13 Talent Development Programmes Successfully Implemented

24 April 2010, By IRDA

A total of 5,000 participants involved

Johor Bahru, Saturday 24th April 2010 – The community of Iskandar Malaysia is definitely beginning to reap the benefits of the region’s development, with some 5,000 participants involved in the implementation of 13 talent development programs here.

These programs part of Iskandar Malaysia’s social development program to develop the human capital in Iskandar Malaysia.

IRDA Chief Executive Ismail Ibrahim said the programs were the result of collaborative efforts between Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) with various Government agencies and industry partners.

“There are 65 initiatives under the Iskandar Malaysia Human Capital Development Blueprint and 13 of these are talent development programs – all of which have successfully been implemented since last year.

“These 13 programs are divided into 3 categories, namely pre-employment training, skill upgrading and re-skilling training and entrepreneurship training,” he said at the launch of the inaugural Iskandar Malaysia Career Expo (IMCE) 2010 at Danga City Mall today.

The main focus of the pre-employment training, Ismail said, was to expose participants to actual skills needed by industries and organizations in the working skills and these included soft skills such as communication, presentation and interpersonal skills.

Some of the programs implemented under this category are the Iskandar Malaysia Graduate Leadership Assessment and Development (IMGLAD) program and the Youth Development Program (BERTAM).

Meanwhile the objective of the skill upgrading and re-skilling training programs were to train up existing workforce to enhance their competency, which would in turn, increase productivity and career opportunities for the participants.

Some of the programs successfully implemented under this category are such as the Skill Enhancement and Employability Development (SEED) programs and Project Management Professional (PMP) program.

Entrepreneurship training programs, on the other hand, are aimed at individuals who wish to explore entrepreneurship opportunities especially in the Small Medium Industries and Enterprises (SME and SMI) and other supporting services to the promoted industries in Iskandar Malaysia.

The programs successfully implemented under this category are the Contractor Development Programme (CDP) and Fundamentals Industrialised Building System (IBS) Skills Development Programme.

“Besides these talent development programs, career fairs such as the IMCE 2010 are also the recommendation under the Blueprint to facilitate job matching between companies and job seekers in Iskandar Malaysia,” said Ismail, adding the IMCE 2010 was set to be an annual event for Iskandar Malaysia.

Some 50 companies and organizations offered at least 2,500 vacancies across a wide range of employment positions at the IMCE. Themed ‘Advancing Careers, Enriching Communities’, exhibitors were from Government Agencies, Multinational Corporations and Privately Owned Companies and jobs range from junior to managerial levels.

Jobs available were from the 9 promoted sectors in Iskandar Malaysia, namely Financial Services, Logistic and Related Services, Educational Services, Creative Industry, Leisure and Tourism, Health Services, Electrical and Electronics, Petrochemical and Oleochemical and Food and Agro Processing.

In addition to offering jobseekers the chance to discover a world of employment opportunities, IMCE also hosted a series of career talks by experienced industry personnel in Iskandar Malaysia on topics ranging from 'Resume Writing', 'How to build a Successful Career' to ‘Interview Tips’. There was also a career counseling session.

The IMCE, organized by IRDA in collaboration with JobsMalaysia Centre was held at the EXPO Hall, Danga City Mall, on 24th and 25th April 2010 (Saturday and Sunday) from 10am to 6pm. The event will be launched by Labour Department Director-General, Dato’ Sheikh Yahya Sheikh Mohamed.

About IRDA
The Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) is the regulatory authority mandated to plan, promote and facilitate the development of Iskandar Malaysia into a strong and sustainable metropolis of international standing, where living, working, business and leisure converge seamlessly.

For media inquiries, kindly contact Puan Marsha Tan at 019-777 8475 or Encik Ghazali Musa at 019-754 5115