By Nasuha Badrul Huzaini
THE recently-concluded Selangor Mega Job Fair 2022 has received positive feedback from many participants who attended.
Held at the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) Convention Centre on June 11 and 12, the programme attracted 6,744 job-seekers who were offered a total of 20,921 jobs from 10 main sectors.
Among the sectors that offered positions at the state-level career fair were manufacturing, retail, food and beverage, finance, banking, insurance, logistics, consumer products, electrical, construction, environment, research technology and government agencies.
State executive councillor for youth and human capital development Mohd Khairuddin Othman said the mega fair acted as a platform to provide jobs from across many fields and to help the Selangor government reduce the unemployment rate in the state.
“For the next edition, the state government will take progressive steps to increase the number of employer participants so that more jobs could be offered,” he told Selangor Journal.
More options
Following the encouraging response, Mohd Khairuddin said the programme will be held again from August to September.
He said the venues for the fair’s next edition are yet to be decided but larger halls are needed to accommodate the crowds.
“The programme at the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) Convention Centre earlier this month was met with encouraging response, hence the planning for a future carnival.
“This time around, we want to involve more employers from various sectors so that participants will have more options,” he said.
Industry-specific fairs
Mohd Khairuddin said the state government is also planning to organise a career fair dedicated to the tourism and hotel industries, with the goal of filling 6,000 job openings in both sectors.
“Tentatively, the event will be held in the third quarter of this year following many requests from the aforementioned industries, including budget hotels, which are facing a shortage of workers.
“The requests have come from many hotel owners in Selangor. They do not have enough workers after the Covid-19 pandemic forced a halt in the sector.
“I have requested my officers to review the request and we will also be working with the state executive councillor for tourism to further boost the industry.”
Meanwhile, some of the employers who took part in the fair expressed their satisfaction because it provided them with a platform to promote their company.
Northport (Malaysia) Bhd’s Compensation, Rewards, and Industrial Relations head Fawzie Badli said within half an hour of the event, nearly 40 job applications had been received and he views that as something good for the company.
“We offered over 80 jobs, from general worker positions to executive-level ones. Moving forward, we plan to continue participating in state-organised job fairs as they help in finding quality workers,” he said.
Calling on youths
The Selangor government is always striving to bring down unemployment in the state. The figure currently stands at 3.2 per cent.
“The unemployment rate will come down to 2.6 per cent if all 20,000 positions offered at the Selangor Mega Job Fair 2022 are taken up.
“We are targeting between 5,000 to 6,000 individuals to successfully find employment at this fair. This is 30 per cent of the jobs available.
“I am confident that this can be met, as many come here looking for work,” said Mohd Khairuddin.
He said he is confident the state unemployment figure will remain at under four per cent till year end, and that he will endeavour to prepare platforms to help as many people as possible find employment. “I hope the people, especially youths, would take this opportunity and collectively increase the labour-power in Selangor,” he said.
Other opportunities
Apart from the Selangor Mega Job Fair 2022, there are two other career recruitment initiatives that have benefited Selangor citizens, namely Selangor Kerjaya and the Job Care Roadshow.
Launched by Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari on January 26, 2021, Selangor Kerjaya is a talent management and manpower programme that aims to benefit 10,000 job seekers in the state.
The initiative by Menteri Besar Selangor (Incorporated) or MBI hopes to drive the people’s economy via suitable and effective career matching.
MBI chief executive officer Norita Mohd Sidek said the programme has helped 1,400 individuals get employed since January last year. Meanwhile, the Job Care Roadshow was launched on February 26 by the Selangor Workers Empowerment Unit (Unit Pemberdayaan Pekerja Selangor or UPPS) in collaboration with the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
It serves as an initiative to assist low, medium, and high-skilled workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its chief coordinator, S Vijayan, said a total of 15 local companies participated in the programme, which offered approximately 3,000 employment openings across a range of industries. “The programme has helped 641 people to get jobs in the manufacturing, ports, logistics and shipping sectors,” he said.
This article first appeared in the Selangor Journal monthly July edition, published on July 3, 2022.
