-- At U PME Exchange, the world’s largest executive search and organisational and advisory firm partners with NTUC to launch Korn Ferry Advance, the firm’s first B2C offering that will soon be available globally – 

Singapore, March 24, 2017 – As a continuation of efforts to help working professionals, the Labour Movement is partnering with Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY), the preeminent global people and organisational advisory firm, to expand the services offered to help working professionals move forward in their careers. At NTUC’s U PME Exchange this afternoon, Korn Ferry Advance, the firm’s newly developed online career-enabling service was jointly launched by both organisations.

As a partner to 96 percent of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies, Korn Ferry advises organisations and leaders on their talent management challenges. Now, for the first time in the firm’s 74-year history, it is offering its expertise and services to individual professionals who want to make an impact and enjoy a lifetime of career success.

Korn Ferry Advance is designed to help working professionals contemplate, design, evaluate and execute strategic job transitions by tapping into Korn Ferry’s state-of-the-art leadership assessments, job profiling tools, compensation benchmarking databases and much more. This specialised service will be made available exclusively to NTUC members for the first six months after the launch and it will also be used by NTUC’s U PME Centre as a career profiling tool.

Specifically, NTUC members will have access to the following services:

• SELF-AWARENESS – Individuals will gain predictive insights into their career advancement potential. It will help them discover what makes them successful and where they need to improve with Korn Ferry’s world-leading assessment tool.
• RESUME ARCHITECT – Individuals will learn how to present their skills and experience with maximum impact. They will receive professional feedback on their current resume and will work with Korn Ferry’s A.I based digital expert to create a resume that sets them apart. 
• CAREER COACH – Career coaches from NTUC’s U PME Centre will support individuals by providing career advisory. Based on the assessment reports, the career coaches will also provide insights and offer expert advice to individuals to help them achieve their career goals.  

Eventually, the service will be launched in The United States with the goal of future rollouts across the globe.

In the age of rapid digitalisation and automation, beyond acquiring technical skills, soft skills such as the development of learning agility, resilience, and high emotional intelligence will become increasingly important. Such traits will stand working professionals in good stead even as technology is positioned to reshape the future of work.

“Complementing the national SkillsFuture movement and in line with the recommended strategies set out in the recently launched Committee on the Future Economy (CFE) report, we believe that Korn Ferry Advance will not only help professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) discover career paths in which they are more likely to succeed based on their cognitive, emotional, and social profile, but also offer a strategic approach to career management and championing agility and life-long learning as the key to career success.” said Andrew How, Managing Director of Korn Ferry Singapore.

During the launch, Korn Ferry and NTUC also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to mark the partnership between both organisations to provide employment-related tools and support to help working professionals. The MOU was signed by Vivek Kumar, Assistant Director-General of NTUC and Director of U PME, and Andrew How, Managing Director, Singapore, Korn Ferry. Witnessing the signing was Gilbert Tan, Assistant Director-General of NTUC and Dato Tharumah Rajah, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Korn Ferry. Present on stage were also NTUC Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing and President of the Korn Ferry Institute, Michael Distefano.

“As Singapore transforms, the Labour Movement is constantly reinventing ourselves to seek out new ways to support our working people in their transition to future skills and jobs. The process of assessment of one’s skills and talent search process by recruiters has changed significantly over the years.

“We are glad to partner Korn Ferry to expand the ability of the Labour Movement to help all our working people in navigating this fast-evolving space. Through this partnership, we wish to enable them to move forward in their careers and add value to their process of securing employment. This new offering also complements the deeper peer-to-peer support provided to the displaced PMEs under our PIVOT program.” said Vivek Kumar, Assistant Director-General of NTUC and Director of U PME.

U PME Exchange

Seeing a greater need to reach out to working professionals, especially those facing employment-related transitions, NTUC introduced the U PME Exchange as a culmination of NTUC’s U PME Week, a week-long lineup of programmes and activities to help PMEs stay relevant and future-ready in their careers. Just as how startups thrive on disruptions and have been shaking up many stagnant industries, our working professionals must learn from these startups and adopt a similar mindset to learn to ride the waves of disruption.

In line with the theme “Startup your career”, U PME Exchange provided participants access to industry thought leaders and founders of successful startups. Through specially curated keynote and panel sessions, participants were able gain perspectives, knowledge and insights from industry experts to stay relevant, reinvent themselves and be better poised to succeed in the future.

The event saw the involvement of Korn Ferry and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and the introduction of the U Future Leaders and the PIVOT programmes for working professionals to sign up for. At the Korn Ferry zone, visitors explored the features of Korn Ferry Advance while e2i provided on-the-spot career coaching and conducting employment workshops for professionals. In total, U PME Exchange saw a total of 200 participants this year.

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About Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry is the preeminent global people and organisational advisory firm. We help leaders, organisations, and societies succeed by releasing the full power and potential of people. Our nearly 7,000 colleagues deliver services through our Executive Search, Korn Ferry and Korn Ferry divisions. Visit kornferry.com for more information.

About National Trades Union Congress

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) is a national confederation of trade unions as well as a network of professional associations and partners across all sectors in Singapore. NTUC's objectives are to help Singapore stay competitive and working people remain employable for life; to enhance the social status and well-being of our members and working people; and to build a strong, responsible and caring labour movement. NTUC's vision is to be an inclusive labour movement for all collars, ages and nationalities. NTUC is at the heart of the Labour Movement, which comprises 60 affiliated unions, two affiliated taxi association, 10 social enterprises, six related organisations as well as a growing ecosystem of U Associates and enterprise partners. For more details, visit www.ntuc.org.sg.

Media Contact

Pamela Shee
Marketing & PR Manager, Singapore
Korn Ferry
E: pamela.shee@kornferry.com
M: +65 91997716

Khoo Xi Ying
Corporate Communications Consultant, NTUC
E: xiying_khoo@ntuc.org.sg
M: +65 91507218