Is this appropriate?

A Company, via its HR Manager, issued an official apology on their employment advertisement.

The Manager of the Human Resources and Administration Department wishes to personally express his remorse and sincere regret and unreservedly apologize...

Questions arise:

1. Why is the HR Manager has to personally apologize on behalf of the Company? Should the Company, as a corporate entity, apologize?
2. Should the Company extend such apology to all women in Malaysia well? The ad also segregates gender by preferring only male candidates
3. Why can't the HR Manager learn to draft a proper job specification from the job description (after the job analysis exercise)?
4. Can a Company make a pure assumption based on religion, race (or whatever superficial prejudices) in their hiring practices? e.g. all Muslims will not be interested to work in "pork-retail-facility"? Or, all Hindus will not be interested in serving beefy Big Mac? Or, all Manchus are against eating dog meat? Or, all Jains are vegetarians?
5. And the big Q - How about the statement "Bumiputra are encouraged to apply"?

Where is the line?

Annual Leave (Vacation)

For the last umpteen years, I have never try taking my annual leave in a long stretch. Maximum is a week (five working days), I think.

Next week, I will take a whole month break for my summer vacation.

And, I will buy that blackberry...

I promise.

The Curse of Palestine "State"

The "state" was created by our grandfathers' blunders more than 60 years ago. They have created it based on greed - materialistically, politically & spiritually.

Then, they failed.

Failed. And failed again.

Just like corrupted unionists.

Now they want to pass the burden of their "curse" to us.

How convenience?

Annual Check Up

http://www.tribune.com.ng/07062007/hlt1.html

1. ... at least once a year (especially those are above 40 years old)
2. Annual medical check-up in two phases:
   
   

• Clinical or physical examination
• Laboratory test

GM's DIET

Sometime a small HR initiative can snowballing into a different kind of animal. I do not know why?

At least in my organization. The magnitude has mounting tremendously yesterday. This week is a prize-giving week to the lucky ones. Thus, everybody is talking about it - the weight-loss-diet-program introduced by GM.

"I lost 5 kg within a week. I feel good about myself..." said Mrs. Datin, who, in my humble opinion, remains exactly the same in size 20 as of last month.

"It is good for cleansing toxic from your body!" proclaimed Mr. Topper from the Operations Department. The problem is, Mr. Topper smokes like a dragon. Not as angry dragon, though. No pun intended ya. He is my kind of guy i.e. accidentally-left-your-lighter-somewhere-else kind of guy. He is my man... (different story nanti)

Only one way to determine the truth. I will enter the contest myself for the September drawing.

And, if it works, I will have a six pact & a good chance of winning that SPA trip. If not, business as usual...

Watch me

Taste of my Dream - Part III

September 2004

When I listened to Pak Lah during his budget presentation that Friday, I felt 'terpanggil' to do my national service. Sort of ‘giving something back’, in a less honorable manner.

After all, his administration appears to believe in individual’s true capability rather than the mere clocking years of service. Everyone is mentioning Oxford graduates, towering personalities, Ethos Consulting, Azman Mokhtar, young & bright, all – if possible, in a same sentence. So, yours truly sent three letters detailing my intention to work for them and offering my so-called “competent services” to:

1. PMO’s Office. – Attention to Pak Lah for the obvious reason. I wanted to work at the fourth floor, or at least at the NEAC secretariat with Tok Pa at that time. For one, I am an avid fan of the West Wing; and my ambition is to be a Josh Lyman!
   
2. Khazanah Nasional. – Being entrusted to spearhead Malaysian national coffer, AMOK is a good role model to all young & restless like me. I was inspired to work with the ‘world-class’ employees – managing their careers would be my ultimate challenge and dreams.
   
3. XX – Dato’ Z is my role model since 1992. I was assigned at the Chase Manhattan building – opposite of SHELL House. To be a successful employee in a multinational oil & gas Company is a daunting task, to say the least. For a simple reason: it is an engineering-dominant working environment. I knew this because I used to work in American Oil Company (AMOCO) before. Being a woman like her (with legal background) and be appointed as a Deputy Chairman, you ought to multiply her adversities by 100 (on a fair day).

So the hunting began…

The Setiausaha Politik Kanan to Pak Lah replied to my request, promptly via a standard letter. I reckoned Pak Lah is receiving tons of such letters. The setpol is politely suggested that I should send my application to SPA who manages all recruitment exercise on behalf of government. Hey, I knew that. I studied the whole JPA structure remembered?

There is no reply from Khazanah Nasional. Shame on them.

Out-of-the-blue, I received a call from a true gentleman named Kula. He asked me to come over the XX to have a chat with him. Wow, so efficient and focus. The interview process went quite well. Kula is a very good listener, asking all tough questions and answering all my stupid inquiries.

Then, within a week, came the big day – a meeting with Dato’ herself. She went beyond all my expectations – from professional and leadership perspectives. She asked direct but difficult HR questions from strategic perspectives. She asked me on my expectations. She asked me on my motivations. She was focused on the HR deliveries and key performance indicators. She understood HR well.

May 2007

I got this opportunity to meet Dato' Z again. This time under a different scenario - although not yet an equal footing.

A bit awkward, but all in all it is a positive development.