Achi Biz GuidesFEP: Jobs Bank Advertising Requirement

Singapore Recruitment: Fair Employment Practices: Jobs Bank Advertising Requirement

National Jobs Bank advertising Requirement In Singapore

Before you submit Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass applications w.e.f. 01-Oct-2020, you must advertise the job vacancies on the National Jobs Bank at: MyCareersFuture.sg administered by Workforce Singapore (WSG).
This includes applications for EP and S Pass holders who are changing employers w.e.f. 01-Oct-2020. Advertising on National Jobs Bank is the new requirement.

The advertisement must meet the following requirements w.e.f. 01-Oct-2020:

Be open to Singaporeans.
Comply with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.
Run for at least 14 calendar days before you apply for the EP and S Pass.
If you made changes to your advertisement, you must extend it for another 14 calendar days.

Please read the full requirements.

Note:
For Employment Pass applications filed from 01-Oct-2015 and S Pass applications filed from 01-Oct-2020 the accompanying advertisements must include published salary ranges

Consider all candidates fairly before you apply for an Employment Pass

To promote fair employment practices and improve labour market transparency, employers submitting Employment Pass (EP) applications must first advertise the job on MyCareersFuture and consider all candidates fairly.

Fair Consideration Framework (FCF)

The Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) sets out the requirements for all employers in Singapore to consider candidates fairly for job opportunities. Employers should not discriminate candidates based on non-job related characteristics such as age, sex, nationality or race.

All employers in Singapore are expected to adhere to the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.

All companies are strongly encouraged to advertise their job vacancies on the Jobs Bank for access to a larger pool of candidates, even if those jobs are eligible for advertising exemption. All companies are expected to have fair employment practices that are open, merit-based and non-discriminatory, even if the job vacancies are exempted from advertising.
Any company found to have nationality-based or other discriminatory HR practices will face scrutiny from MOM and have their work pass privileges curtailed.

Advertising requirements

Accuracy of advertisement

The advertisement should clearly explain the job requirements and salary offered to attract the right candidates.

MOM will reject any EP applications linked to advertisements that are discriminatory or do not represent the job accurately:

The advertisement must not contain discriminatory words or phrases (see examples at: https://www.tal.sg/tafep/employment-practices/recruitment/job-advertisements )
The job advertised must match the occupation in the EP application.
The employer submitting the EP application must be the same as the one in the job advertisement.
The salary offered must be clear, specific, and consistent. Therefore the salary range advertised:
- Must be visible to all candidates and cannot be hidden.
- Cannot be too broad. The maximum salary cannot exceed two times of the minimum salary. For example, if the minimum salary is $4,500, then the maximum salary should not exceed $9,000.
- Must contain the salary offered to the EP candidate.
If you are using an advertisement for multiple EP applications, the total number of EP applications cannot exceed the number of vacancies in the advertisement.

Duration of advertisement

The MyCareersFuture job advertisement must be open for at least 14 consecutive days to allow job seekers to view and apply for the vacancy. This also applies if you repost an advertisement that has closed.

You must post a new advertisement if you change any advertisement details such as job title, salary or the number of vacancies. You must keep it open for at least another 14 consecutive days before you can submit the EP application. This is to ensure that job seekers are aware of the updated job details and have a chance to apply for it.

Job advertisements that have expired for more than 3 months or closed for more than 3 months, cannot be used for EP applications. You must advertise the vacancy again to reach out to other job seekers.

If you are using an advertisement for multiple EP applications, the total number of EP applications cannot exceed the number of vacancies in the advertisement.

Exemption from advertising requirement

All employers must practise fair hiring even if their job vacancies can be exempted from advertising on MyCareersFuture.

For practical reasons, you are not required to advertise on MyCareersFuture if you meet any of the following requirements:

Your company has fewer than 10 employees.
The fixed monthly salary for the vacancy is $22,500 and above.
The role is short-term, i.e. not more than 1 month.
The role is to be filled by a local transferee.

Eg:

Scenario:

The role you are applying for was filled by an existing employee within your company.
Are you exempted from advertising requirements?
Yes, you are exempted if the position is being filled by an existing employee that is transferring to another related branch, subsidiary, or affiliate in Singapore.

The role is to be filled by a candidate choosing to apply as an overseas intra-corporate transferee.

General principles for job ads

When posting a job advertisement, you or your employment agency should:

Avoid stating a preference for nationality, age, race, religion, language, gender, marital status or family responsibilities.
Comply with the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.

Advertising requirements (Changes w.e.f. 01-Oct-2020)

The advertisement should clearly explain the job requirements and salary offered to attract the right candidates.
MOM will reject any EP applications linked to advertisements that are discriminatory or do not represent the job accurately:

The advertisement must not contain discriminatory words or phrases .
The job advertised must match the occupation in the EP application.
The employer submitting the EP application must be the same as the one in the job advertisement.
The salary offered must be clear, specific, and consistent. Therefore the salary range advertised:
Must be visible to all candidates and cannot be hidden.
Cannot be too broad, i.e. the maximum salary cannot exceed two times of the minimum salary.
Must contain the salary offered to the EP candidate.
The advertisement must be open for at least 14 days (Restored w.e.f. 01-Sep-2022) to allow job seekers to view and apply for the vacancy.
If you change any advertisement details (e.g. job title, salary or number of vacancies), you must keep it open for at least another 14 days before you can submit the EP application. This is to ensure that job seekers are aware of the updated job details and have a chance to apply for it.
Job advertisements that have expired or have closed for more than 3 months cannot be used for EP applications. You must advertise the vacancy again to reach out to other job seekers.

Tip:

You can approach the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) or take a look at some examples of words or phrases not to be used in job advertisements.

Note:

MOM views non-compliance with the Tripartite Guidelines seriously. Employers who post discriminatory job advertisements will have their work pass privileges curtailed. For example, they could be barred from making work pass applications.

Scrutiny on hiring practices

MOM and other Government agencies will identify and engage companies that have scope to improve their hiring and career development practices. These companies may include those that have a disproportionately low concentration of Singaporeans at the professional, executive and managerial level compared to others in its industry, or had repeated complaints of nationality-based or other discriminatory HR practices.
If the company is under scrutiny, it needs to provide additional information to MOM, including:

Organisation charts with nationality information.
Recruitment processes.
Staff grievance handling procedures.
Framework for staff progression.
Plans to develop local internal staff to take on higher roles or reduce reliance on EP holders.

From 1 October 2015, MOM will also require the company to submit more information when applying for an EP, to assess whether Singaporeans were considered fairly. This includes information on:

The number of applications submitted by Singaporeans.
Whether Singaporeans were interviewed for the vacancy.
The firm’s current share of Singaporeans in PME positions.

Unresponsive companies may have their work pass privileges curtailed.

Report a case

If you notice any discriminatory job advertisements or nationality-related discriminatory employment practices, you can report them to TAFEP.

Find out more

You can approach TAFEP at www.tafep.sg for more information, including about the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices.
TAFEP provides resources and consultation on fair and progressive employment practices, and also conducts training sessions.
Source For Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices is from MOM & TAFEP.

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