Jumping on the Gig Economy Bandwagon

In Singapore, the number of people engaging in freelance work has been increasing over the years, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) annual Labour Force Report. In 2016 alone, there were about 200,000 freelancers and the number grew by another astonishing 11,000 in 2020.

In view of this growing phenomenon, the SUSS Gig Academy was incepted to help students discover self-employment as an alternative form of employment and learn from various industry experts. Since its pilot launch in June 2020, more than 200 students have attended the various workshops in fields such as micro-influencing, digital marketing as well as freelancing.

71-year-old retiree and SUSS translation and interpretation student, Mdm Heidi Mah, was one of its workshop attendees. Her lifelong dream was to become a translator. While searching for opportunities after finishing her degree, she chanced upon the Gig Academy, which provided her with an opportunity to explore the various pathways available for gig work.

Muhammad Firdaus Syazwani, a 25-year-old full-time SUSS Marketing student, was another attendee. He had taken up a part-time role in a physiotherapy clinic where he learnt various marketing tools and strategies. With his self-taught Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) skills, he embarked on his freelancing journey but had met with many rejections. He then decided to join the Gig Academy workshop to seek out guidance for his freelancing journey.

_{Gig Academy has helped SUSS student, Muhammad Firdaus Syazwani, achieve a sustained stream of freelance work.}

Over the session, the trainers from CreativesAtWork provided mentorship around building a sustainable freelancing career. It covered content ranging from getting students started to the importance of having an online presence. Industry experts from other companies such as Google also brought invaluable insights on how one could make use of digital tools to become a freelancer or market their services.

While both students were at different stages of their freelancing journey, the knowledge gained offered them valuable takeaways to further their freelancing careers:

Firdaus has acquired skills that allowed him to package his freelancing services for attracting more sustained sales. “Unlike my previous leads, the current leads I have are of higher quality and have the purchasing power to engage my services,” he described of his experience after the Gig Academy workshop where he has generated more concrete leads in a month, compared to over 1.5 years ago. Today, Firdaus is thinking beyond freelancing and setting up his own agency to live as a digital nomad and explore the world while freelancing for various global clients.

Heidi has also kickstarted her freelancing journey, securing her first project in the weeks following the end of the Gig Academy. “The Gig Academy has given me practical knowledge and useful guidance, without which I would not have the confidence to take my first step in gig work,” she shared with appreciation and hopes to keep up with an active retirement through engaging herself in various translation gigs.

Learn more about the Gig Academy and how it can help kickstart or level up your freelancing journey at our programme site.