)• Singapore Actuarial Society/ ·;, • , i : (tlAS}• SingaporeAssociatio,;iloFC:o�lfu!, . ••· (SAC) � Si!'g�p�re Association ofS<idai)Yo�lq,rs

. (SASWl

.. � Sir�';pore Insurance lllS�IUtf . . .. (SH} • siri'gaporePsychologicalSildety . . . ·.. ·.. . . . (Sl"sS) • Sfoga£()teSeamdaryScl1oolPrincipals' Association (SSSPA} • 5<:idefy of Company & c:.ommerdal Accountant,; (SCCA)

fa�• Building, Manufacturing and Transpor�htdustrie{i;,,,;.�._Q • Assooiatiol\ of CorisultingEngineers Singapore (ACES) • Assgcial.ion of Singapo"'l

J,icensedAircra� Engineers . (ASJ.,AE)

• Institute of.Builder'� . . . ·GOB) •• Institution of ProdtictiOI1. lIDgineers (!ProdEt•. Institution of Fire Engineers (!FE} • · Institute of Shipping Management (ISM) • Singapore Institute ofArchitects lSl,A) • Singapore Inslitute of.Engineering'l'echnologists .(SIET)

,. Singa:pore!nslitute.of Planners (SIP)

"AHEAD '92" which is an exhibi­tion-cum-seminar for continuing education. The title "AHEAD" which stands for Ad ult Higher Education And Development was coined by the writer in 1990. Regu­lar readers of the journal, The Singapore Professionals (TSP), would have seen the success of Career '9 1 and be informed of the

. progress of Career '92 cum AHEAD '92. Papers and reports presented at the Commonwealth Regional Workshop on Career Guidance have been featured in the TSP Volume [5 Numbers 2,3 and 4. These issues were circulated free-of­charge to the participants .and speakers of the Commonwealth Regional Workshop on Career Guidance. The journal is distributed to all the SPC member associa tions and their members. who were on the n1ailing list of the Singapore Profes­siona l Centre and the JM Publishers (SEA) Pte Ltd.

The contributions made by The Singapore Professional Centre in promoting career guidance and providing career data. networking have gained great recognition from both the public and private sectors. The credits of such successes should go to the dedicated leaders and members of the SPC Career Guid­a'nce Committee., Convention Committee and Publication Com­n1ittee,

Those who deserve special mentioning are Mr Fong Chan Yoon, Mrs Mae-Lim Hoon Ann, Mr A K Sigamony, Dr Tay Siew Leng and Dr Alfred Wan Sai Cheong. There are two "captains" to be honoured here, namely ·r,.,1r Chan Chee Wah a11d Mr Tan Kah Hoe for having chai red so ably and ertthush astically the Organising Committee of Career '90, Career '91 and the SPC Board of Trustees respectively.

Deep appreciation goe� to the Chairman of the ITP Services {Pte) Ltd, Mr C C Chin, and his staff who have made vital contrlbution to the exhibition and seminars, and JM Publishers' Manager1 Mr Joseph Lee, and his ed itorial staff and

production team which played the key role in the publication and circulation of the up-to-date profes­sional reference materials.

Above all, the enormous support and cooperation from the Ministry of Education especially from .Mr Teo Lye Huat and his colleagues including Miss Tang Seok Tuan and Mr Cheong Heng Yuen in the Pastoral Care and Career Guidance Section should be applauded.

PROFESSIONALS' NETWORKING

Since the establishment of the Singapore Professional Centre, 20 years ago, its membership has now grown to 30 member professional associations which con1priSe-sOme 1 1 ,000 individual professionals in Singapore. These associations represent almost.all fields of profes­sional services in this country.

The Singapore Institute of Build­ing Limited, Institute of Engineers of Singapore, Singapore Institute of Architects, Marketing Institute of Singapore, Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers, Singapore Law Society and the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry which have been member associa­tions of SPC and were also involved in significant events such as: The congril tulatory dinner for the Prime Minister, Mr Goh Chok TQng, on 29 April 1991 , at the Westin Stamford Hotel and the 25th Anniversary Charity Fund in 1990.

The network of the Singapore Professional Centre is very large though not evenly strong and efficient across all disciplines. The conceptual mapping of this compli­cated network of professional organisations is shown on the next page.

All these professional bodies applied to join the SPC and were accepted in ·accordance to the consti tution of SPC. The Centre offers full member status to profes­siona1 bodies where 75 per cent of their voting members have profes­sional or academic qualification at tertiary level. Associate member

sta tus is offered to professional bod ies where 20 per cent of their voting members have professional or academic qualifications at terti­ary leveL

The Centre is restricted by the Registrar of Societies' regula tion from offering membership to unions. The Centre is not meant to be an accrediting agency for profes­sionals. The inter-disciplinary interaction and collaboraHon among SPC members usually take place at conventions/ seminars of comn10n interest and concern,

The SPC has "fraternal" ties with the Commonwealth Foundation and is affiliated to the People's Association and Singapore Council of Social Service. It also has good rapport with professional centres and associations in other Common� wealth countries [nduding Malay­sia, Kenya, Jamaica, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Australia. As a ma tter of fact, the Singapore Professionals Centre's network is a global conne<:­tion of professionals in various fields of services.

THE MAKING OF "COMMONWEALTH REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON CAREER GUIDANCE"

In July 1990, the Singapore Professional Centre's valuable experiences in career guidance exhibitions, seminars and publica­tions were presented by Dr Alfred Wan and the writer at the Confer­ence of Commonwealth Profession­als at the liniversity of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia .

It aroused great interest from delegatc•s from other Common, wealth countries. Shortly after her return to Singapore, the writer initia ted the blueprin t of the Com­monwealth Regional Workshop on Career Guidance and seettred a Con,monwenlth Foundation grant to sponsor part of the expenses fo r Dr Jan Lokan, the chjef resource person. Dr Lokan is a Senior Re­search Fellow of the Austrnlian Council on Educational Research. She was recommended by Dr Sim

The Singapore Profe.sfonals 21

THE SPC NETWORI(

Singapore Council of Social Service

People's Association

\ Commonwealth Liaison Unit

Commonwealth Foundation

,,t

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\/ SAC'-

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....:. _ _ '\.\ _ - ""MIS - -- -·IMS1AM

SPA 1sDA I\ I

\ I \ _ -- NOA

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I

/ SIFST

SNIC

� Present mi:mber L-=:=J nssocintion� of SPC � Member associations in I I Prufossionnl r�la:cdness j ► j SPC's Affmation� the p;;ist between ilSSocmtmns.

Ass,xi,1t!\m bl Uusin1;s;, �erutives Assodation ofC�rwulllng En�ineer:,.Singnporc Assodnhon of1ntcm.ilitmn? Acrnunlam:, AsstXiation of Prindp;ib. of Primnry School'> ,\i.;sodation ofStngnpure Lin'ns�-..i Altcm_ft F.ngm;,.,•rs lmlitutt' of Admlni:,;tr<1th;;.,• Mnn.1fil>mCnt instituh.' of ChartNt>d &'\:rdaries and Administr,,tnr,o.; lrn;.litutt•of Eflgim,-..·rs ,,fSingaputt: lnstitute of Flrc Enf';im.'ers Jn_,;tinne of Shipping Man,1grm1..•rt lnstiti1(t.'ol Mana�ument S.:rviccs bs_lituli0t1 d Pnt1.h.i1.'iio11 l:)1gin('l'T'.• !till'l'illr Dcsignt.-rs' Aswd,ltion Marketing ln:o.tituk• ofSing;,pmt! l'hMm,tn•utical 5-K"il•ly oi Singaporl' Sing.ipmt� l\duari,11 Soddy S1ng.1pon• Assndatl1Ut forCuum;d!ing Sing.:tport' Assuc1,uim1 11f-Oc1.'llpM10111tl Thcrnpl�b Singapor--• A�s,lciation nt $0-._i,11 Wnrkt•r,; Sm,.;nporc Dental A�M>cii'i!ion

22 The Singapo� Professionals

ABE ACE..S: A!A AJifS ASLAE 1AM !CSA !ES JFE !SM IMS ll'm<lt:: !DA MIS PSS SAS S.\C SAOT SASW SDA

Sfngapon• lnstituk of Arbitrators Smg;t_pore fnstitut1.• of An:hitc,:\;; Sing.,porc- Institute ,;,f llui!<ling Limited Singapore lnstiluk of Enf;int't!ring Tcdinologist:< Singnporn insli!U!l•Of fmx-1 Sdcrm; & Tcch11ol.:i1--,-y Singapore Institute of Pl.uwt'f.S Singnpnm lnstitutv nf Survqors & Valmm; Sinj;;ipon,• !nsur:mce lnslitutt• Sing.-ipore L;w 5.,dety Singtlpnn• Mediml Assodiltior. Singnport• Natif,n;,l lnstituit• of Chi:mislty Sin�ap,m: Nu�t•s' A,,od,1111m Sing;ipqn.• Nutrition :rn<l Dk•tl'tics As.soci;,t\un Singapore Phy:.iolhcr.ipy A5'¥li:fotion Singapor�• l'qydwlogical f10cR•ty Sint,;nporr Sl..•<•i;.1ndt1ry Sdt\>nl Prindp;,ls' A-'{snd,t?ion Sin�apott' S1Kiely ,,f R,1dlor;r,1plKrs Sing;iporc Vett-rii,.uy As�ocinifon Sodl'ty uf Cnmpnny & CoHlm<:n:i,,l AcromHtint�

S!Arb SIA SIU SJET SlFST SIP SlSV Sil SL$ SMA SNIC SNA SNDA S!'A SP:.S SSS!'A SSR SVA 'iCCA

Wong Kooi, the Director of Institute of Education.

Subsequently, the Common­wealth Regional Workshop on Career Guidance was incorpora ted

, into Career '91 . Dr Lokan served as the keynote speaker. The staff of

, ITP Services (Pte) Ltd offered secre1:<·1riat service.

Ninety-two Commonwealth countries" professional associations were invited to participate, Twenty­two responded and three delei,;ates eventually attended the workshop. Among those who sent regrets, n1any gave encouraging words and wanted to be kept informed of fuhtre workshops/seminars.

The Hong Kong delegate, Mrs

Clare Siu Ho Kar Yuk, Hong Kong Labour Department, came to know of this workshop through the c.ontact of the Social Welfare De­partment's delegate to a Regional Workshop on "Children without Childhood" in October 1990. This workshop was attended by the writer too.

The other two overseas delegates were from the contacts of Confer­ence of Commonwealth Profession­als. There ,vere more than 70 local participants mainly through the Ministry of Education's contacts with schools, and the writer's contacts in lnstitute of Education and Singapore Council of Social Service, The speakers and chairper-

E;�;i�:1:�•··.•·�+rf- }!1t�t�;ift1!11f. Deyeloped from the inspiiatio11 ' education was•cmn\i)�n5.e�ij.i!�e.

of th',' former Director of the • • . mid 1980' s and suppi,,itt!cl liy••tY ·Commcil)wealth Four(daiiop, Mrjc ; many goverrurr�ntal al)d ?.C'P" John Chadwkk, the Singapore ,.,fa : g9yen:unentaforganisatioi;ls)b / Professiopa]CE'ntre was officially$ Singapore. .· .. . ... . . . )r open�d 91, ISt1puary 197l. The . >: . Tl\!? 30 me!ll,b.eri<. pl'S�Q��fp(inaugirr'!! Il'l�.etipg of .fl>e \3pard 9t: 1• <prof�sion�!�?:1:¥t1�lflP�J�Wg Trust�s w�.s h"1d on.lJ July l9ZO:)' ..... a t.ota}mdi,q�Ral;aj�m!:i�p1liir!of,1

Sinc�J� ;'(�!'Y �glllflirig ofth�'({ 1 J,000. Collllnt.t,rtl<:,tioj{;}�.\!lJJi1l�i SPC,ti!<rG.l1!"ip,um and merpbers/;;<members ha.� � �W�l!\1�•1'l'J of fl:tei139llte otTrustees (\30T) ·· · .. ... . c!h" publicalio.itof iw�f�ti'.Mi¥�ii1f"saw lne h�rssity in inter-discipli+(ijoun')al, . ''Th�SingaJ>()t�.l,"rgfe�',;\. nary cooperation in a modet'Il · • sioru!ls'', a11dltft,e.l:i��'?!Yiitfif,socl.ety "'.'th endless tecl:mqlogy < •Profession�i.A s�a,J pr��g�•(and social issues which are multi� • •·· Singapore :f'.�of es�qr1'i1J0yisa �� disciplfua:ry in nature. The SPC and a discount scl:!enui;waii:· {; •· · · has grown from the origina.1 7- mounted to �rve-the SPC in.di� memlier federation to a 30- vidual members. Theme talks and member Centre, today. exclusive tours were also organs

Therepresentatives of various ised for them for personal and member associations/ societies, professional development Today, especially those who have served SPC has gamed recognition from aHhe .BOT 'for rnap.y years, are the public and private s�ct<Jrs{ It hlgh-�pirited v.olunteers believing represents professionals at n11° inilie virtue of service to the tional parades, dialogp.es.wit� professional bodies.as well as the ministers, an&most recerit)y;Jhe. community at large. From. 1975 to organising committee of the 25th 1990, several career exhibitions Anniversary Charity Fund:lni.ti-and semmars were held for ated by the Government. T�t thousands of students and future success of SPC was no magic at professionals. Community pervice all, It is the fruit of hard labour and research in health and volun- and strong conviction of ma:ny teer work were also launched core members. . .

. . . . . . . '

sons of panel discussions were also contacts from the writer's col­leagues and the SPC fellow mem­bers.

There were countless telephone calls , numerous meetings and discuss.ions and of course, pages of documents and correspondence along the way of materialising the Commonwealth Regional Work­shop on Career Guidance. All went well, including the last minute of ''fix and fit" for the free papers session. The three free papers are included in this issue of the SPC journal in the following pages.

The making of Commonwealth Regional Workshop on Career Guidance, from conception to evaluation, was a great expedition for the writer; It is a handy illustra­tion of professional networking, on voh.mtary basisJ to .serve the com� munity and promote professional practise in career guidance.

It is a meaningful and beneficial meeting for many professionals to reminisce for years,

References Rci1ort of tl1e Ca11ferc11ce 1Jf Common�

1ol'11ftli Pmfcssimmfa (/990) UK: The Com1uonwrafth Fm;11d11tim1.

SPC - T!tc First Twelve Years (19t?3) Slllp,npori:; Si11gaport' Profcssiounl Ccnlrl'.

SiJ1gnpore Pro/cssivimf Cenfrl' A,mual :'1990 - 1991) Sfn;<aporc: Si11g11pure Professional Crnlre.

The Big Dtcisfrm. 1st edition {1976) Sing11pare: Singapon.· Profcssim1al Cenln•,

The Big Dn.:isfo11. 2nt1 edit ion (1985} Si11g1117orc: Fedr:tal Publications.

"Professional Ct1 rcl' r'5 ProfiJcs'' (1mp11b� lishcd} Vo!J (1990) Singapore_, SiJl."{flPOrt' Proft'$simml Cmtr,• ,

"The Siugapare ProJ(·�sioiur/;;" Virf.14 -· 15 (1990 - 1991) (p11b/i;,lrcd bim011lhiyi Si11gJ1pore: Singap,)rc f>rnfcssioJlfli Ce11tri:>.

Dr Elena Lui Hilh Wnh is a lectnnfr a! Jftc Nafimtal lnstif1tti' 11{ Ed;1cfl!iou, Nm1,11m1x Tcclmologict1i Ll11h1ersiJy, She Jm:; scn,cd llf: tin• tfmirper�on 011 ihe Om.:t'r G11ida11n• Ow1mitti:t', Singapon• Prnfe;;­simwl Cct111't', for the }'Ml 3 years, Sht i� nlsa fl!<' 1st dc1111t}! (.,:Jwir1111ui ofSiugnpMl' Profc:;;,:.l(lnol C.;nftt' t111d !he t•ice�Jirt'Sidt'H! tlf Sftlgnp1m· Assoda,•ion of Socini i'Vtwh•r::; ,

The Sing,;ipore Professionals 23