Moments V2-trial C.compressed

M O M E N T sA BIANNUALLY NEWSLETTER OF IRSHAD HR CONSULTING SDN BHD Volume 02
Q2/2017
Shaping the future workforce

COO’s View

BRIDGING THE TALENT GAP THROUGH
GRADUATE EMPLOYABILITY
ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMME

According to 2017 Hays Asia Salary Guide, 97% of employ- 2. Profiling of the graduates
ers in Malaysia are still struggling to find the skilled individu- The best-case scenario is when the profile of the candidates or
als they need. The report further revealed that 69% of graduates is fully matched with the requirements of the employers.
employers in Malaysia are concerned they don’t have the However, in many cases, some of the criteria cannot be met by the
right talent to achieve current business objectives and some candidates. Thus, a further gap analysis should be done to identify
48% of employers in Malaysia believe skill shortages have suitable interventions.
the potential to hamper effective business operations this 3. Competency-based training
year. In August 2017, Malaysian Higher Education Minister The graduates or candidates must be developed by using a
reported that there are still more than 50,000 unemployed competency-based learning and development model. Competency
graduates, especially those with the degree of business models of the target position need to be developed. The current
administration, social science, pure science and art. It means competencies of the candidates need to be assessed. Training mod-
the demand for the skilled individuals is there, but some of the ules must be focused on the development of the required compe-
available candidates, including the graduates, do not have tencies by using action or practical approaches such as simulation,
the required competencies as expected by the potential role play, and practical exercises.
employers. 4. On-the-Job training
Since 2016, Irshad HR Consulting (IRSHAD) has been involved Classroom training normally makes up of only about 10% of the
in implementing graduate employability enhancement required learning hours. Based on the 70:20:10 learning model,
programme including Skim Latihan 1Malaysia (SL1M). To 70% of the time should be allocated for the development of the
date, more than 10,000 unemployed graduates have been competencies in the work place. The candidates or graduates must
trained and assisted by IRSHAD with the success rate of almost be given suitable and relevant tasks or work activities that can
90%. Based on our experiences in implementing the really develop their required competencies.
programmes for the past ten (10) years, we believe graduate 5. Readiness of the Employers
employability enhancement programme such as SL1M can be The readiness of the employers to employ the candidates who are
a very good intervention to bridge the current and future less competent but with high willingness and potential to be devel-
Talent Gap for the Companies in Malaysia. In order for the oped for better performance is very critical. From our experiences,
graduate employability programme to be effective and meet there are many candidates who have a gap in terms academic
the requirements of the industry, there are several actions that achievements but managed to develop himself or herself towards
need to be taken: becoming a better achiever, when they are given the opportunity.
1. Talent requirement analysis 6. Commitment of the Candidates
Employers must be willing to share their talent needs and At the end of the day, the commitment and willingness of the candi-
requirements in a more specific manner. The profiles including dates or graduates to go through the mill are very critical for the
the attributes, qualifications and skills of the candidates must success of any graduate employability enhancement programme.
be clearly defined by the employers. This will help the They must be proactive, willing to take new challenges, and willing
programme implementers to recruit and select the right candi- to learn in order to unleash their potential and talents.
dates for the employers. nd talents.

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MOMENTs Volume 02
Q2/2017
Editor’s Note

“Skills and talent shortage will be one of the biggest challenges for Quote
Malaysian employers this year.” As quoted from The Star article, it mentioned that
the employers will be facing the biggest challenge of recruitment and retention of “Talent without discipline
talented employees for this year. Based on Hays survey, 54% of employers in is like an octopus on
Malaysia tried to combat skill shortages by upskilling their employees, while 40% roller scates.”
improved their attraction strategies, and only 6% took no action for over the last -H.Jackson Brown
12 months. This means all employers are sensing the heat of the challenges and
strategizing the best path to overturn it into a positive attitude. Therefore, in this Inside...
issue, we are going to highlight the significance of the challenge and what is the
impact of such behaviour to our industry in our COO’s View.

In addition, to inculcate the culture of reading within our organisation, we
also introduce a new section, “Book Review”, that will be presenting the summary
of a book chosen by the reviewer. For a start, the books titled “Finding The Next
Steve Jobs” and “KNOW HOW – The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform
from Those Who Don’t” have been readied for your plate. Also as usual, we are
going to display our internal and external past and future events in iHR Highlights.
We hope you will be enjoying this issue as it will give you the insight of the HR
challenges that we need to tackle on for our prospective clients.

Moments’ Team COO’s View
Page 1
Advisor
Hj Ahmad Raji Yaakub Book Reviews
Page 3
Editorial Members
Nor Ra dah Duaji Colloquy
Page 4 - 5
Editorial Members Editorial Members iHR Highlights
Sha ah Ahmad Raji Puti Arifah Khairuddin Page 6 - 12
Interlude
Editorial Members
Nurul Ashikin Rahmat Page 13

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MOMENTs Volume 02
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Book Reviews

Having involved in the recruitment activities recently under Some interesting insights discussed by Bushnell when looking for
Graduate Employability Enhancement Programme triggered employees are to ignore credentials, hire the obnoxious, looks
this recruiters instinct in me that made me chose to buy this for the lurkers, demand list of favorite books, ask odd questions
book. while doing deep interview, comb through Tweets and much
In the case of Finding the Next Steve Jobs, the observations on more.
how to hire someone with the traits of Jobs are provided by While reading through this book, I came with a question, “Can
Nolan Bushnell, the man who hired Jobs himself. This book jobseekers or fresh graduates read this book?” since after all, it
explains how to find, keep, and nurture the people who could contains a bunch of ideas on how to act like a creative. People
turn your company into the next Atari or the next Apple, or we like these are called ‘the poseurs’. They will use this book as a
can say, the creative talent. guide to being a phony; which usually shines during interview,
Do not expect the book to be about Steve Jobs, the book is but once hired, a letdown to the company. Bushnell can’t actually
simply about hiring and keeping talent or creatives. This book try to stop jobseekers from keeping their hand off this book so
might focus on creative talent, but not only creative company he advices the employer to be wary of poseurs and he shared
like gaming and design need a creative talent, right? PROFESS several tips on how employer to recognize them in Pongs number
Consulting Group also needs a bunch of creative talent! As 18; Beware of the Poseurs. Nonetheless, in my opinion, jobseeker
mentioned in the book, the business world is changing faster can use this book as a reference to improve themselves, but not
than ever, and every day our company faces new complica- to the point of bluffing and be someone they are not.
tions and difficulties. The only way to resolve these issues is to I could not put into words on how many my favorite topics are in
have a staff of wildly creative people who live as much in the this book. My rating will be 4/5 since I love how Nolan Bushnell
future as in the present, who thrive on being different, and transferred his insight and real life experience into writing, even
whose ideas will guarantee that our company will prosper though few things might not seem to be applicable to some of us.
when other companies fail.
Bushnell wrote 52 “pongs” or rules which make up two sections. KNOW HOW - The 8 Skills
Section one: Finding and Hiring the Next Steve Jobs and Finding the Next Steve That Separate People Who
Section two: Keeping and Nurturing the Next Steve Jobs. From Book Name Jobs Perform from Those Who
these sections title, we can already conclude that this book’s Don’t
basic readerships are the HR personnel, recruiters, business Book Author Nolan Bushnell with Gene Ram Charan
owner and people who want their company to be more Publisher Stone
creative.
Headline Publishing Group Crown Business

Year Published 2013 2007

Know-how is what separates leaders who perform — who deliv- Rating 4/5
er results — from those who don’t. It is the hallmark of people Reviewer Muslihah Mohd Razali Salim Mohamed Badri
who know what they are doing, those who build long-term intrin-
sic value and hit short-term targets. The Eight Know-Hows
What gets in the way of finding people who can perform is the Here is a breakdown of the eight know-hows:
appearance of leadership. All too often people are chosen for
leadership jobs on the basis of superficial 1. Positioning and Repositioning: Finding a central idea for
personal traits and characteristics. Certainly intelligence, business that meets customer demands and that makes money.
self-confidence, presence, the ability to communicate and having
a vision are important. But being highly intelligent doesn’t mean 2. Pinpointing External Change: Detecting patterns in a complex
that a person has the knack for making good business judg- world to put the business on the offensive.
ments.
Personal attributes are just one small slice of the leadership pie, 3. Leading the Social System: Getting the right people together
and their value is greatly diminished without know-how — the with the right behaviours and the right information to make
eight interrelated skills that bring leadership into the realm of better, faster decisions and achieve business results.
profit and loss.
We need leaders who know what they are doing. Change is 4. Judging People: Calibrating people based on their actions,
always with us, but its current magnitude, speed and depth are decisions and behaviours, and matching them to the non-
unlike what most executives and managers have experienced in negotiables of the job.
their lifetime.
A Google-type company can come from nowhere and grow into 5. Moulding a Team: Getting highly competent, high ego leaders
a multibillion-dollar business in a few short years, becoming one to coordinate seamlessly.
of the world’s most highly valued companies. However, along-
side such huge opportunities, there are also pitfalls that can 6. Setting Goals: Determining the set of goals that balances what
swallow up whole companies and industries. the business can become with what it can realistically achieve.

7. Setting Laser-Sharp Priorities: Defining the path and aligning
resources, actions and energy to accomplish the goals.

8. Dealing with Forces Beyond the Market: Anticipating and
responding to societal pressures you don’t control but that can
affect your business.

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MOMENTs Volume 02
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Colluquy

Let’s look at the famous incident in 1912 – the sinking of Titanic. The vessel was the

strongest built during its time with state of the art equipment and technology. Much

fanfare preluded its maiden voyage drawing attention from all walks of life includ-

ing the rich and famous. Investigations showed that a series of decisions and design

issues contributed to the sinking after hitting an iceberg. “How do
skill
Looking deeper it was basically due to human factors. Could it be human error? If yes
shortages
what were the contributing factors in the chain of processes. Were the employees affect
business
technically competent or being at the mercy of things beyond their control? What
operation?”
about the Management Team? Were they not looking at the relevant details of strat-

egy and operations and plug the holes. Was it a mere act of god?

As in the case of Toyota, they were plagued with mechanical issues on some models

necessitating expensive recall of the cars for repair and parts replacements. From

one angle Toyota has maintained high integrity level as a producer and managed to

pacify customers-dissatisfaction to a certain extent. The recall also helped to

minimize the dent in market share. Among the contributing factors were the accelera-

tor pedal and onboard computers fitted into cars were not functioning well. Let us

now ask the question – what does the job flow and process effectiveness level (are

they adequate or updated to suit with changing technology or car model changes) or

has the design team performed up to expectation (do they have the required compe-

tencies to do a good job)? On the production and operations sides - have the crew

been following the Standard Operations Procedure (SOP) and have the SOP been

reviewed based on changes in the market.

Looks like many things are pointing the HR as a resource involved at various level of

the process in the above examples. Corporate Culture

With all efforts in place, we need to consider sustainability by creating a

corporate culture which is people focus and continuously developing

niche competencies with a view of high performance at all times. In the

longer term, we can we can realistically hope to build institutionalized

capability in the organization. This means that the general and specific

skills and competencies prevail among many (relevant staff) and not just

a select few which could hold the company to ransom. Organizations

could still prosper despite changes in ownership, employees mix or oper-

ating in new markets e.g. Apple continue to be innovative and Virgin

Airlines continue to be customer-friendly. All employees would be focused

in achieving company objectives as they feel that they part of the contrib-

uting team.

With the above in mind, HR would be able to help achieve this by

proposing and implementing policies and strategies in line with business

Hj Rosli Abd Hamid targets while at the same time giving due recognition to employees. Their
Consultant need addressed such as the need to be informed of the business devel-
opment and their respective roles.
Irshad HR Consulting

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MOMENTs Volume 02
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Colluquy “How can recruiters play their roles in tackling skills
shortage through recruitment?”

Surveys show that in 2017, employers are facing greater challenges due to shortage of talented and skilled
employees in the market. The recruiters can play their roles in tackling skills shortage through recruitment.
Being the recruitment consultant or advisor, the recruiter must equip himself and become highly skilled and
knowledgeable recruiter. This kind of recruiters are most sought after by the job seekers especially poten-
tially best talents and skilled employees.
The recruiter should know how to utilize the advanced social media and marketing tools to find best candi-
dates either unemployed candidates or to attract working talents to change job with another employer. In
order to fulfil the expectation of the employers for skills and good talents, the recruiter must really study and
understand the real job needs and the most suited talents for the job.
The recruiter must play his important roles by evaluating applicants through discussions on job requirements
and applicant qualifications with managers and interviewing applicants on consistent set of qualifications.
The recruiters must do recruitment for the soft skills rather than the tech experts. Nevertheless, the recruiter
must familiarize himself with the latest technologies and currently required technical skills by the employers.
The recruiter shall take initiative to develop a kind of company website or webinar that may attract the skills
and talents in the market. The website become the meeting place for the talents in any particular subject
matters.
The recruiter must start to look for the talents from the outside of the normal talent pool. This could be to
recruit disable employee with special talent.

Ashri Che Hussin “In your opinion, what is the main factor that
Consultant, Irshad HR Consulting threathens the retention of skilled staff?”

Employee retention is without a doubt one of the greatest challenges facing organizations today. Several factors influence an employee's reten-
tion with trust is one of the most critical. According to the American Psychological Associations 2014 Work and Well-Being Survey, employee
distrust is pervasive in today's workforce. Based on the survey's findings, nearly 1 and 4 workers said they didn't trust their employer and only
about half feel as though their employer is upfront and open with them.

As mentioned, trust isn't the only factor at play here. The evolution and rapid growth of workplace landscape hasn't come without several
economic and regulatory changes. Layoffs, job insecurity, revised budgets, and benefit cuts have indeed taken their toll on the employee-em-
ployer relationship. On one hand, we've got job-seekers and employees going on about how difficult it is to find and keep a job, and on the
other we've got employers stating how difficult it is to find and keep good employees.

A recent article by Susan M. Heathfield touches on the fact that the Baby Boomer generation (ages 40-58)
with a population of 76 million will soon retire and it's successor, the Gen Xers (ages 25-34), will only bring
44 million available workers to the table. Less people available for work means more need for employee
retention.

By the year 2018, many employers may see as many as five generations working side by side. This is due
to many factors including the shaky economy and healthier, more active seniors. Multiple generations work-
ing side by side in the workplace not only affects the make-up of an organization, but also how these same
organizations address engagement, values, sustainment, tenure, and build towards the retention and transfer
of institutional knowledge. Today, as Baby Boomers prepare for retirement, some Gen. X'ers and many
Millennials are not remaining employed in one organization long enough to learn from their older
colleagues. As a result, the institutional knowledge, history, and business continuity possessed by the veterans
and Boomers might vanish with little or no knowledge being retained by the Gen. X'ers and Millennials. The
failure to retain and transfer institutional knowledge could result in a steady increase in employee turnover
and further loss of institutional knowledge, translating into higher costs and lower institutional efficiency.

Nadia Hendrawati Harsani - Consultant, Irshad HR Consulting

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MOMENTs Volume 02
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iHR Highlights

One of the major factors in the success of

an organisation’s operations is effective

leadership. For an excellent organisation,

having a dynamic and responsible supervisor is

a must. Supervisors need to be sensitive to

changes and are exposed to the best and latest

practices. With that, the National Supervisory

Convention (KPK) is established. KPK 2017 Konvensyen Penyeliaan Kebangsaan
continues its tradition of recognizing the (KPK) 2017
importance and role of supervisors with the theme, “Kreatif, Produktif, Kolaboratif”.
“Kreatif, Produktif & Kolaboratif”

As a brand, KPK is the largest field of supervisors to share their knowledge and best practices in the field of supervision.

The program started from August 22nd to 23rd at Premiera Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. 68 participants from 28 organisation joined

the convention. Among the organisations joined are Malaysia Automotive Industry, SAJ Ranhill, Felda D’Saji, Honda Malaysia and

Institute Teknologi Petroleum Petronas.

Manpower Audit for Organisational Excellence Profesionalisme Dalam Penampilan Diri & Etiket Sosial
3-5 May 2017 8-9 May 2017

Sri Suasana DBKL, Port Dickson Quality Hotel City Centre, Kuala Lumpur
Haji Ahmad Raji bin Yaakub Haji Ahmad Shukri Bin Muhammad

Strategic Succession Planning & Talent Management for Organisational Success RHB : Cascading Leadership Competencies Workshop
16-17 May 2017 2 - 3 August 2017

Premiera Hotel, Kuala Lumpur Premiera Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Hj Othman Hj Mohd Khalil Hj Rosli Abd Hamid
www.irsh
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MOMENTs Volume 02
Q2/2017
iHR Highlights

Competency Assessment Workshop for PDRM Functional Competency Assessor
15 – 17 May 2017

Maktab Polis Di Raja Malaysia
Hj Ahmad Raji Yaakub

Seminar on Integrated Approach for Next Generation Recruitment and Irshad HR Consulting Hari Raya Open House 2017
Talent Acquisition 24 July 2017

20th July 2017 - Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur Riverside Majestic Hotel, Kuching, Sarawak
Mr Mehul, Hj Omar Ariff and Mrs Jess Chong

Personal Retreat for Inspiring Strategic Manager (PRISMA) Focus Group Discussion
25-26 July 2017 Khazanah Nasional SL1M GREEN (Batch 5)

Premiera Hotel, Kuala Lumpur Part 2 - On-the Job Training (Johor Port)
Hj Rosli Abd Hamid 11 August 2017
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MOMENTs Volume 02
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iHR Highlights

Nano Malaysia Competency Development Workshop Presentin
17 – 18 July 2017 Jabatan P

Renaissance Hotel Kuala Lumpur

Conducting Learning Roadmap Workshop for Leadership Conducting Competency Based Interview (CBI)
Institute Sarawak Civil Services (LISCS) Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam Negeri Sabah (JPANS)
15 – 16 August 2017
JPANS 16 – 17 August 2017
Hj Omar Ariff Omar Farouk

Sinergi Ke Arah Kecemerlangan Harwood Timber
5 - 7 August 2017

Borneo Tropical Rainforest, Miri
En Shamsul Bahri Mohd Yusoff

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MOMENTs Volume 02
Q2/2017

ng on Overview of Competency Dictionary Kamus Kompetensi Perkhidmatan Awam Negeri Sabah
26 July 2017 Congratulations to Human Resource Consulting team for

Perkhidmatan Awam Negeri Sabah (JPANS) the long hours to put in to produce this treasure!

Kursus Pemikiran Strategik (Strategic Thinking)
22-23 May 2017

Department of Islamic Studies, Jabatan Pengajian Islam Brunei Darussalam
Facilitator: Hj Ahmad Raji Yaakub

had.com.my Achieving Learning Organisation Workshop & Strategy Implementation Programme
2 - 3 August 2017

Institut Perkhidmatan Awam Brunei Darussalam
Hj Ahmad Raji Yaakub & En Azahar Mamat
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MOMENTs Volume 02
Q2/2017
iHR Highlights

Teambuilding Supervisory Development Programme Build Up Learning Organisation Get Things Done
21 - 22 February 2017 and Knowlegde Management 29 - 30 August 2017
Johor Port Group Institut Perkhidmatan Awam (IPA), Brunei Hotel Preimera, Kuala Lumpur
Sairul Rhymin Mohamed
Haji Shamsul Bahri Mohd Yusof 17 - 19 Januari 2017
Haji Ahmad Raji bin Yaakub

Internal Events

"Raikan Ramadhan 2017" "Awesome Ramadhan 2017"
Tazkirah Semarak Awal Ramadhan Menjelang Syawal

31 May 2017 COO Irshad, Tn Haji Ahmad Raji Yaacub
CEO Profess Consulting (Tn Hj Mohd Adam Mohd Said) 23 June 2017

Communication Day and Iftar www.irsh
PROFESS GROUP CONSULTING

15 June 2017
Ruang, Shah Alam
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MOMENTs Volume 02
Q2/2017

Hari Raya Celebration Hari Raya Celebration Congratulations Mr Safwan & wife!
Irshad HR Consulting Irshad HR Consulting Assalamualaikum everybody meet Safwan Jr

28 July 2017 28 July 2017 “Raihan Muhammad Safwan”
Training Room Irshad Training Room Irshad 6 Auguts 2017

Hospital Shah Alam

Thank you and may Allah reward your services...

GOODLUCK to you as you move onto the next stage in your life. Without a doubt, you will continue to have
SUCCESS in all areas! All the best and congratulations!!!!

To : Muhammad Nasrul Syahmi Mohd Nasir , Amirul Naim Mahmud & Shafiah Ahmad Raji

Happy Birthday Irshad HR Consulting! Page 11
23rd August 1988

Celebrating 29 years of excellence!
May Allah bless all of us

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MOMENTs Volume 02
Q2/2017
Upcoming Events

1. SAJ – Coaching Finance For Non Finance on 11-12, 13-14 Sept 2017
2. IPA, BRUNEI-Using Key Performance on 26-27 September 2017
3. DBKL – Coaching Manpower Audit on 12-13 September 2017
4. PAAP – Project Management Group 1 on September 2017
5. HARWOOD TIMBER – Synergi Ke Arah Kecemerlangan on 12-13 September 2017
6. SAJ – Communication and Interpersonal Skill on 29-30 Oct,

31 oct – 1 Nov 2017
7. SAJ – Quality & Productivity Improvement group 1 & 2 on 8-9 Nov,

15-16 Nov
8. SAJ – Coaching Quality & Productivity Improvement group 1 & 2 on

6-7 Dec, 12-14 Dec 2017

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MOMENTs Volume 02
Q2/2017

Interlude

Riddles...

1. Two men are in a desert. They’re both wearing backpacks. One of the men is dead. The men who is alive, has his
pack open. The dead man’s pack is closed. What was in their packs?

2. The manufacturer doesn’t need it, the buyer doesn’t want it and the user doesn’t know that they’re using it. What is it?
3. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain in the world?
4. There is an abandoned aquarium in an empty house. The aquarium has three large fish and three small fish. But after

a week, one large fish and two small fish die. How many remain in the aquarium?

Answers: 1. A parachute, 2. A coffin, 3. Still Mount Everest. Just because it wasn’t discovered didn’t make it any smaller, 4. Six, since no one is there to remove the 3-dead fish

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