Newborn care course popular among local career-path switchers

Newborn and mother care courses have become attractive to local women who want or had to change career paths in the past three years, the head of a local group in the profession pointed out yesterday.

On the sidelines of a sector event, Elaine Leong, president of Macau Domestic Workers Promotion Association, said that many local women currently aged between 45 and 65 years are open to taking newborn and mothercare courses, for changing career paths or domestic caregiving.

In addition, she disclosed that many younger people who have lost their jobs during the past three years of economic downturn have decided to become better equipped to work in the newborn and mother caretaker sector.

According to her, one of the main reasons is that the courses may help graduates take better care of their daughters-in-law and grandchildren, even if they do not decide to work in the sector professionally.

This, Leong underlined, will help ease domestic tension.

“During [the] recruitment process, many of these women have faced time constraints, age challenges and domestic pressure,” she explained. “They may not be able to invest too much time for work as they have elder and younger generations to care for at home. They are also not as physically fit as the younger generations for certain positions, such as housekeeping.”

She even referred to the suicide rate of the city, saying that these courses could help people construct their own sense of value by becoming able to help out in a professional manner with domestic elderly and child care.

This will also help ease household financial burdens, she added, as the monthly salary for a caretaker starts at MOP30,000.

One successful career path changer is a former accounting clerk, surnamed Lou, 68, who graduated from a recent sectoral programme. She admitted that her job seeking efforts had not worked out following her previous employer going out of business three years ago.

Not seeing the chance to return to her accounting career, Lou decided to take the government’s training-with-subsidy to broaden her horizons. This program is the second course she has taken under the scheme. Despite passing the retirement age, she preferred to continue working.

In terms of changing one’s mentality, Lou suggests fellow career path switchers can face the change with ease. She admitted that the psychological challenges in changing career paths could be tough, but she decided to ‘go with the flow’ and be optimistic, which she described as within her character.

She disclosed that she has also taken courses at the Senior College of the Macau Polytechnic University.

Another graduate, former junket marketer surnamed Cheong, who had been unemployed for over a year, decided to change her career path firstly because she has an interest in infant care and secondly because she heard about the good income in the sector.

She said she had always wanted to work in the sector but did not see any way in. The course has opened a door for her, she admitted.

Yesterday, the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) and the Macau United Citizens Association (API) co-hosted a graduation ceremony for the 15 graduates from the 80-hour course of beginner-level infant and parent caretaker training program. The program complies with national standards, so graduation from secondary school is a prerequisite.

A cooperative agreement signing ceremony was held following the graduation ceremony. The organizer and three local care centers signed agreements to provide internship opportunities to the 15 graduates. The graduates will soon commence their 10-hour internships at these centers to gain real-life experiences before starting to work independently.

Monday saw the opening for application for the next round of the programme, with all places filled within two days, Leong disclosed.