BY CHERYL LIM

FORMER interior designer Rosalind Kwek's life changed last month, when the company she was in for eight years underwent restructuring.

Then, she was given the option to transfer to the sales department, a move which she felt was irrelevant to what she had been trained in.

She rejected the offer as she felt her skills would go to waste, and turned to taking up driving lessons to enrich herself.

Fortunately, Ms Kwek, 34, had the foresight to sign up for a workshop, Secure a Job, organised by the National Library Board (NLB) in January.

The workshop was held in response to the downturn.

Next month, NLB will officially roll out a series of talks and workshops, called Economic Survivor Series, to take place in its 22 public libraries.

There are four key topics covered under the series: skills-learning, career planning and development, financial literacy and family resilience, and entrepreneurship.

They run the gamut of talks from understanding body language and surviving the economic crunch, to rock climbing and even growing vegetables.

'I intend to sign up for the talks on body language and growing your own vegetables.

It's important to enrich and relax our minds even when we're not working,' she told my paper.

An NLB spokesman told my paper that the Economic Survivor Series is 'targeted at PMETs (professionals,managers, executives and technicians), fresh graduates, mid-career jobseekers, small-business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs who are affected by the economic crisis'.

He added that the series was created 'to address the social and corporate readiness' of this target group.

The series will run for as long as the economic conditions call for it, NLB said.

Ms Kwek said: 'I learnt so much in the January workshop, such as resume presentation tips and nailing tough interview questions, like 'Why did you leave your last job?'. Now, I hope to take part in talks that will benefit me holistically.'

She added: 'Singaporeans care only about their careers, and not much else. It's when you're not working that you realise the importance of developing other areas in your life.'

For more details on the talks in the Economic Survivor Series, you can visit the NLB website at http://www.pl.sg

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