PIKOM Fuels Malaysia’s Digital; Economy under the PENJANA HRDF Initiative

The National Tech Association has been working closely with HRD Corporation to provide opportunities to Malaysians to reskill and upskill to meet industry needs.

As the business landscape evolves rapidly and amidst new norms in business and industry, PIKOM is collaborating with HRD Corporation in the PENJANA HRDF initiative to reskill and upskill the country’s workforce under the Place and Train Programme.

“PIKOM is very proud to be an industry partner of the HRD Corp under the PENJANA HRDF initiative. Under this initiative it is important for the workforce to reskill and upskill themselves as the industry is very dynamic in terms of technology changes and also new trends. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to HRD Corp for partnering with PIKOM in terms of local technology and talent development,” says Danny Lee, Chairman of PIKOM.

Danny explains that PIKOM has disseminated information and is continuously raising awareness among its members on this programme, enabling members’ new hires, under certain criteria, to be trained free of charge, funded by HRDF.

Under this initiative 10 organisations will offer jobs and skills training through five strategic pillars provided by HRD Corp. The five pillars include placement and training; skills enhancement and new skills training; small and mediumscale industries development (SME), B40 development, and ‘gerak insan gemilang’ (GIG). At the same time, together with HRD Corp, PIKOM is offering programmes for employers to train new hires.

These initiatives are targeted at jobless graduates, local workers, youths, SME business owners and their employees as well as Malaysians in the B40 and M40 groups. Ten organisations that have pledged their support towards this initiative and in providing 20,000 jobs to Malaysians, include PIKOM, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Brickfields Asia College, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, 7Eleven, AEON, Grab, Kelly and Care Concierge.

PIKOM Academy Chairman, Anthony Raja Devadoss says, that ICT companies are picking up their pace amidst the pandemic. He added that 30 days after PIKOM conducted a survey on employment needs, 100 ICT companies indicated that they are seeking to collectively hire approximately 1,000 more employees. The survey was done in response to PENJANA – the country’s short-term economic plan, as PIKOM collaborates with HRD Corp to fulfil the mandate of upskilling the Malaysian workforce.

To-date, courses conducted under the PENJANA HRDF include Project Management, Enterprise Architecture, Big Data & Analytics, Cybersecurity, e-Commerce, Design Thinking, ExO and Remote Innovation, Global Business Services Certification courses, CompTIA, Marketing Intrapreneur & UI/UX and Microsoft & Power BI.

PIKOM urges job-seekers to empower themselves and take control of their career by equipping themselves with marketable ICT skills. With more digital tech careers available in the current business environment, potential employees should harness the opportunities provided by the PENJANA HRDF initiative to enhance their knowledge and skills.

Currently, PIKOM Academy offers 10 training programmes on a monthly basis in relation to the PENJANA HRDF initiative, spanning Big Data, Cybersecurity & Penetration Testing Certification, Project Management, CompTIA Network Security & Cloud Certification, BCI & IOP Certification courses, e-commerce, enterprise architecture and ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Auditor certification, among others.