There are 10+ Career Conversion Programme pathways in Singapore, each with its own salary minimum, OJT duration, and eligibility rules. The right choice depends on whether you’re hiring or reskilling, the sector you operate in, and the scope change involved. This guide compares the options so you can match a pathway to your situation in minutes.
Three questions narrow the field quickly:
Across all pathways, the common ceiling is the same: up to S$45,000 in salary support per eligible placement, at 70% (standard) or 90% (SME-enhanced) of monthly salary.
You’re bringing in a mid-career professional from a different industry or function. The role is newly created or has been substantially redesigned. Most CCP pathways suit this; the “different job scope” pathway is a strong default if no sector-specific pathway applies.
A current employee is moving into a meaningfully different scope, with at least 50% change in job content. Most sector-specific pathways accept existing staff, with a shorter OJT (typically 3 months). The redesigned JD must show clear before-and-after.
You’re building or upgrading a function (digital marketing team, sustainability office, HR analytics) and need to bring in or convert several roles. Each placement is its own CCP application; sector-specific pathways usually apply.
Common pathways with their key parameters. Salary minimums and durations vary by sector. Full details on the pathways reference page.
Anonymised cases showing how the same firm could route different roles through different CCP pathways.
Pathway: Digital advertising & marketing
Why: The role’s scope sat clearly inside marketing capability building (analytics setup, paid media, regional campaign work). The digital marketing pathway’s OJT scaffolding fit the job description exactly.
Outcome: Application approved; documentation prepared end-to-end.
Pathway: Overseas markets
Why: The role had in-market execution responsibilities (country-specific commercial ops, stakeholder management). The overseas-markets pathway’s longer OJT window (up to 9 months) reflected the time needed to build market-specific capability.
Outcome: Application approved; structured documentation prepared end-to-end.
Both case figures are subject to WSG’s prevailing guidelines. Salary support up to S$45,000 per eligible placement.
Sometimes. A role with both digital marketing scope and overseas-market execution might fit either pathway. The right call depends on which OJT scaffolding more authentically reflects the actual capability being built. We work this through during scoping.
The “different job scope” pathway is the catch-all for new hires moving into substantially different responsibilities. It has the shortest OJT (3 months) and the broadest fit, but is new-hire only.
Most sector pathways accept both new hires and existing staff (with shorter OJT for existing). The notable exception is “different job scope”, which is new-hire only. For existing-staff redesigns, ESG/sustainability, HR functions, digital marketing, and overseas markets all work.
Longer pathways (e.g., biomedical manufacturing at 12 months) are constrained by the cap rather than the duration. A high-salary placement on a long pathway will reach S$45,000 well before the 12 months are up, with the rest of the OJT delivered without further reimbursement. We model this during scoping.
No. Each placement is its own CCP application with its own redesigned JD and OJT plan. Companies often run 2–4 placements in parallel; we structure them so each one stands on its own merits without copy-paste between them (assessors look for that).
For an existing staff redesign, half or more of the responsibilities should be new or substantially different from before. Pure title changes, minor tooling additions, or scope tweaks won’t qualify. We document the before-and-after explicitly so the scope change is visible to the assessor.
From the start of the OJT to first claim payout, expect roughly 3–5 months (3-month minimum OJT + 4–8 weeks for the claim cycle). Longer pathways pay out in tranches across the OJT period.
Practically, no, the pathway shapes the JD, OJT, and evidence. If something changes materially before approval, the application is usually withdrawn and re-scoped. After approval, the pathway is fixed.