AUGUST 29 — It has been predicted that there are likely to be 92 million digital jobs worldwide by 2030, up from 73 million now. Technology waits for no one. It is constantly evolving. Hence, skills, especially digital skills, have become the currency of today.

As such, in today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the paradigm of what constitutes valuable talent has shifted dramatically. Gone are the days when a paper qualification was the sole determinant of a candidate’s worth.

We are already on the cusp of an intelligent world, where everything is connected. As this reality unfolds, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry will require high-quality talent with innovative ideas and technological capabilities. These talents will drive the future and those who possess interdisciplinary skills will be highly sought after by large- and small-sized companies alike.

Lifelong learning

At Huawei, we are only as strong as our people. Our talents go through a stringent selection process that goes beyond paper qualifications. Once selected, they will be guided by a mentor and will be acclimatised to the company’s core values and culture.

Hiring a candidate is not our only priority, retaining that talent is of equal importance.

Over the years, Huawei has been recognised as a popular employer, not only because of the way we treat our employees but also due to how we grow together with our workforce, evolving, learning and developing side by side.

In recognition of our human resource practices, we have been honoured to be named Champion of Malaysia’s Most Preferred Employer in the Electronics category by the GRADUAN Brand Awards in 2023 — an award we have clinched for two consecutive years.

We also have the distinction of being among the Graduates’ Top 1 per cent Choice of Employers in the Talentbank Graduates’ Choice Awards 2024. In addition to that, Huawei Malaysia also received acknowledgement and honours in the HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2023 awards and the HR Asia Digital Transformation Awards 2023. These prestigious awards underscore our dedication to creating an inclusive and dynamic work environment.

We believe in continuous learning. Every Huawei employee is required to complete a specific number of hours a year on our own massive open online courses (MOOC) platform called "iLearning” to continually enhance their knowledge and skill sets. The courses on our platform range from soft skills, cross cultural understanding to professional technical ones such as network configurations. ILearning is a one stop learning, training and examination platform with courses curated, designed and taught by Huawei employees, renowned professors and external industry experts.

We also believe in giving back. We also want to cultivate talent for the nation. That is why we have 39 ICT Academies to date in public and private institutions of learning in Malaysia. These academies are a partnership between Huawei and higher learning institutions around the nation. Through this partnership, the academy delivers Huawei ICT technologies training, encourages students to get Huawei certification, and develops talents with practical skills for the ICT industry and the community.

That is not all.

The ICT Academies fall under the purview of the Huawei Asean Academy and we have already exceeded our target of producing 50,000 digital talents in Malaysia by 2025, with 54,000 talents already cultivated thus far.

Malaysia: Towards becoming Asean’s digital capital

Covid-19 drastically changed working norms and gave the digital agenda a shot in the arm both in Malaysia and on a global scale. We believe that Malaysia has strategic advantages to grow into a regional powerhouse for the digital economy and is extremely well-positioned to take advantage of emerging technologies.

A multicultural and well-educated workforce endows the nation’s talent pool with a diversity that has the distinction of being almost unrivalled in the region. Other interesting demographic factors include a high literacy rate, a balanced male-female gender ratio, a strong pipeline of skilled young talent.

To become a leading talent destination, organisations will have to work hard on growing and retaining talent. Closing the gap between skill set requirements and market demand remains a high priority. That is where academia-industry partnerships become crucial to ensure what is generated is actually what is needed.

An enabling environment for talent growth is critical to steer Malaysia towards being the region’s "digital tiger”. For an organisation, success is built on the foundation of a healthy, thriving workforce that is ready to face the future. For a nation, industries, fuelled by its people, are its strength.

Going digital is no longer a choice but a necessity. It is not technology that will replace jobs, it is the people who know how to utilise this technology that will do so.

As they say, charity begins at home. We started at our workplace and we replicated this beyond our walls. We built talent alliances, developed talent standards, while improving skills and promoting the value of talent. Ultimately, we want to build educational, industry and public talent ecosystems to improve the digital skills of societies, as well as to develop technologies and industries.

We cannot do this in silos. Let us work together to build and strengthen this ecosystem, and accelerate the positioning of Malaysia as the Asean talent and digital capital.

* Choh Yau Meng is human resources vice president of Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.