If you were one of the 130 people from Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) whose jobs were axed in this week's accelerated retrenchment exercise, or happen to know anyone who was, a not-for-profit industry association is here to help.

Called the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), it's an organisation in the tech sector that specialises in addressing business challenges in the ICM (infocomm media) industry.

The SiTF hopes to reach out to the group of retrenched SPH staff and is keen to help them find tech-specific job placements, where they might be applicable.

To further help these folks find jobs, the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Workforce Singapore (WSG) are also collaborating with the association on this effort.

If this sounds relevant to you, here's what they do and how to get in touch with them:

Links to almost 700 tech companies in S'pore

Currently, SiTF holds a membership base of close to 700 tech start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and multinational corporations.

This diverse set of members are part of the SiTF's mission to transform ICM technology and promote innovation. They are also involved in emerging and innovative technologies, such as Big Data, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation and Fintech.

To help the affected, SiTF has already identified relevant skills of the retrenched staff from the SPH retrenchment exercise that are a match in these areas, such as in roles like digital marketing.

They will then source for matching jobs from the 700 tech companies to offer to any of them who are keen.

If you are keen on this support, you may get in touch with SiFT at [email protected].

Free career-matching platform

Alternatively, one can use SiTF's career-matching platform, Talentguru, which helps to address skill gaps and manpower shortage in the ICM industry.

As the platform is government-funded, it is completely free to use and has current job openings listed.

Also, don't worry if your resume doesn't show any experience in the tech sector — since its launch in July, the platform already targets people looking to switch careers and enter the digital sector.

The portal uses a skills-based approach to highlight how a person's skills profiles compare against the global requirements for any particular job.

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Since SPH Chief Executive Ng Yat Chung made the announcements of planned staff cuts on Oct. 11, the ones most affected so far are long-serving photographers and editorial staff from The Straits Times, Business Times, and Chinese language broadsheet, Lianhe Zaobao.

SPH news aggregator site AsiaOne was also not spared, and will soon close and redeploy its staff.

Other arrangements within the corporation were also made. The New Paper sports desk will move to The Straits Times in November, and The Straits Times money desk will move to The Business Times.

Top photo via here

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