The School of Business Management (SBM) organised the Adjunct Professor Meet & Greet @ Sintok programme recently. The programme which successfully attracted a total of 300 undergraduate students was held at the CAS Seminar Hall.

The Adjunct Professor of SBM, Madam Nora Abdul Manaf, is also the Group Chief Human Capital Officer of the Maybank Group. During the Meet & Greet @ Sintok programme, she graciously delivered a talk entitled “Envisioning the Workforce of the Future”. During her talk, the impacts of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) on businesses and jobs were highlighted.

As the talk delved deeper, she cited examples of organizations which took advantage of the advanced technology without threatening existing market, yet it created the need for more human workers. Companies such as Netflix did not kill Blockbuster; Uber did not kill taxi business; Apple did not kill the music industry; Amazon did not kill other retailers and Airbnb did not kill the hotel industry.

She also emphasised on the importance of continuous learning and keeping abreast with the demands of IR4.0 in order to remain relevant and competent.

Madam Nora Abdul Manaf also shared Maybank’s experience in response to IR4.0. According to her in order to ensure that every employee is digital literate, training was conducted to upgrade job competencies.

She also shared some tips with the audience on a few of the qualities that employers value most when recruiting new employees.  Among the tips were employees need to be problem solver, have the right mind set and attitude, and possess creativity and the desire to make a difference.

Throughout her talk, she shared her experience of working in various fields of endeavours. She also reiterated on the importance of self-awareness, i.e. knowing who you are, your strengths and weaknesses.

At the end of the talk, the Maybank team requested students complete a quick survey for lucky draw. Thereupon, a short quiz about Maybank was conducted and prizes were given to students who successfully answered the questions given.

Also present at the event were representative of the Dean of SBM, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd. Faizal Mohd. Isa and fellow SBM lecturers.