Recruitment and Selection of Veterinary Officers in the Sarawak State Civil Service: A Case Study

Faculty of Business and Design
Master of Human Resource Management

Recruitment and Selection of Veterinary Officers in the Sarawak State Civil Service: A Case Study

An organisation’s sustainability and productivity depends heavily on its effective recruitment practices to employ the best qualified job fit and culture fit employees. The aim of this study is to uncover the reasons for the poor Veterinary Officer recruitment success in the Sarawak State Civil Service. This is imperative as the Department of Veterinary Services is severely understaffed to a crisis point where its core functions of ensuring zoonotic (Rabies, Avian Influenza) and livestock diseases of economy importance (Foot and Mouth Disease) is at stake.  A qualitative, case study approach was used to identify the causes by interviewing potential Veterinary Officer candidates and Human Resource Officers involved with the recruitment and selection processes. Secondary data were also collected from the Malaysian Veterinary Council, University Putra Malaysia, University Malaysia Kelantan and the Department of Agriculture Sarawak to provide a background of the potential pool of VO candidates. The study revealed the following recruitment and selection issues:

1. The pool of candidates for VO is extremely small.
2. Recruitment and selection process for VO is too lengthy and tedious.
3. Technicalities were encountered in the e-recruitment system and psychometric test.
4. No feedback provided on application status after submission in the e-recruitment system.
5. Awareness of VO vacancies was very low.

The background study revealed that majority of Sarawakian registered veterinarian and veterinary graduates were Chinese at 70 percent and out of this group 83 percent were working in the private sector or self-employed. It was also revealed that 57 percent of this group were Generation Y. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the Sarawak State Civil Service to review the current recruitment and selection process to attract these candidates to join the civil service. This study can be expanded to compare whether other professional or specialized profession such as lawyers, surveyors, engineers, accountants are having the same recruitment and selection issues as for the Veterinary profession. A comparison study for on recruitment and selection can be done between Sarawak, Sabah and the Federal DVS.

Author: Andrea Lim Li Li
Publication year: 2018