NEW AND IMPROVED CAREER SCHEMES TO ATTRACT AND KEEP TALENT

Building a force of able and dedicated servicemen and women is critical to the success of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in the defence and security of the nation.

To ensure that it continues to recruit, groom and retain a pool of high quality people, enhancements to existing uniformed personnel schemes and the creation of the new Military Domain Experts Scheme (MDES) were unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean during a visit to Sembawang Air Base on 14 May.

The changes resulted from a fundamental review of the SAF's career schemes to better match the increasingly complex demands of the 3rd Generation SAF with the needs and aspirations of servicemen.

Announcing that these changes will be implemented in the first quarter of 2010, Mr Teo said: "Maintaining a strong and capable SAF depends on recruiting and retaining able and committed people to keep the SAF forceful and dynamic. We are thus enhancing our career schemes for officers and warrant officers, and introducing a new Military Domain Experts Scheme."

By extending the retirement age from 45 to 50, the enhanced officers' career scheme will give officers more time to invest in developing and training and for ground and joint postings and to maintain steady leadership renewal.

The revision of the career length will also address officers' increasing preference to stay longer in the SAF while continuing to enjoy a fast-paced and challenging career.

For warrant officers, their enhanced career scheme will give them more responsibilities and feature a new Third Warrant Officer rank. The former maxmises their potential while the latter allows those who perform well to become warrant officers within six years.

With this enhanced scheme, the Warrant Officer and Specialist Corps will be repositioned as the Warrant Officer Corps, and those in this scheme can assume appointments such as Chief Trainers in weapons and small unit training. They can also embark on degree studies as early as the end of their second year of service.

As for the newly-launched MDES, it allows uniformed personnel to develop deep competencies in specific areas such as engineering, technical, intelligence and nursing.

Explaining the decision to introduce a new career scheme, Mr Teo said: "The 3rd Generation SAF will require more personnel with deep professional expertise to serve, for example, as technicians, engineers and intelligence experts."

This highly specialised corps will complement the officers and warrant officers' career schemes. With an eight-rank structure, ranging from ME1 to ME8, the career progression of regulars under MDES will be based on professional skills, expertise and responsibilities.

Besides market competitive salaries, this scheme will also offer opportunities early in the career to upgrade academically and to pursue further studies. Regulars under this scheme can enjoy a career up to age 60.

Suitable personnel who are currently in service and whose vocations fall under MDES will be given the option to cross over to the new scheme.

14 May 09 - New and Enhanced Career Schemes for SAF Personnel
14 May 09 - News Video: New and Enhanced Career Schemes for SAF Personnel