Sabah jobseekers can be choosy

There are plenty of jobs in Sabah which is booming despite a global recession. At a career expo on December 11 at the Sabah Trade Centre in Kota Kinabalu, more than 2,000 jobs were offered by 60 companies and government agencies. But employers said jobseekers were either choosy or they didn’t fit their bill.

The expo was by far the largest since it was launched three years ago by the Sabah ministry of resource development and information technology which also started the Sabah Job Center at the same time. Since then, the expos and the job centre have helped thousands find jobs. The job centre has registered 11,311 jobseekers and 537 employers.

Dr Yee Moh Chai, the minister of resource development and information technology who opened the expo, said it was the best platform for companies to find employees. “This is also an opportunity for jobseekers to learn more of job opportunities in the market,” he said.

Dr Yee said his ministry was studying and planning for the need of human resources from 2011 to 2025 particularly for the Sabah development corridor (SDC) which would create 900,000 jobs over 18 years. He said a study on the ICT blueprint for 2011-2025 was expected to be completed next year.

The Sabah government has been in the forefront in creating jobs for Sabahans by spending big on infrastructure, industrial, rural development and new business and investment initiatives. Besides the SDC, the government is also developing Lahad Datu into a mega port city that may become the “Rotterdam of the East”. Rotterdam is Europe’s biggest port.

Jobs offered at the expo ranged from managerial, sales and marketing, clerical and technical in services such as hotel and catering to manufacturing, plantations, construction and the civil service.

Employers said there were still many jobseekers who applied for jobs that they weren’t qualified for.

Sutera Sanctuary Lodges had 50 vacancies in the front office, housekeeping and food and beverage departments. “Most of them who applied for jobs are form five school leavers,” said its human resource manager Henry Balenting.

“We will interview the candidates immediately if they have all their documents required for job application,” he said. “But most of them do not have these. So we can’t interview them.”

Jadleh Sinur, 20, from Kampung Pinolobuh, Kota Belud, was a jobseeker at the expo. He quit his job as a quality control supervisor at Pac Worldwide in Shah Alam in peninsular Malaysia to work at his parents’ rubber plantation.

He was looking for a job or a course that would help him become a successful businessman. “I just need a basic course to start with,” Jadleh said.

Martha Petrus, 26, of Papar, was looking for a job. She graduated from the Mara University of Technology with a bachelor degree majoring in finance. Before coming to the expo, Martha said she had applied for several jobs in the government as well as local business. “I’ve attended interviews. So far, I’ve not received any replies,” she said.

Martha said she had applied for a few jobs at the expo. “I expected to be interviewed immediately. But the companies said they would let me know in two weeks’ time whether they would call me for an interview,” she said. – Insight Sabah

                                  – With reporting by Jacqueline Gom

Related stories:

The Lion comes wooing

Big spending, rich goals

Sabah booms amid a global recession

Palm oil fuels mega port city ambitions