After being away from the workforce for some time and possibly losing touch with current industry trends, it is only natural to doubt one’s ability to compete with other job applicants, especially fresh graduates and those who have never left the workforce.
To address these concerns, Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) collaborated with several Malaysian recruitment companies to organise a one-month mentoring and coaching programme for women who are keen on making a career comeback.
Career Comeback Coaching Programme Recruiters’ Edition is an extension of a mini career fair held in August 2018 which saw the participation of seven recruitment companies and 70 career comeback women.
The programme aimed to provide career comeback women with career path clarity as well as the skills, knowledge, support and network to secure jobs. At present, six recruitment companies and 12 career comeback women participated in the inaugural programme.
Lee Ha Nnah, Consulting Manager at Capita, a Persol Kelly company, said they were looking for women who are genuinely finding it hard to get into the job market themselves.
“We wanted ladies who are in a difficult position and genuinely need help. That is our goal,” said Lee.
“We spoke to women from the list of participants that TalentCorp provided, shortlisted them and invited them for a face-to-face meeting. We told them the commitment needed, the agenda behind this programme and how we can help them through the process. For us, our selection is based on the positions that we have at the moment and we try to make placements according to the posts that we have. That is how we shortlisted the women – based on their previous roles and experience,” said Amy Andrew, Consultant at Michael Page.
Career comeback mentees underwent four two-hour coaching sessions with their respective recruitment company mentors for one month. In the first session, mentees went through a general introduction session and received coaching on career planning, goal setting and speaking confidently.
The second session focused on building employable strengths and skills, personal branding, turning negatives into positives and managing expectations. Mentees received financial management advice and were inspired by role models in the third session before making their individual pitches during the final session.