Work calls

DURING his second year in Universiti Putra Malaysia, Michael Tan and his friends proposed a part-time job website in a young entrepreneurs’ competition. The idea was inspired by the countless recruitment text messages Michael received during the March 8 general election last year.

His team did not win the competition, but its idea caught the attention of one of the judges, Gerard Lim, who helped it set up YourPartTime.com last year.

An entrepreneur at heart, Micheal took a year off his studies to focus fully on the business.

“I’m the only one in my year who dropped two semesters to run a business; all my coursemates are graduating in April.

“My parents are supportive of me when I told them I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Now that I have a mentor in Gerard and business partners, I have to sacrifice a year for this,” says Michael.

His sister Janet quit her job selling luxury cars to join him. The two of them meet clients and market their products.

Meanwhile, Michael’s other business partners, engineering students Lee Jia Fuh and Chin Je Mein, handle things like checking resumes, writing newsletters and managing the website. Both are still studying.

YourParttime.com offers a platform to match job seekers and employers. With about 500 employers offering jobs in seven job categories, and some 7,000 job seekers on their list, the one-year-old company is growing quickly.

On April 9, the company will be officially launching Project Revitalise, a collaboration with MCA’s ICT Resource Centre (MIRC) and xTrain to provide re-training and subsequent part-time job matching for job seekers.



But the project is not targeted at job seekers alone.

“We want to introduce and educate employers on the benefits of hiring part-time workers. It lowers their costs and increases productivity. Many retrenched and unemployed people are looking for jobs, and we play an important role at this time,” Michael explains.

“We have a search-and-shortlist team to do the checks before we submit a list of potential employees to the employer. It’s our value-added service,” says Michael, adding that they call up the employers on a monthly basis to get their feedback.

Their long-term aim is also to build up a database of quality job seekers who wish to work part-time for a longer period.

YourPartTime.com also has a star rating system for employers to rate employees, and vice versa. Job seekers are invited to attend soft skills development and resume writing seminars to boost their employability.

The team also conducted a soft skills seminars for graduating students at a college last year. Michael believes that tertiary students have plenty of time to set goals for their life and have the resources to achieve them.

“Education is important in developing analytical skills. You have to also explore what the industry wants and pick up interpersonal and communication skills,” he says.

Venturing into business for the past one year has been a fulfilling adventure for Michael. But he may have to cut down on the business meetings and running around for a while. He’s going back to university this July.

Taken from http://rage.com.my/writeups/story.asp?file=/2009/4/2/whatwedo/20090401164528&sec=whatwedo