I started off as a career coach in my early years and also had about 1.5 years of experience as a career specialist, involved in matching inmates to careers before they leave prison. These experiences have helped me understand the entire process of skills training, career matching and retention. Working from the ground up has provided me with the necessary foundation to carry out the role I am doing now. It has helped enhance my critical thinking skills, adopt conflict resolution techniques and deepen my adaptability in any setting. It has also made me adept at engaging both the ground and senior management level, which is a crucial skill to have as a middle manager.
This is my 10th year with Yellow Ribbon Singapore (YRSG). As an Assistant Director, Careers@YR, I lead a team of career coaches in providing case management services to ex-offenders who have secured jobs through YRSG. Here, we guide and coach ex-offenders in their employment journey by facilitating and resolving their employment-related queries and issues through working directly with ex-offenders and their employers. Where necessary, we also touch base with our partners, stakeholders and other aftercare agencies to offer assistance.
My undertaking of Psychology for my Bachelors came about due to my interest in helping people and one way that I could do this was through understanding human behavior. For instance, the mental processes behind certain behaviours would help me understand their motivations and aspirations. This is something I find intriguing and intrinsically rewarding in my career. My studies were pivotal in doing my job better. Things I have learnt like Positive Reinforcement, is applied when managing ex-offenders as we encourage them to come forward to share their success stories so that they could empower others to do the same.
I am an avid believer of lifelong learning. Change is a constant in this world, and the only way to keep up is to continuously learn and pick up new things. With the right skills and knowledge, people will be able to have a better quality of life, and find better career opportunities. No one, not even those that face incarceration are at a loss as far as knowledge is concerned, as it will always be an asset that is limitless and priceless.
Siti Aishah Nussin
Bachelor of Science (BSc) Psychology
Class of 2017