Story by Amanda Khong
THE second edition of the Career and Open Interview Carnival was held on April 10 from 10am till 5pm at Vistana Hotel, Penang.
The theme of this year’s carnival is ‘Industry Looking for Talents’ and 11 companies set up their respective booths to offer some 800 career opportunity the different fields in the main function room.
Deputy Chief Minister I, Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon was the guest of honour for the opening ceremony of the carnival along with other respective guest such as the President of SME Association of Seberang Perai and Managing Director of PenExpo Events, Francis Wong, Treasurer of SME Association of Seberang Perai, Leong Yook Kheong, and MBPP Councillors Gan Ay Ling and A.Kumaresan.
“Admist this period of soggy economy, we have to be even more proative in our effort to find better and suitable jobs. Nowadays being a university graduate does not guarantee you a job, let alone success in your career. Career expos such as today’s are very effective platforms in helping undergraduates, postgraduates or generally people whose career had struck a rock,” said Rashid.
Rashid also added that the objective of these career expos is to offer solid information to the visitors about job vacancies and trending market movements.
Every year there are over 200,000 fresh graduates from institutions of higher learning and amazingly every 1 out of 4 struggles for a job for months. In addition, from the total of some 400 thousand jobless people, 35.3% of the suffering bunch are degree holders.
“We need to constantly upgrade ourselves with new sets of skills and knowledge to ensure that we are at par with out competitors. It is a fast paced world where our competitive advantage is “K-Economy” oriented, hence it is high time that we wake up and smell the coffee,” advised Rashid.
This year’s career expo showcased well known companies such as Jabil Circuit, ASE Electronics (M), Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM), Jinko Solar Technology, Panasonic Automotive Systems Malaysia, Pamarit Malaysia, Sri Bayan PLT Skills Training Centre, South Island Garment, Teampme Corporation and Vistana Penang.