Kerjaya Sukses Sdn Bhd, the local partner of global HR consulting firm BTI Consultants, launched its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative in direct support of three (3) key segments of the workforce – a) Retrenched Workers, b) Single Mothers/Women Returning to the Workforce, and c) Unemployed Graduates.
According to Kerjaya Sukses’ Chairman, Tan Sri Datuk Seri Azizan Ariffin, this CSR initiative is in response to the nation’s existing talent gap that has been aggravated by the current ‘soft’ economy.
Tan Sri Azizan said, “Findings have shown that the country is losing out on critical talent found in unemployed graduates, retrenched workers, and female labour participation. These categories of individuals are very valuable talent resource but due to economic circumstances have been misplaced.”
Kerjaya Sukses’ CSR initiative is aimed at addressing the talent and human resource issues that are related to national interests, by leveraging its close partnership with major talent consultancy firm BTI Consultants.
Three categories of individuals that stand to benefit from the CSR programmes are:
- Category A -High School Leavers or Unemployed Graduates;
- Category B -Executives undergoing a Career Change or in Transition;
- Category C – Single Mothers or Women Returning To Work.
Tan Sri Azizan pointed out industry trends and research showed that employees in Malaysia are increasingly concerned about job security.
The number of Malaysian professionals fearful of losing their jobs has more than doubled since the fourth quarter of 2014. A survey found that 13% of Malaysian employees were worried about their job security in 2015, compared with 6% in the previous year.
The total number of retrenched workers have been rising year-on- year since the third quarter of 2014, according to Maybank Research findings. Retrenchments in the oil & gas sector has been on the uptrend since the second half of 2014 and accelerated in the first quarter of 2015.
At the same time, services industries like finance, insurance, business services, transportation, storage and communications also showed up-trends. The Malaysian Employers Federation revealed that 26,000 people were retrenched in 2015 and more expected this year; while the Human Resources Ministry said, in January this year 5,009 workers were retrenched.
With regards to university graduates, the Human Resources Ministry has found that about 50,000 undergraduates who flood the job market annually end up unemployed yearly. According to the Minstry, between 2010 and 2013, unemployed female graduates outnumbered their male counterparts. In 2013, there were 53,282 unemployed graduates, of whom 35% were males and 65% females.
The specific and tailored-made programmes will address the different needs of these identified segments in facing the current challenging economic climate and will be offered free of charge as part of Kerjaya Sukses’s ongoing courses to help those in need navigate their career challenges.
Alignment into Opportunistic & Growing Sectors
Kerjaya Sukses’ CSR programme is also very much in line with TalentCorp’s initiatives to enhance talent availability and employability especially among women and undergraduates.
While Malaysia, through TalentCorp, has put in place various initiatives to harness and increase the female talent participation to 59% by 2020 in line with the country’s transformation into a high-income economy; employers still lag behind in capitalising on the untapped female talent pool.
“Our programmes are aimed at helping to align and redirect the three key targeted workforce segments into growth industries that have a need for talent. Despite the ‘soft’ economy there are many industries such as shared services, e-commerce and project management with employment opportunities and that are hungry for talent,” adds Tan Sri Azizan.
Programmes Offered
Among the programmes that will be offered free of charge are:
- Resume Writing
- Interview Skills
- Effective Networking Skills
- Financial Management
- Thinking On Your Feet
“We are passionate about coaching others to achieve their full potential and we take pride in doing all we can to ensure the people we support are enabled to make career changes that will suit their life choices and background,” said Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin.