Recruitment and Selection Practices in PETRONAS
Background of the Company
The petroleum industry is one of the richest industries in the world. In Malaysia, the petroleum industry is under the stewardship of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS). This company which was initiated by government holds the supreme rights of the hydrocarbon resources, which is found in Malaysia. This company is involved in a various program, which includes upstream exploration and production of oil and gas to downstream oil refining; marketing and distribution of petroleum products; trading and so much more (Petroliam Nasional Berhad, 2015).
According to the official website of PETRONAS organization, there were only 15 staff and just two phone lines in the year of 1974. Then, they started their performance from the office of the Prime Minister’s Department in Jalan Dato’ Onn, Kuala Lumpur back in 1974. Later, PETRONAS launched their first Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in 1976 and modified the concession system governing oil exploration and exploitation to the more equitable PSC system. Thus, it’s indicating the responsibility of PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd. Beyond their role as an operator; they embarked on exploration and merchandise activities with the incorporation of PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd in 1978. Finally, in 1981, PETRONAS had their own merchandise in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur which is happened to be their first gas station ever. During 1984, HQ had moved to Kompleks Dayabumi. In 1985, the organization had started the first exportation of fertilizer and liquefied. Later in 1990, PETRONAS had the first overseas operation in Myanmar.
PETRONAS organization has been growing to a massive international gas and oil company. Its merchandise was attentive in thirty-five different countries. The group enclosed 103 owned subsidiaries, 57 joint companies, and 19 outfits at the end of March 2005. Finally, at 31 August 1998, the 42 years of Independence Day of Malaysia, they chose to move into headquarter place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
PETRONAS Products and Services
PETRONAS provides customer-centric and sustainable solutions that enables businesses to improve their environmental footprint. One of their products and services is refining natural gas that is full of impurities through a complex industrial process to produce pipeline-quality dry natural gas. The sales gas, which comprises of mostly methane, is supplied to the power, industrial and commercial sectors while ethane, butane and propane are supplied to petrochemical plants as feedstock.
Gassing Up and Cooling Down (GUCD) is a specialised service by PETRONAS that displaces the inert gas from a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) vessel’s storage tank, which is then cooled down to cryogenic temperature (-160°C). GUCD is required for LNG vessels, typically post dry dock, before the vessels’ next cargo loading. Their GUCD services are available at the Regasification Terminal in Pengerang, Johor.
Besides, with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) 2020 global sulphur limit coming into effect soon, demand for LNG is growing faster than ever. This has encouraged ports around the world to develop LNG Bunkering, a type of facility which transfers LNG to a ship for use as fuel. Compared to other traditional fuels such as marine gas and diesel oil, as well as heavy fuel oils, LNG is considered a superior marine fuel due to its various significant environmental benefits.
As a progressive energy solutions partner, PETRONAS Energy & Gas Trading (PEGT) takes pride in offering alternative access to natural gas through its new LNG trucking business. This is an effort to create a cleaner and more sustainable environment by promoting natural gas as the fuel of choice. LNG sourced from the Regasification Terminal in Pengerang (RGTP) is set to be transported via trucks to off-grid customers located away from the main pipeline, as well as to small-scale customers. This new initiative for transporting of LNG via trucks can also be the model to facilitate gas conversions for industries.
Besides, PETRONAS provides the process of carbon dioxide purification that’s emitted into the atmosphere through chemical, as well as oil and gas operations, for use in many industries and applications, especially in the Food and Beverages industry.
Recruitment and Selection Practices
Malaysian and Western-oriented developed countries
Generally, there were little differences between the selection practices of the different categories of business organizations operating in Malaysia and the developed countries. The Malaysian managerial selection practices resemble the practices in the Western-oriented developed countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. When compared to Japan, a developed Asian country, however, an important difference may be identified in the selection policy or strategy. While Japanese corporations seldom hire outsiders for higher level positions and prefer to train their own personnel in preparation for managerial position in the future, Malaysian organizations followed the Western practice of leaving the door open by selecting their managerial personnel from internal sources (through promotions from within the organizations) as well as by selecting and appointing from external sources by inviting applications from outside their organizations. The preferred tools used in Malaysia and developed countries are interviews, resume or curricular vitae, application forms, biodata, recommendations and references. As is the case in the developed countries, the interview is the dominant method used. Malaysian organizations, however, seem to use recommendations and references and job try-outs more frequently than do organizations in the developed countries.
PETRONAS
Recruitment Practices
The recruitment method used by PETRONAS is via Internet. PETRONAS has their own official website (refer to picture 1 & 2) and they use it normally to post the information and notice of job vacancy. For those applicants interested in their job, they can send their resumes to its email and official website when they are looking for the job from the pages of “PETRONAS Career & Opportunities”. Besides, PETRONAS also post the portal or advertisement via online website so that applicants can have looking for it such as JOBSTREET (refer to picture 3).
Picture 1: PETRONAS Official Website for Career Opportunities
Picture 2: PETRONAS Official Website for Career Opportunities
Picture 3: Job Openings at PETRONAS on JobStreet
There are some benefits of using Internet to recruit people. Firstly, it improved the efficiency of recruitment process (Chand n.d). Moreover, it is easy to find the best applicant from the large pool of employees. Apart from the few advantages, there are also some shortcomings of using Internet recruitment such as it is hard to determine the effectiveness of the recruitment process.
Another external recruitment method used by PETRONAS is Internship (refer to picture 4). Internship is an offer to the students to get a chance to work in the desired field. Since PETRONAS is a gas and oil industry, thus many candidates can apply the chemical and technical work in the internship that provided by PETRONAS. Therefore, they can learn how their course of study applies to the real world and build valuable experience that makes them stronger candidates for jobs after graduation (Loretto P, 2016).
Picture 4: PETRONAS Official Website for Students & Graduates
The benefits of using internship by PETRONAS are they can find for the future employees. An internship programme can find the talent students to join the company after their graduation. This is because internship is just for short-term period. After they are done with the internship, company will know their working performance and ability. Besides, there are also some shortcomings of internship such as it takes time to recruit an intern. They normally contribute in the program or training for some months and it may reduce the return on the employ investment of PETRONAS team made.
Selection Practices
Petronas Berhad has applied various selection methods in their recruitment. The purpose of selection is a process to pick some of the qualified candidates from the entire interviewees who meet with necessary condition and qualification to competent the job offered by an organization. In order to complete the process of selection, company usually apply types of selection methods such as preliminary interview, references checks, selection test and so on. Each selection methods have their own advantages to help the company on the selection process, and this also use in Petronas Berhad.
First of all, the selection method used by Petronas is Application form and curriculum vitae (CV). The intention of using this method is to collect the applicant’s personal information such as job applied for, contact number, name and address, relevant skills and experiences. By using this information, it will help Petronas to filter and screen those qualified applicants to hold a post in their company. The advantages of using this method is with the standardize format of application form, the human resources department that be in charge of the selection process will be easier for them to make comparative and focus on the information that they need. For example, whether the applicant meet with the requirement of the job applied, do he or she have a degree or experiences in this regard. Next, applicant need to prepare for their own curriculum form (CV), therefore it will help the company to save cost.
Other than that, the second method apply in Petronas is selection test. The purpose of conduct a test on applicants is to measure their abilities and skills differences in order to select a right person in their job. (Smriti Chand,2015) Selection Test are ability test such as aptitude test, and personality test such as interest test. The tests are provided depends on Petronas Human Resources department evaluation on personal performance. The test given normally based on the job applied by the applicant. For example, in Petronas, they will conduct a case problem to the applicant, and the applicant should answer base on their experiences and knowledge. The advantages of using this process is it help the company to know much more about the knowledge, abilities, and other related proficiency of the applicant that might not show on the application form. Next, the company can make a comparison based on the applicant’s performance, and then select the most suitable candidates.
The third selection method is Interviews. Firstly, interview is a process of a verbal conversation between two people with the objective of collecting relevant information for the purpose of research. (Vinay Kurma 2014) Thus, it’s useful for Petronas to know more about the applicants and select a suitable candidate to hold a job in their company. Meanwhile, there are several types of interview conducted such as personal interview, telephone interview, technical interview and so on. For example, Petroleum Engineering interview, Petronas will first have a phone call interview and later on will set up a face to face interview if they want a depth understanding of the applicant. The advantage of this method is it will develop a good relationship between the interviewer and interviewee during the interview. It is to enhance the understanding of both sides involved. Lastly, the organization can also select suitable candidates through the interview process because the interviewer can know depth information of the candidates.
