A three-year MOU between ITE and LinkedIn will help students in the areas of professional networking and skills development
15 June 2020, SINGAPORE — The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with LinkedIn Singapore Pte Ltd today. Ms Low Khah Gek, Chief Executive Officer, ITE and Mr Olivier Legrand, Managing Director and Vice President, Asia Pacific & China, LinkedIn, met virtually this afternoon to seal the partnership. This is the first partnership of its kind among Institutes of Higher Learning in Singapore.
Under this three-year agreement, ITE and LinkedIn will work together to equip students with the tools to market themselves, and necessary skills required to kick start their career.
Building Strong Networks for Future Career Opportunities
To help ITE students build stronger networks and access better career opportunities in the future, all current ITE students will be encouraged to set up a LinkedIn account. Setting up a LinkedIn account will also be part of the onboarding programme for new students.
LinkedIn will customise and embed its LinkedIn Coaches programme into ITE's Life Skills curriculum. The LinkedIn Coaches programme is known to have helped job seekers grow their careers and expand their networks through career conversations and LinkedIn platform training. In 2019, LinkedIn conducted six LinkedIn Coaches workshops which supported some 400 ITE students. In March 2020, LinkedIn conducted virtual training to empower 150 ITE lecturers from the three Colleges to conduct similar sessions for students.
Mr Benjamin Kwek, Senior Lecturer, Human Resource & Administration, ITE College Central, shared, “It is good for our students to start their professional digital footprint early, and simultaneously, list other talents they may possess besides academic qualifications. LinkedIn is not restricted to the Singapore market. Other countries might be looking for talents which may include our graduates. If our students are able to put themselves out there, in time, they will be able to build strong networks amongst the ITE community and to other professionals, to support one another in their careers.” Benjamin has, to date, influenced some 120 students to create their resumes in LinkedIn, so that they will be armed with both online and offline channels in applying for internship positions and future jobs.
In May 2020, ITE student leaders attended a virtual career conversations session. Through this session, students learnt to brand and market their education, skills, internship and volunteer experiences to potential employers on LinkedIn. Students were also connected to working professionals who offered guidance for their career journey. Nitec in Aerospace Machining Technology student, Ajmal Sulthan S/O Abdul Kader shared, “My mentor was introduced to her current job through a connection in LinkedIn. It shows that networking is really important. By reading what entrepreneurs posted on LinkedIn, I can pick up some business tips and ideas.” Ajmal has plans to succeed his father’s transportation business, and views LinkedIn as a platform that would help him gather insights from major industry players.
Skills Development to Support Intended Career Pathways
To support broader skills development for students, LinkedIn will introduce its online learning platform, LinkedIn Learning, to ITE staff through annual train-the-trainer workshops. These workshops will equip ITE staff with knowledge on product features and in-demand courses, and help create a better digital learning experience for students. Students will also have access to various learning paths on digital and future skills. Upon completion of these courses, students can add these skills and certifications to their LinkedIn profiles to enhance their employability.
LinkedIn will also conduct a workshop for ITE staff to showcase talent, job and skills trends from LinkedIn Talent Insights, a real-time talent analytics tool. In addition, it will share findings from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph research study on career pathways for young working professionals.
LinkedIn’s Managing Director and Vice President, Asia Pacific & China, Mr Olivier Legrand said,
“With this collaboration with ITE, we aim to help students develop meaningful careers — from building strong networks so they have access to good opportunities in future, to helping them learn and cultivate the skills they need for their intended career path. This is even more important in the current climate, as many may be facing challenges with networking, upskilling and career opportunities. We hope that this will better prepare the younger generation for the future.”
Ms Low Khah Gek, CEO, ITE, added, “It’s an opportune time to partner LinkedIn and leverage their extensive local and global industry reach. I cannot emphasise enough the importance for our students to use digital technology to optimise their personal branding and career planning. While they are well-trained in hard skills, they need to market themselves online. On LinkedIn, they can inject their personality into their profiles, highlight their skills, interests and experiences. They can also do better research on companies and the jobs they offer. Moreover, they will meet and network with people of similar professional interests. Such connections can help them stay abreast of industry trends, and build credibility through endorsements and testimonials from their contacts.”
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About LinkedIn
LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful and transforms the way companies hire, market and sell. Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce through the ongoing development of the world’s first Economic Graph. LinkedIn has more than 675+ million members and has offices around the globe.