AS the Asia Pacific region begins to see some economic recovery in various sectors, the employment rate also followed suit.
According to data from Statistics Malaysia, the unemployment rate of the country (as of September 2020) stood at 4.6%, which was an increase of 1.3% from the same period last year.
However, world’s largest professional network LinkedIn developed the Network Gap Alliance to help address those unemployed to face the barriers of finding new job opportunities.
“We see that those who have strong networks and connections are quicker to land (job) opportunities. On LinkedIn, 70% of professionals get hired at companies where they already have a connection. In fact, these job seekers are three times more likely to get the job if they are referred from a member of an organisation,” said LinkedIn managing director and vice president (APAC & China) Olivier Legrand.
To date, over 25 organisations across Asia Pacific from non-profit, private and public sector have signed up to be part of the alliance, pledging alongside LinkedIn to:
- Work with job seekers facing barriers, by showing them how to overcome the network gap
- Participate as coaches to guide job seeker’s career journeys, and help diversify job seekers’ network
- Be more inclusive in hiring more job seekers who are facing barriers
As part of the programme, and to bring employers and jobseekers together on the same platform, LinkedIn will be running six webinars under the Speaker Series, targeted at different groups of job seekers such as returning mothers, retrenched and mature workers, ex-offenders, persons with disabilities, underprivileged youths and COVID-19 graduates.
The first webinar (ran on Nov 24), targeted young professionals who will be graduating soon or have graduated during the COVID-19 crisis.
The webinars are open to professionals across APAC including Malaysia, and they can follow LinkedIn’s Social Impact page to be updated on upcoming webinars.
Meanwhile, L’Oréal (APAC Zone) vice president for talent acquisition Agnes Goh said: “The current climate has impacted many job seekers, especially fresh graduates who may face additional barriers in building their experience and networks that can advance their career.”
“If you are part of an organisation who would like to help, please join us as part of the Network Gap Alliance,” she added. – Nov 30, 2020
