Public Service Commission Malaysia to reach out to Chinese youths
KUCHING: Poor expectations, negative stereotypes and lack of preparation are among the reasons deterring Chinese job seekers from entering the public service.
Public Service Commission Malaysia ( PSCM), Sarawak branch director Matthew Dominic Barin shared that Chinese make up less than 10 per cent of the public workforce in Malaysia.
“There are various reasons why the Chinese are unwilling or not interested to join the public sector and among them include continuing family business, pay differences in public and private sector, they are increasingly more enterprising and so on,” he revealed.
“Credit in Bahasa Malaysia ( BM) as the criteria is another limiting factor and key issue to Chinese people participating in the civil service,” he added.
Matthew highlighted this at a joint press conference with the Federation of Chinese Associations Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions at the federation’s office in Pending here yesterday.
The federation and PSCM Sarawak will jointly conduct a talk on opportunities in the public service on Aug 5 from 9am to 11.30am at the 3rd Floor of Bangunan Sultan Iskandar in Jalan Simpang Tiga here.
When prompted if negative stereotypes about the public service especially perception on prioritising Bumiputeras in recruitment sti l l play a role in discouraging Chinese youths trying to join the public sector, Matthew urged the Chinese community to forget the biases.
“There are still a lot of Chinese civil servants and we hope to encourage more Chinese youngsters to join the civi l service. Get rid of the old stereotypes, and apply to join the public sector,” he said.
“The talk is part of our activities to reach out to people in our diverse community. We want to focus on the Chinese community to attract them and boost their representation in the public sector,” he added.
Matthew pointed out that more than 20,000 employees leave the federal public service annually and it is essential to find replacement and fill these vacancies.
“There are more than 300 schemes in the federal public sector, offering an array of occupations at all levels, from basic to higher education qualifications including PMR, SPM, diploma, degree and higher,” he said.
Diversity and inclusion in the public workforce matters, Matthew added, emphasising that there are no race quota fixed in recruitment selection but competency, experience and attitudes actually matter more.
“Academic qualifications (are put) aside because when you are notified of an interview, it means you are qualified. People often fail because they lack preparation, which could reflect the lack of interest and professionalism of candidates. First impression, having the wow factor and how you carry yourself professionally are important aspect when it comes to work matters. Through an interview, we can tell if jobseekers are sincere, serious and have discipline,” he explained.
Reminding that only the best qualified candidates would get the jobs, Matthew said those poor in BM could improve the language proficiency by attending courses.
The federation vice-president Pemanca Ko Wai Neng urged the Chinese youngsters and jobseekers not to miss this rare chance to get to know the public service better.
“There are a lot of opportunities for the Chinese in the public sector, so go give it a try. We want the youths and also the students to join the talk so that they can have an in- depth understanding about working in the public sector,” he said.
Among the topics to be discussed at the talk are how to apply for positions in the public service, how to be an excellent candidate during interview and a senior officer Cornelia Wong will be sharing her experience as a professional in the public service.