KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Plantation Bhd is offering various positions and job opportunities across its upstream and downstream operations for unemployed locals who are seeking to improve their current situation, or build a new life for their families in nurturing communities.
SD Plantation said it continued to provide opportunities for local talent to join the world's largest producer of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil in producing and supplying palm oil which is sustainably produced.
The group said during the challenging times, one of its aims was to offer Malaysians the opportunity of meaningful employment in the palm oil industry, which would also contribute to society as a whole.
Quoting the Statistics Department, SD Plantation said an estimated 741,600 people in the country were unemployed as of August last year.
"The adverse repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic on global and regional economies have resulted in many companies closing their shutters permanently, impacting the livelihoods of so many Malaysians.
"At the same time, however, the plantation industry employs millions of foreigners, many of whom have worked for several years in our estates and mills, sending money home to their families," SD Plantation chief operations services officer Adi Wira Abd Razak said in a statement.
Adi Wira said the group was also offering numerous attractive benefits to provide a conducive working and living environment for both employees and their families.
"This is part of our commitment to protect and respect the rights of all our employees, regardless of their gender, ethnic background and religion. In our effort to shore up the current labour shortage in the industry, we have been actively recruiting locals in the past year, and we hope to see the number of local hires increasing," he said.
Adi Wira said the future prospects of the industry is bright because palm oil is such an important and valuable ingredient to the world.
"More than 50 per cent of all the products you see on supermarket shelves around the world contain palm oil, and it is not easily replaced by alternatives.
"For this reason, we believe that the palm oil industry will continue to thrive and provide a successful and satisfying long term career path for those who would like to take up the various job opportunities available in the industry today," he added.