Entries from February 2009 ↓

Western Digital Malaysia has delayed plan to close its factory in Kuching, Sarawak amid an ongoing talk of a possible takeover by another multinational company.

It wasn’t crystal clear which company is interested in the buy-out, but one possible candidate is Hitachi. Hitachi, a Japanese conglomerate, is in the midst of expanding its storage business. It recently acquired Fabrik Inc., a privately owned supplier of storage solutions.

The world’s second largest hard disk drive maker has been on the limelight since announcing their decision to make a complete exit from the Sarawak operation on December and announced a major retrenchment involving some 1,500 workers. The spokesperson cited drop in demand and slow production activities as the main reason of the plant closure.

The company’s other plants in Malaysia are left intact, although there were talks of small layoffs.

If the acquisition materializes, there will be no closure of the plant and it is highly unlikely that mass layoff will occur. There would be some restructuring of the organization, but the retrenchment figure, if there is, is expected to be relatively small.

The company’s Kuching plant is located in Sama Jaya Free Industrial Zone and was one of the earliest electronic investors in the state.

The Penang chapter of The Star Education Fair 2009 is coming up this weekend. The event will take place at its usual venue, Penang International Sports Arena, PISA on Saturday, 28 February and Sunday, 1 March 2009. The KL version was done last January in KLCC, Kuala Lumpur.

More than 30,000 thronged the last year’s event, and more is expected to come this time around.

As the job and employment market, particularly in the northern area are looking somber, more and more people are considering pursuing higher studies to ‘buy some time’ and hope that things will get better as the years go by. These include students who have just completed their degrees, as well as working adults who are looking for re-entry into full time studying.

Visitors would be able to see a variety of courses available in the offering, talk directly with the event exhibitors, as well as solicit information pertaining scholarship and educational fund. There are in fact a number of scholarship providers who will be attending the fair. The two well known are The Star Education Fund, and the British Council.

Event details:

Event: Penang The Star Education Fair 2009
Dates: 28 Feb and 1 March 2009
Venue: Penang International Sports Arena, PISA
Time: 11am – 7pm

There are 45,000 job vacancies waiting to be filled in the government and civil service. These vacancies do not include those in the enforcement bodies (e.g. police, army etc) as well as in the teaching profession.

The staggering figure was released by the Senator in the Prime Minister’s Department, T Murugiah, who would be discussing with the Public Service Commission (JPA) on the recruitment and hiring plan by the government to fill the positions.

At the very least, the revelation will come as comforting news to tens of thousands of job seekers in the country. With bad economy, many private companies have been forced to cut their operating expenses and layoff their workers. A significant number of others have also closed down.

To many, during these trying times, securing a job with the government is akin to discovering a gold mine. A few weeks ago, the Human Resource Minister Datuk S Subramaniam disclosed the fact that the recruitment of non-Malay civil servants will reach a significant number in the near future.

The various job vacancies available at the moment are mainly due to promotional exercises and retirement factor. Apart from that, there are also government offices and departments which are restructuring their organization, giving rise to the needs of new headcounts. A small number of ministries will see an increase in the manpower demand in the next one or two months.

The job market down in Singapore has not been at its most vibrant recently partly due to bad economic condition, but this does not stop two joint organizers from holding a career fair and offer job opportunities to job seekers in the next 2 weeks.

Dubbed as Singapore’s largest career and education fair, the Career & Education Fair 2009 will be held in Suntec beginning on 5 March and ends on 8 March 2009.

Organized by the Singapore Professional Center and IIR Exhibitions Pte Ltd, and with the support from the education ministry, the event will feature various jobs and educational programs to visitors. There will also be scholarship opportunities up for grabs for those pursuing their tertiary education in the country.

Better yet, the number of job vacancies which will be offered during the fair is expected to reach 10,000 jobs, double than that offered in the same job fair last year. Out of the 10,000 job vacancies, some 10% would come from the engineering field.

Details:

Event: Singapore Career & Education Fair 2009
Date: 5 – 8 March 2009
Venue: Suntec Singapore