Ken Leong, runs Visibility Design, an integrated design agency that has been managing tactical advertising campaigns for FMCG brands for many years. One of their core strengths includes developing product packaging for multi-national clients like Nestle, Vitasoy and F&N.
About a year ago, Ken noticed a growing trend of brands seeking to adopt sustainable packaging for their products and services. He found that most of these brands wanted to explore newer alternatives of sustainability, reducing waste and carbon footprint in the process.
The rise in such a trend presented an opportunity for Ken and his team to re-look at their team’s expertise and consider hiring someone who would specialise in sustainability for brand packaging. This prompted them to go on a search for a senior practitioner who would have the training and experience in the field to work closely with their designers to develop environmentally conscious products for their clientele.
Salary support for new hire
After a long search, Ken and his team were eventually able to find someone who fit their criterion. However, they wanted to explore the possibility of defraying cost and decided to reach out to Manisah, our WSG Business Advisor, for assistance.
“Visibility Design wanted was looking for someone to fill the role of Sustainability Director. Given that it was a very specialized position, it took them a while to find the right candidate. I later discovered that the candidate had been unemployed for a while,” explained Manisah.
Manisah recommended Ken and his team to apply for the Career Support Programme, a WSG initiative which supports Singaporeans who had been actively looking for jobs for 6 months or more. The scheme would enable Visibility Design to receive salary support for their candidate of up to a maximum of 18 months. In addition, Manisah advised Ken to apply for the P-Max programme, a Place-and-Train programme that seeks to help SMEs better train and retain their newly hired staff.
“We never thought there were available schemes by WSG that we could qualify for so we’re glad that we reached out to Manisah. The candidate has successfully accepted our job offer and he’s in the process of adapting to our work culture and process,” shared Ken.