Penang advocates talents, to explore high-quality job opportunities in the state
26 Sep 2020
Penang’s strong talent pool has long been a key driver in the state’s success in attracting strategic investments, especially in selected niche industries.
The state government recognises this endeavour in ensuring that local talent is identified, nurtured and developed to its fullest potential.
In its efforts to continuously attract the right talent to join the Penang workforce, the state government, though InvestPenang, has embarked on a public-private employment initiative with JobStreet, a leading online employment platform in Southeast Asia.
Through a 7-day virtual career platform, from 26 September to 2 October 2020, the Penang state government welcomes talents from all over the country to explore an array of exciting employment opportunities and to understand Penang’s thriving industry that opens up vast career growth.
At this virtual launch, entitled ‘Career Exploration Week: My Penang My Workplace’, the Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said the island state has attracted strategic investments in the past years, which translated into thousands of high-quality job opportunities.
He emphasised that the state government is focused in elevating the liveability stature of Penang, one of the key goals of Penang 2030.
Embracing the concept of Smart City, offering affordable housing, ensuring a clean, green and safe environment as well as mounting efforts in promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education are among the state’s collective efforts in making Penang the destination of choice for ‘Work, Live, Learn and Play’.
“We believe that this virtual platform will not only benefit active job-seekers but also our industries as companies are able to promote their employment branding and career opportunities for current and future hires.” Chow said.
According to the InvestPenang chief executive officer Datuk Loo Lee Lian, from January 2019 to March 2020, Penang attracted RM24billion of manufacturing investment inflows, out of which, 90 per cent are from the electrical and electronics, equipment and medical technology industries.
Particularly, Penang foreign direct investment (FDI) accounted for 34 per cent of Malaysia’s total FDI during the period, underscoring the state’s role in driving the country’s participation in the global supply chain, as well as multinational companies’ (MNC) continued confidence in the state as a conducive and sustainable investment destination.
Investments recorded in January 2019 to March 2020 are estimated to create 22,921 jobs in Penang.
Meanwhile, JobStreet country manager Gan Bock Herm said the job portal is constantly looking for ways to improve the experience of both employers and candidates.
“The pandemic has disrupted all industries and the way we used to work,” said Gan.
“As the Movement Control Order (MCO) is changing the way companies operate in order to survive and thrive, skills related to digital and information technology (IT) are highly sought after these days,” he said.
Gan said JobStreet is seeing demand for emerging roles like +data analysts together with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and digital transformation specialists due to the pandemic having accelerated the need for companies to move towards a digital first workforce.
“During MCO, our platform observed a drop in jobs offered across all industries. However, when restrictions were progressively loosened, JobStreet saw an increase in jobs offered of some 70 per cent compared to when the pandemic was at its height.
“As a result, job applications through our platform also increased accordingly in the past few months, an encouraging sign which shows that the economy is recovering,” Gan said.
He also said JobStreet employment platform has also been enhanced with AI, making it easier to comprehend what a candidate is looking for, and thereby routing them to the most relevant job opportunities.
“Our refreshed mobile app, also powered by AI, now comes with a new and refresh look. People who are interested in exploring and applying for new job opportunities are now able to use the app anytime, anywhere.” said Gan.
Gan also shared that, in recent months, JobStreet had embarked on the #WorkNow campaign which has helped over 20,000 Malaysian job-seekers connect faster and more efficiently with potential employers.
“The constant growth of Penang candidates, as well as other Malaysian candidates, in our database shows that we continue to connect candidate to their desired job,” said Gan.
The ‘Career Exploration Week: My Penang My Workplace’ platform is available from today until 2 October 2020 for job-seekers to explore career opportunities via exhibitors’ virtual booths.
It also offers insights into the employment market through various on-demand webinar sessions.
Source: NST
