PSC Headhunting In Varsities

PETALING JAYA – The Public Service Commission (PSC) is going straight to universities to look for top talent under a new meritocracy-based and fast-track recruitment system.

The search netted 21 graduates, all with first class honours from both local and foreign universities.

They comprise 18 bumiputra and three Chinese engineering graduates who will report for duty at the Works Ministry.

Under the talent search, PSC headhunters approached top university students right after their final exams and offer the top students jobs on the spot.

“This is a new approach for us because we are tackling the problem of getting the best brains by going straight to the universities,” said commission chairman Tan Sri Mahmood Adam, who added that no race quota was imposed.

Last week, the first batch of 26 graduates, some of whom had only completed their final examinations early this month, were interviewed by the commission and immediately offered jobs.

Mahmood said the commission could identify potential high flyers much earlier than private sector recruiters because it had closer links with public universities and foreign ones which had Malaysian students.

“We aim to get to the students and offer them jobs before the private sector does,” he said, adding that the new recruitment method would operate alongside the present system in which applications are processed within two weeks to a month.

Mahmood explained that the racial composition for the first batch was mainly bumiputra because the commission focused on a small pool of students and universities in its first attempt. The search would be widened in the future.

Mahmood said PSC’s efforts to get more non-bumiputra to apply were beginning to bear fruit, with non-bumiputra applications increasing by about 4% in June compared to the corresponding month last year.

It was reported that Malays made up 80% of the 1.12 million applicants for posts in the public service sector last year, with Indians making up 3% and Chinese 2%. The rest were from Sabah and Sarawak.

Steps taken to increase the number of non-bumiputra in the civil service included putting up advertisements in the Chinese and Tamil newspapers as well as conducting interview sessions at night and on weekends.

Applicants were also given the opportunity to choose up to 15 positions instead of the previous five in their application forms. – The Star Online

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