Hundreds throng Swinburne Sarawak career fair

KUCHING – The recently held career and employment fair at Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus attracted as many as 500 graduates and students, making it one of the most successful for the university.

Thirty private and public companies including those based in West Malaysia and ranged from diverse industries took part in the one-day event.

This is the fourth career fair to be held by the university.    

“This is our biggest and most successful career fair so far,” said Haji Hussain Taiban, Registrar and Director of Student Operations at Swinburne Sarawak whose department organised the event.

“This is a service we provide not only to our own graduates and students but also to those from public institutions to meet their prospective employers,” he said, adding that it was also opened to members of the public.

Also patronising the fair to secure jobs and internships were graduates and students from UiTM and Institut Latihan Perindustrian.

“For next year’s event, we hope to bring in even more reputable organisations,” Haji Hussain said.

Some of the big names at the fair included Mott MacDonald, Toho Titanium, RHB Bank, UMW Toyota, and Selangor-based Symphony BPO Solutions.

“The response has been very good. We have a lot of enquiries and a number of applications. The students and graduates here speak good English. We are also looking for those who speak Japanese, Korean and Mandarin because some of our clients are from those countries,” said Rajendran Sit, human resource manager for Symphony BPO Solutions, a management solutions company.

“This is the first time we are participating (in the fair). We will certainly come again next year.”
Professor Ken Heskin, the Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne Sarawak, said that the fair was a platform for graduates and employers to meet.

“We value the engagement of the companies with Swinburne Sarawak and the feedback they provide so that we can prepare our students for the workplace,” he said.

“Swinburne Sarawak graduates are well regarded. When I was walking around the booths I was impressed with how well some of these companies knew our students.”