SkillsFuture Singapore ( SSG) stated after FirstCom Academy was suspended for three weeks because of its marketing techniques that education providers may not provide incentives for people to recommend others to enroll in classes.  ,
This is against SSG’s conditions for training companies, the expert said in response to CNA’s concerns.
A former FirstCom employee who worked with instructors claimed that these incentives included complimentary food and products as well as shopping vouchers.
A consultant who previously taught FirstCom Academy courses at the college sent CNA an email from 2022 mentioning the bank’s referral program. For each new person they referred, it provided 20 % of the training fee to the trainers.
SSG received people opinions, so FirstCom Academy has been under inspection since earlier this year.
The education company was made aware on November 27 that they would be fired from January to March 2025 due to concerns relating to the use of a referral program for promotion.
Besides subsidies for recommendations, the academy also offered tickets for Google evaluations.  ,
In exchange for purchasing tickets, the former staff and the original trainer showed CNA slides requesting course participants to write reviews.
In response to CNA’s queries, SSG said on Monday ( Dec 2 ) that such practice is unprofessional.
It told CNA,” We highly discourage opportunities in exchange for favorable reviews on websites like Google, as it goes against expert conduct.”
Companies should continue to review and improve our advertising guidelines so that they can clearly promote their services without inducing learners.
As of Dec 9, FirstCom Academy has close to 50, 000 testimonials, with a 4.9-star score. The business features its Facebook standing on its site, describing itself as the “most publicly-reviewed instruction academy in Singapore”.
The business claims to have a “proven track record of ensuring our educators stay competitive in the current work market” on its profile section on the Skillsfuture website.  ,
It cites the reason for this as its great Google ranking from tens of thousands of learners.
When contacted by CNA, FirstCom Academy declined to comment.  ,