WHEN Ms Connie Wong, 47, lost her job as a personal secretary at a local bank last November, she thought it was the end of the world.
The bank was downsizing and laying off employees as part of its cost-cutting measures.
'I couldn't eat or sleep for many days after I was laid off because the retrenchment was so sudden. I didn't know how to react,' she said.
But early last month, after more than 30 applications to banks and other organisations, she received a call from Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) with news of a successful application.
Ms Wong counts herself lucky to have landed her new position as a personal assistant.
Her new colleagues feel the same about their jobs. Forty-two other employees will be sent to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, for overseas training in preparation for their jobs at the attraction.
RWS spokesman Robin Goh, said 13 employees will go to Florida in the United States by the end of this month. The remainder will do so early next month.
While Resorts World is spending $5 million on the training programme, other companies say they are being more prudent about their training expenditure.
Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which sends its employees overseas to countries such as Australia and Britain for training, said that such stints are 'an important people-development strategy and remains a priority'.
However, in light of the economic downturn, the company added that it is reviewing its training schedule and if a programme can be conducted locally instead of overseas, it will do so to minimise costs.
