BELLS Baking Studio (BELLS) has organised Baking Symposium ‘22, a networking event for Singapore’s baking community with employment opportunities for job-seekers. This symposium has been inaugurated by Guest of Honour, Mr Gilbert Tan, Assistant Director-General, National Trades Union Congress at Lifelong Learning Center (Event Hall – 1-1) on 6th July 2022 (Wednesday).

Baking Symposium 2022 has been a continuation of the Baker 4.0 journey, launched by NTUC’s e2i in July 2019, to prepare and upskill Singapore Bakers as well as transform the baking and confectionary industry. . Through this event, a series of collaborations between prominent Baking Industry players and training provider BELLS Baking Studio have been planned as well to uplift skills and promote employability in the industry.

In the job fair segment, BELLS partner e2i, qood, South East CDC and SG Digital Office with 12 prominent Baking Employment Partners has provided on-site interviews with more than 1,000 job opportunities. The Symposium has featured industry forums on digital transformation and employability, baking demonstrations by BreadTalk and BELLS as well as exhibition booths by Participating Partners.

12 popular bakeries in Singapore have set up their recruitment booths at the Baking Symposium ‘22. A variety of full-time and part-time job positions including kitchen, retail and office roles have been made available at the interview area. On-ground job interviews have been conducted by individual employment partners.

Job-seekers have received employability advice from e2i, Skillsfuture and training guidance from South East CDC. In addition, Singapore’s newest free-to-use job portal, qood will be on-site to guide job-seekers on their job search and employment requirements.

To address the skills gaps in future-proofing the job industry through training & skills upgrading, Baking Symposium ‘22 has featured a training consultation booth by BELLS.  It has hosted a SkillsFuture Advice Workshop conducted by South East CDC as well.

A highlight of the Symposium has been two forum discussions by industry experts to provide a platform for baking industry players to share business insights and strategies to overcome the challenges in the Digital Transformation journey and the rewards as well as challenges they faced as a Baker.

Talking about BELLS’ unique position in organizing this event, Mr Adrian Ang, CEO of BELLS Academic Group has stated, “As a baking training school, BELLS Baking Studio experienced the same manpower crunch as our partners in the baking industry. While theirs is a noticeable portion of job-seekers in Singapore, however, prominent skills gap together with the stigma of working in hot kitchens have resulted in a huge imbalance in employment.” Mr Ang added, “We have always believed in creating a holistic Baking industry ecosystem, with BELLS working together with our Partners e2i and qood, we can bridge this skills gap between baking employers and job-seekers through the Baking Symposium. At the same time, the expertise of each baking partner further adds relevance to the training courses we provide.”