[Seeking Opinion] SGUnited Mid-career Pathways / SGUnited Traineeships

[jobseeker8800]

Hello everyone.

I'm wondering if anybody here has had any experience so far working under the two programmes - the Mid-Career Pathways or the Traineeships programme, and have you actually learnt something useful, or feel like you are put in a better position to be employed either by the same company or some other company full-time when you are done?

Just some background: Econs grad, and I've been running a small business for the last 5 years and have been drawing a comfortable monthly income from my work, but due to COVID-19 my income has fallen to practically zero. It has been extremely tough to seek full-time employment since I'm in my late-30s and don't have practical knowledge of the latest tech skills (though I am quite tech savvy to be able to pick up software stuff when put in a practical situation) required in almost every single sector right now.

Still searching for full-time employment right now, but got an offer from a local bank to take on some back-office roles under the Mid-Career Pathways programme. Of course I know there are some companies that are plainly using this programme as a way to get cheap labour (since the government is paying 80% of the monthly allowance), but since this is a local bank the role does seem pretty legit. I really want to work towards up-skilling myself and building a new career, and not get into the office and simply be responsible for doing nonsensical administrative work that will not help me in the future.

Should I proceed? Is it worth it?

If anybody has some experience, I would really appreciate if you could share. Thank you!

Well, doesn't mean the local bank needs to convert you also.