The Johor state government has vowed to make Johorian job seekers’ lives easier in finding jobs by creating a more efficient job matching system for the state’s Manpower department (Jabatan Sumber Manusia).

This was told by M Asojan, the state Executive Councilor for Unity, Human Resource, Science, Technology and Innovation to The Star on Monday.

According to him, one of the plans in the pipeline is to create a database of job seekers according to industry needs and specialization. And to be able for the state government to do that, job seekers are urged to register themselves with the manpower department.

Once the data is ready, it will be burnt into compact discs and made available to industry players. So if an employer who comes from a particular industry, e.g. Hotel or Hospitality is in need of employees, they can get the database CD of job seekers in the industry.

The database comes together with the job seekers contact details so that the employer can contact them directly.

Do you think this can work?

From my own experience, not really. In 2003, a local recruitment agency based in Penang published a periodical monthly magazine that listed down the job seekers with their contact details (and pictures too) so that potential employers can buy the magazine and contact them (think Motor Trader). After a few months, the publication was discontinued.

In the employment world, employer usually does not seek if the job seekers are interested to work with them, except when we are talking really niche or experienced professionals – this is where head hunting or executive search comes about. It is the other way round – the job seekers need to indicate their interest first, and send their job application to the employers.

Secondly, people who ‘drop’ their contact somewhere would soon forget it, get on with their life and the soon task of convincing them that they have put up their details somewhere can be intimidating. And finally, exposing your contact details will pose a threat to the many scammers out there who are peeping their opportunities to manipulate the loop holes, and then swarm their victims with plethora of junks.

Nevertheless, let’s give some benefits of the doubt and hope job seekers in Johor can find some benefits in this initiative.

Image: The Star

Tenaga Nasional Berhad or TNB, as we know it, is the largest electric utility and energy company in Malaysia having an employee size of close to 30,000 people to date. Their flagship service is the generation, transmission and distribution systems which serves a customer base of more than 7 million users.

Additionally, the company is also involved in the manufacturing of transformers, high voltage switchgears and cables, providing professional consultancy services, civil and electrical engineering works, architectural, property development, and research and development (R&D) work, mostly carried out through its subsidiaries.

Tenaga serves most of the customers in Peninsular Malaysia, and part of eastern Sabah (Sabah also has Sabah Electricity while Sarawak’s electricity is mainly supplied by Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation – SESCO).

Looking at their most recent financial result (TNB’s annual report 2007), which has shown steady increase in revenue, there’s every reason people can look forward to working with the company (Some also believe otherwise, especially when government linked companies are concerned – the choice is up to you). Tenaga, in the recent years, is also a recipient of multiple awards, which include the 2007 awards as follow:

• The only energy company in Asian short listed in the 5 finalists of Power Company of The Year in 2007 by Platts Global Energy Awards

• Best Investor Relation in Asiamoney’s Awards

• Silver Award winner to TNB’s Engineer Mr. Sazali Abdul Karim at the International Product and New Technique Exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland

• Gold Award for Best Emerging Contact Center, by the Contact Center Association of Malaysia

• Malaysia’s runner up for Best CFO by Finance Asia

Applying for Jobs in TNB

TNB provides a career page, where interested applicants can submit their application through the form provided by the company. The job application form is called Form 188 D and if the name does not sound terrible for you, the application form itself is in the Excel format. Transferring information from your resume may therefore be potentially time consuming. However, since my brother-in-law recently was accepted as an Engineer with TNB using the form, I guess this is one way that works.

The form is divided into 4 different parts, namely: the Position Applied, list of Employment History, Essay section, and General Information. While the first section (Position Applied) and the last (General Information) won’t be too much of a hassle to fill up, the Employment History and the Essay sections will definitely take up most of your time.

The essay asks you to ‘briefly describe about your personality, strengths and weaknesses in not more 200 words’. Based on the number of words required, the essay should not take more than 1 hour of your time to complete.

You can download TNB’s application form here. Upon completing your form, you can send it to career@tnb.com.my. Alternatively you can visit TNB Career Page here.

Image: Dynas Energy, TNB

Dear Sir/Madam,

It is with great interest that I am applying for the position of the Engineering Section Manager as was recently advertised by your organization in one of the prominent mainstream newspapers, The Moon.

I am a graduate from the National University of Ontahmano, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia in the field of Electronic Engineering, majoring in Instrument. Currently, I am attached to Fishball Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd since 2002 and presently hold a designation as a Senior Product and Application Engineer based in our main facility located in Sepang Hi-Tech Industrial Zone.

As a Senior Product and Application Engineer, I am responsible to carry out test and characterization of micro-sensitive sensors designed for office and consumer products such as laser and bubble-jet printers, camera, plotters and so on to ensure the products meet the technical requirements and specifications. Much of my daily work involved liaising with various different departments including the Research and Development (R&D), Materials, Procurement, Production and so on. While the challenges associated in dealing with many different groups can sometimes be overwhelming, I have benefited hugely from the exposure of communicating with different parties and handling many different issues and problems of various magnitudes.

As a result of my commendable interpersonal skill, I have been entrusted by my General Manager to undertake an extra role in dealing with key customers which are scattered around in many different regions, namely Vancouver and San Diego in United States, Tokyo in Japan, Shanghai in China, as well as Rembau in Malaysia. At times, I am required to travel to different parts of the world to meet new and potential customers, together with the senior management team.

Additionally, upon successful testing on newly developed prototypes, I will be tasked to oversee the development and completion of the associated white papers to be published in our official product specification materials. I presently supervise 2 junior Engineers, where part of my duties are to ensure a smooth transfer of knowledge and exposure to them, as well as fostering a competent workmanship within the team. Being a natural leader, I cultivate a healthy work culture within the team, and instill the values of integrity, prompt, professionalism, balance and passion towards work.

My complete CV or resume that underlines the details of my engineering credentials and accomplishments is attached for your perusal. I am very much thankful for your time reviewing my profile, and if there is a ground of opportunity for us to discuss further about a possible partnership, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

Thank you and best regards.

Yours truly,
Butang bin Sindarella

Whether you realize it or not, writing is an integral part of your career and good writing skill will take you far in your life. Performance appraisal, report, minutes, resume, cover letter and proposals are just some part of it. The higher the rank you climb, the importance of you having a good writing ability will become more prevalent. It becomes even more handy when you aspire to become an entrepreneur one day.

Every now and then you would be ask to help your company to organize events, conferences and trade shows for whatever objectives your company wishes to meet. Just like any other event, before it commences, there is the idea brainstorming part, the planning, the proposal development and eventually the execution. Writing a proposal is geared towards streamlining all the ideas and info gathered and present them in a documented and official way.

Actually to avoid scaring you away, writing a good proposal is not so much about having a skilful writing ability, but more on your capability to gather the right info at the right amount, and in the right place.

Below is a sample of proposal we used to develop before as a plan to organize a considerably big career fair exhibition in Melaka. It was supposed to be held on March 2008 but it did not happen as it clashes with the General Election. For anonymity purpose some details have been changed, and some content has been removed. Possibly the proposal will look a bit cacat with some key info removed but it will be improved from time to time, or replaced with a better one at some point.

You can use it as an example, but please take note that this is only the initial proposal and upon confirmation on few key elements, a proper, detailed proposal is to be developed.

The proposal is in the PDF format. Click here to download.