By Jeremy Au Yong

ASKING about job vacancies has become almost second nature for Ms Venus Tan.

In the past six months, she has asked employers whether they have jobs available while attending functions, buying a meal at McDonald's or even at a supermarket's checkout counter.

But the 39-year-old part-time student of traditional Ayurvedic medicine is not seeking work for herself.

She is a volunteer job navigator, part of a scheme set up last year by Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Lee Bee Wah to help residents in her Nee Soon South ward find jobs close to home.

Ms Lee started the programme in January last year after noticing unemployed residents shunning jobs that were far away.

But with the economy humming along at the time, she recalled people asking if there was a need for it.

'I believe there are always residents looking for jobs whether in good times or bad times,' she told them.

The scheme has since become an important tool in her efforts to help residents cope with the current downturn.

Ms Lee told reporters yesterday that in the last six months, 170 people have turned up at her Meet-the-People sessions (MPS) looking for jobs.

Of these, around half have found jobs with the help of a job navigator, while the rest were referred to the Central Singapore Community Development Council.

There are now two job navigators - Ms Tan and 23-year-old polytechnic student Andy Hoi. These volunteers were trained by the CDC and spend their free time scouring the neighbourhood for vacancies. They also attend Ms Lee's weekly MPS to help match unemployed residents to jobs.

At yesterday's briefing, which served as a precursor to a visit by Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in two weeks' time, Ms Lee also gave a round-up of other measures she has put in place in her ward since she was elected in 2006.

These include giving out food hampers, celebrating birthdays of needy residents, having a system to broadcast messages to residents via e-mail and SMS, and setting up a mini library.

The latest initiative is a tuition subsidy scheme introduced last month for children in the ward who are getting tuition at the community club or resident committee centres. They need to pay only half of the fees if their household income is $1,500 or less.

About a dozen have applied already. The closing date is April 15.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.