By Tessa Wong

WHEN organisers of a job fair at Jelutong Community Centre in Sembawang opened the doors at 9.30 am yesterday, they were greeted by a long line of waiting people.

Over 1,000 arrived within the first hour of the North West Community Development Council's (CDC) job fair yesterday. By the time it ended at 4.30pm, the number had risen to 4,800.

The event brought together 40 service industry employers offering more than 3,000 jobs and was the largest recruitment fair organised by a CDC.

Fast-food chain McDonald's, security firm Cisco and department store Metro were among those offering jobs, mostly rank and file positions. About 10 per cent were managerial or executive posts.

Many job seekers made a beeline for the Resorts World at Sentosa booth, which had over 1,000 applications by the end of the fair. The integrated resort was offering 300 jobs, half of which are for the Universal Studios theme park.

A sign of increasingly hard times for job seekers, the overwhelming turnout mirrored that at other job fairs held recently. One organised by the South East CDC on Saturday saw over 5,000 hopefuls going after 1,000 jobs on offer.

Yesterday's crowd left Dr Lim Wee Kiak, a Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC, worried.

He said: 'We were a little surprised by the response. It's a weekday...it's not somewhere in town, yet we are enjoying an overwhelming response. It is a worrisome sign as well.

'I hope that Singaporeans will be a little bit more receptive and take up job offers that may not exactly fit 100 per cent of their criteria, that they will be flexible enough to accept that times are tough.'

The North West district, which includes Woodlands, Bukit Timah and Sembawang, has seen a 43 per cent rise in job seekers between September and last month. Noting the rise among the unemployed and retrenched, mayor Teo Ho Pin said yesterday that the council would be spending $1.6 million this year to help residents find jobs.

This is about half-a-million dollars more than last year's budget. The extra money will go towards boosting resources at job assistance centres, and doubling job placement exercises.

It will also fund new programmes to help retrenched workers find employment and raise awareness of skills upgrading courses.

The council hopes such efforts will benefit those like Mr Vigianderan, 55, who used to earn $50 a day as a forklift driver. He has received notice from his employer and will be out of a job by today.

As he is hearing-impaired, it has been difficult for him to get a job. Without one, he and his wife will have to survive on her $500 monthly income as a part-time babysitter.

Said Mr Vigianderan, who applied to be a health-care assistant: 'Any job would be okay, I just need one right now.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.