SINGAPORE: The daughter of an elderly woman has reached out on social media to inquire about any job opportunities that are less physically demanding, offer better pay, and have more favourable working conditions for her mother.
Her mother has limited education and language skills and currently earns only around S$1,400 per month after more than 10 years in her present job that requires her to stand for long periods.
“Her health conditions have weakened over the past few years.
She is unable to continue her current job due to standing for long periods of time. I recently found out that she has been earning ~1.4k ish a month, which I didn’t know was even still a thing!” the daughter wrote on r/askSingapore.
“She has no education and cannot really speak English. She mainly converses in Chinese. I wonder if there’s a job for her because I searched on common job listings, which all require some kind of education at least (N level or O level, etc.), but she doesn’t.
I was wondering if she can be a security guard or some sort? Is there any employment opportunities out there for people like my mom?” the daughter asked further.
In the comments section, some recommended exploring positions in community or support services that might not require extensive formal education but could benefit from her experience and language skills.
One user said, “Student / child care aunties. Chinese speaking aunties are in high demand, so it is quite favourable. The entry level is easy too. You can try seeing any nearby centres have openings so that your mom can travel home easily too.”
Another commented, “Any job that mainly focus on Chinese would more suitable or ideal that usually comes down to retail that’s likely in China town or more older gen populated areas.
If she’s up for the challenge sales person in department stores like OG can also be consider as most are very chillax and would have seating options.”
Others suggested looking into roles such as clinic assistant or receptionists in smaller businesses where the focus might be more on personal interaction rather than formal qualifications.
One user added, “Hawker stall auntie can sit down count money… Some popiah / rojak stall not too demanding can sit down and do.”
Another user shared, “My mom is semi retired and during Covid she couldn’t sit at home. So she went to work at fair price as a shelf stocker, but you can pretty much still sit down a fair bit in the back. It was part time though so I don’t know about the full time pay range.”
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