In order to streamline the hiring process better, the Public Service Commission (PSC or SPA) plans to introduce recruitment profiling to get the best possible candidates for job vacancies in the public sector.

According to PSC Chairman, Tan Sri Jamaluddin Ahmad Damanhuri, the new, improved hiring process will not only look at the candidate’s academic qualification, but goes beyond to assess their personality, attitude, aptitude, competency and skills.

Once launched, the recruitment model will come with 3 main modules – paper examination, assessment and finally interview. Only candidates who pass the stipulated criteria in all 3 modules will be hired.

PSC, or more popularly known as SPA (Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam) was established more than 50 years ago (1957 to be exact) to act as a gatekeeper between the government offices and people who wish to join the public service. The PSC is also responsible for the appointment, promotion, transfer and disciplinary action of the government employees.

At the moment, Malaysians wishing to apply for government jobs will have to fill up the SPA form, which is available online and selected premises (e.g. post office), and once shortlisted, the candidates will be called for interview or assessment, depending on the type of position he or she applied for.

There’s a healthy development in the government job sector where more and more non-Malays are showing their interest to serve in the public sector.

However, whether this will translate into more non-Malays occupying positions in the government and the public service is yet to be seen.

According to the statistics released by SPA (Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam), the second half of 2007 saw an increase of close to 300% of job applications from non-Malay applicants, as compared to the same period in 2006. Between July to December 2007, the amount was 47,253 applications whereas for the same stretch in 2006, only 12,020 applications were recorded. The Chinese applicants increased from 1,347 to 5,421, the Indian increased from 1,953 to 6,113 while the rest jumped from 8,720 to 35,719 applicants. Salary hike was said to be one of the determining factors that drive the non-Malays applying for government jobs.

SPA’s Chairman, Tan Sri Jamaluddin Ahmad Damanhuri emphasized the body’s commitment to take in employees from more diversified races into the government, a statement which is not so new. Earlier this year, the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that the PTD (Pegawai Tadbir dan Diplomatik) position is now open for all races. (Read article: PTD Post Now For All Races for more details). SPA expects to take in 45,000 new government servants for year 2008.

Currently, SPA and the relevant ministries are actively processing new applications for the first half of the year, in order to fill up more than 16,000 active job vacancies, for 16 different positions. Out of the 16, the most vacancies come from Assistant Enforcement Officers (Pembantu Penguatkuasa) with 638 vacancies, Pegawai Tadbir dan Diplomatik (PTD) – 525 vacancies, Assistant Administrative Officers (Pembantu Pegawai Tadbir) – 500, Engineers – 468, Vocational Trainers – 278 and Fire Brigade Officers (Bomba) – 127.

Figures credit to: Utusan Malaysia.