Outsourcing Malaysia Programme To Widen GBS Talent Pool

• GEMS-SSO programme aims to improve employability of final year students
• Programme participants will gain professional certification as outsourcing specialists

THE Global Business Services (GBS) sector is growing and Malaysia can benefit from this, but only if it can produce enough skilled workers to meet demand – this is one reason why Outsourcing Malaysia started its Graduate Employability Management Scheme for shared services and outsourcing (GEMS-SSO).

GEMS-SSO is a joint initiative the industry association is undertaking with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp) to provide industry-oriented training to final-year undergraduates from local universities.

“The GEMS-SSO programme was conceived back in 2014 with TalentCorp, which funds the programme at no cost to students,” said Outsourcing Malaysia director Justin J. Anthony.

“Meanwhile, MDEC acts as the implementing agency and Outsourcing Malaysia executes the programme.

“The objective of the programme to increase the employability of fresh graduates, in line with the GBS sector’s talent needs,” he said during a recent graduation ceremony in Kuala Lumpur for the latest batch of GEMS-SSO graduates.

Under the GEMS-SSO programme, undergraduates undergo 10-12 days of intensive training in human resource or finance specialisations. Anthony said that if the programme continues, it will also look into other areas of specialisation such as IT and marketing.

The training is internationally certified and delivered by qualified trainers from the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), Outsourcing Malaysia said.

A student who completes the programme will be recognised as a Certified Outsourcing Specialist (COS) and will undergo a minimum of 10-weeks to six-months of an internship with a GBS company, which also opens the opportunity to full-time employment at this company.

Anthony said the programme has trained and placed over 250 final-year students as interns, who were subsequently absorbed into the industry.

GEMS-SSO has received support from local universities such as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Multimedia University, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Nik Izudin Nik Mohd Yusof, head of strategy and planning of the GBS cluster at MDEC, said that as of the end of 2015, there were 400 GBS companies operating in Malaysia.

This has resulted in the creation of 28,000 jobs, a number that is expected to increase in the coming years, he added.

News from Digital News Asia (DNA)