Inside GovTech Talent Management: Nurturing Tomorrow’s Tech Leaders

Hi everyone! My name is Aaron, and I’m an intern with the Young Talent team. We work closely with the Talent Management (TM) team in my day-to-day activities, and today I’ll be sitting down with Astrina and Yanting from TM to understand more about what they do. Both of them hold the important role of nurturing the young talents we have at GovTech, specifically our GovTechies in the Technology Associate Programme (TAP).

At GovTech, our TM team sits within our People and Organisation Division. They look after the engagement, performance management, and succession of our GovTechies. Their goal is to keep our GovTechies happy and productive while helping them continue developing their skills.

Let’s start with an introduction.

Astrina: I am an HR professional experienced in recruitment, campus engagement, and talent management. My goal is to enhance the experience of the young talent in the company, leaving them better than when I first started. At my previous workplace, I established a structured internship programme and have revamped graduate development programmes, including the TAP which I am managing and improving today.

Yanting: My previous experiences were in Learning and Development, Onboarding/Employee Engagement, Internal Communications and Talent Management. I started specialising in the Talent Management field when I joined GovTech three years ago, focusing on young talent development. I have established and revamped fresh graduate programmes in the organisations I have worked for previously, which aim to support growth and career progression from within.

Together with Astrina, we manage TAP and are always looking at improving for our TAPpers’ progression and wellbeing.

Why did you go into Talent Management?

Astrina: I feel motivated whenever I see talents who go through my programmes grow in their career, or simply as individuals. Through my role in talent management, I get to have regular catchups with the talent and understand their work and perspective better. I feel energised talking to diverse and dynamic young talent and often find myself learning more than I thought.

I hope the talent will graduate from the programme better than they were when they first started, and eventually take on important leadership roles in the organisation. In the short term, it brings me great joy whenever they share that the programme has benefited them in their personal development.

Yanting: It might sound cliché, but winding back to my motivation on why I joined Human Resources, it’s because I believe that people are the most important resource, and I would like to be a part of making them smile at the end of every career decision. As a Talent Partner to our TAPpers, one of the most fulfilling parts of my job is to guide and navigate their development goals through the frequent career conversations we have.

How would you describe your role in one word?

Astrina: Personalised. Each programme that I manage is catered to the target user’s needs, and every piece of advice I give to them is personalised to their challenges and capabilities.

Yanting: If I had to sum up my role in one word, it’s “empower”. I aim to empower TAPpers to navigate their career paths by supporting their growth. At the same time, I find empowerment in guiding their development and ensuring their success aligns with our organization’s goals.

Tell us more about TAP.

Astrina: TAP is an exclusive two-year talent programme designed for fresh graduates to build a strong foundation towards becoming a technology leader. The programme is open to all fresh graduates or those with less than two years of working experience. Our Smart Nation and PSC Engineering scholars will also get into TAP once they join us for full-time employment.

Through the programme, our TAPpers can gain exposure to multiple nationwide projects, network with different leaders and peers, receive personal growth and development opportunities, and give back to the community through #TechForPublicGood. The programme is meant to accelerate the TAPpers’ career and personal development, to nurture and develop them as a pipeline of talented leaders who embody GovTech’s vision and values. Through their fresh perspective and creativity, TAPpers can drive technological advancements and contribute to the nation’s digital transformation initiatives.

What is TM’s role in supporting the growth of our TAPpers?

Yanting: A big part of what we do is plan the development activities to support their growth! Each of our TAPpers’s journeys begins with the TAP Bootcamp, where we collaborate with the senior TAPpers to organise a series of workshops and sharing to help the new TAPpers assimilate into GovTech and their roles. This also instils camaraderie within their batch and among the senior TAPpers, creating a peer support network where they can help each other grow together. There are also engagement sessions with the senior leaders to build their network and learn firsthand from the leaders they may not meet in their day-to-day work. They get to gain a deeper understanding of the organisation and division’s vision, priorities, and what it takes to succeed in GovTech.

In building a strong foundation of leadership skills, there are also leadership training sessions that are based on The GovTech Way, which is our leadership operating system. On top of the formal learning, there are also other opportunities TAPpers can take up to apply and practice their leadership, such as being a mentor to interns, secretariat roles for strategic meetings, and joining other organisation-wide or division-wide committees.

Astrina: Our role also includes cultivating a culture of trust and instilling a growth mindset. We do so by organising frequent career conversations and mentorship.

Career conversations are held every quarter for us to conduct check-ins with our TAPpers. These conversations allow us to understand them personally and professionally, which helps us tailor to their individual needs and strengths throughout the development programme. All TAPpers are also paired with a career mentor from the beginning of their journey, allowing them to receive professional and technical guidance.

We plan each of our activities with GovTech’s overall Agile, Bold, and Collaborate culture in mind too:

• Agile: Proactive in upskilling themselves through taking up courses/certifications, rotations, work shadowing, etc
• Bold: Ambitious in their career growth as they progress towards becoming a Tech Specialist or Tech Leader within GovTech
• Collaborative: Aligned to our purpose on #techforpublicgood, working on cross-division projects and tasks

Is there a TAPper whose growth made a significant impression on you?

Yanting: Yes! One of our TAPpers started as a Software Engineer working on education-related products to support MOE. He continuously looked for ways to build his technical skills while sharpening his personal leadership skills. He proactively shared his knowledge with others and took on other responsibilities outside of his scope to expose himself to organisation-wide matters. We reciprocated his drive and hunger by supporting his career development, such as going for industrial attachment to gain experience working in the private sector and pivoting into a product management role.

How have these young talents evolved professionally over time in TAP?

Astrina: They are self-driven individuals standing before a corridor of endless opportunities, each door beckoning with promise. Our role is to guide them in discerning which doors to unlock and equip them with the necessary skills to strive on the path they have chosen.

Our TAPpers proactively upskill themselves by taking certifications and courses relevant to their job role while receiving guidance from their mentors and managers. On top of that, we also provide different professional and leadership skills to help them be better team players and reliable team members. Many of them evolved to be tech leads who can manage different stakeholders and meet project goals, while others find passion in managing teams and developing their team members.

What are some traits TAPpers should have, to help them excel and benefit the most in TAP development?

Astrina: Other than their technical skill set, TAPpers should be adaptable to constant changes and new technological developments. They should be open-minded to learning and growing in new environments, especially as they will be rotated at least twice across the organisation during the programme. Most importantly, they should be driven and proactive in taking on tasks and challenges. This will allow them to flourish, leverage the development programme we have provided for them, and apply the skills they have gained over the past two years in their career.

Yanting: Our graduated TAPpers have progressed quickly due to their drive to take charge of their careers. Many of them who challenge themselves to do above and beyond what they were required to do are rewarded with fruitful learning experiences, and they are now trusted to lead projects or even teams.

What advice do you have for aspiring TAPpers?

Astrina: When applying, think about what GovTech’s mission, “Engineering Digital Government, Making Lives Better,” means to you and how you can use your strengths and skill sets to realise that. That’s a way to envision yourself working in GovTech and see if that is for you.

Yanting: First and foremost, always be authentic and kind to yourself. Stay curious, and never shy away from asking questions. Look out for new skills and experiences to enhance your career growth. And don’t forget, networking is also key, particularly in the early stages of your career. It’s all about building connections and gaining insights from others in the field. I share these same tips with current TAPpers too!

Interested in becoming a TAPper?

If our approach to talent management is aligned with what you would like to have for your early career, apply to TAP! Find out more about TAP at go.gov.sg/TAP.