MACHANG:The Human Resources Ministry will set up job vacancy electronic kiosks in all parts of the country in line with the Government's vision to provide an instant response to queries for jobs.
The first kiosk will be activated at the Bukit Bintang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur on May 24, to be followed with Penang, Johor Baru, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching on dates which would be announced soon.
Eventually, the entire country would have access to the electronic kiosks, Minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn says.
He said the operational cost for each kiosk would be RM80,000 annually and it would be placed at strategic locations such as shopping complexes to enable jobseekers to locate a suitable job at the push of a button.
The kiosks would be online only during office hours on weekdays,Dr Fong said after opening a job carnival programme at the Universiti Mara Malaysia (UiTM) Machang campus.
Dr Fong said the kiosk concept was decided upon after the cabinet ordered for a study on the matter last year.
It is based on a similar concept present in developed countries where such kiosks are placed at underground subway tunnels and public areas. Their functions are similar to ATM cash dispensing machines,“ he said.
Asked about vandalism, Dr Fong said during the peak hours of 5pm till 10pm, security guards manning public areas such as shopping complexes would be asked to pay special attention to the machines.
He said jobseekers could screen the various vacancies available and could call or e-mail details to employers who had uploaded their requirement for jobs into the electronic national job database.
The kiosks would be set up with the help of the manpower authorities. On another matter, Dr Fong said the Graduate Training Scheme which was introduced in 2001, had managed to find jobs for 30,000 young people.
The scheme to absorb unemployed graduates and retrain them on the finer points of job seeking including soft skills such as spoken English, was launched to address the increasing number of unemployed graduates.
Dr Fong said based on a survey, job positions which were in demand now were related to the Internet such as web designers and information communication technology (ICT) engineers.
In view of this, he said the ministry would focus on retraining the unemployed in such areas this year. He urged graduates to equip themselves with market driven skills and interpersonal strengths before entering the working world. |
