SHAH-AZZ, INCORPORATED

Welcome to Irshad HR Consulting Sdn Bhd.

Want to know more about this company? Of course, click the link above!

Ok, let me give you some quick history lesson (although in truth, I HATE HISTORY! Mind you…)…Founded as Irshad Institute on August 23^rd, 1988 by Hj Mohd Adam Mohd Said (CEO), and with the hiring of their 1^st staff, Hj Ahmad Raji Yaakub (COO), it strives to be the leading HR consulting company in Malaysia. Originally, Irshad covered lots of ground in consultancy but since 2006, they are more focusing on human resource, hence the changing of names from Institute to Consulting and finally, HR Consulting. (Irshad has its sub company, Sage Consulting that does the rest apart from HR). For those (include me) who thought Irshad is ‘someone’s’ name in the company, it is way off the mark. It is an Arabic word meaning ‘guidance’, ‘advice’, or simply ‘consult’.

"We Strive to Become Our Client’s World-Class HR Consulting Partner by Leveraging on People, Technology and Best Practices” – Mission Statement.

What I like about this company is that they emphasize the concept of ‘barakah’ in whatever you do, which means, you always have to have niat (intention) ‘in the name of God’ and pray for His blessings in doing your job. It is simply the matter of collecting goodies and richness and be wealthy as it is not the most important thing. It is whether you have fulfilled your responsibility and fulfill it well, be it to God and the rest of the people.

How did I end up here? Around early February, they had posted a job opening, and prioritize GREEN participants. At first, I kind of ignoring this as I thought that it doesn’t fit with what I already have and what I wish for (computers, video editing etc). Then during foxholing, our Mr. Raji told us that they are still looking for new Executives and become part of GEMS secretariat team for the upcoming intake. I thought that, well, I might want to try and give shot. Who knows, if this field will, in the end, could be well suited for me. We always hear things like “jangan memilih kerja”, sort of. I had a couple of failed interviews; some of them were directly based on my degree / my ambition. So let’s try on something that completely unrelated to me, consultancy.

I’ve got the interview on early March, handled by Mr. Shamsul and Mr Ismail. It was very direct and straightforward. I thought they’re going to hit me with “Why do you want this job?” or “Why should we hire you?” type of question but they’re going for a smoother approach (fuhhh…lega)…Two days before GEMS launching, I’ve got a call from Ms. Ani or Irshad…"Tahniah, anda terpilih untuk menyertai Irshad”…woo hoo, it sounds really good, much better than “You’re hired” during my mocking interview couple of years ago. (In fact, I can hardly remember the last time a company had accepted me after an interview. Should I say, none?).

So I’ve got to meet a lot of similar faces during my 1^st day at Irshad on 19^th March 2009, whether from my batch or the facilitators. There were also four people from Batch V, as well as newly hired non-GREEN staffs.

Faizah A Rahman (SE-DPC), Nurhanani (ex-SE-GVR, now Central), Shukri (SE-GVR), Siti Fairuz (Central), Faizul (SE-FRT) and Rafidah (SE-DGB)

On right side, Faizah Zainal (SE-SRM) and Shazree (SE-SRC)

this is how a consultant-to-be (poyos) give his presentation to his audience

Irshad’s office is located at the 10^th floor of Block A, Phileo Damansara II. However, we, the GEMS secretariat team have our own office at the 9^th floor, just below Irshad’s. During our 1^st day, it was still new and empty. The office was eventually operational on our 2nd day.

still empty like a desert

Fazri (left) is our client, working at Khazanah. one must respect him and polish his shoes every day, or he'll kick us out...baiklah tuan...hihihihihi

Welcome to our GEMS office. Please make yourself comfortable.

Hmmm...I have a very tight schedule...no time for rest...

FAR and Hjh Zaireen, our site manager of DPC.

busy people from other sites

people will mistakenly think that Dato' Mukhriz Mahathir works here...nope, this guy here is Mr Wan Toren, SM for GVR.

this smiling guy is Hj Razali (PM) who look Hj Rashid (SM-HSH) do his work. The one on the phone is Mr Suhaimi aka Jimi, one of GREEN/GEMS facilitator.

But wait, between our 1^st and 2^nd day, we had our Irshad’s ‘eat-air’ time at Suria Cherating. Actually, it was our GEMS Programme Management Training on 20-21^st March 2009. This was the time we’ve got along with all the site managers and executives around Malaysia. There are 9 sites, and I am placed at the one and only, GREEN most beloved place, Kompleks Darul Puteri, Cheras [DPC]. The remaining sites are: Harvard Suasana Hotel, Sg. Petani [HSH], Suria Resort, Cherating [SRC], Regent Rajah Court, Kuching [RRC], Kompleks Tabung Haji (uncomfirmed?), K.Kinabalu [KTH], Genting View Resort, Genting [GVR], Suria Resort, Marang, Setiu [SRM], Felda Residence, Trolak [FRT] and Desaru Golden Beach [DGB]. This means that I do not need to travel a lot. My project manager for this site is ‘Datuk’ Azahar Mansor, site manager Pn Hjh Zaireen Mohamed Shah, and my executive partner, Ms. Faizah A Rahman. We also hired a site assistant Mr Shahmi afterwards.

Emm, let me simply put some pictures and captions.

Don Salim (Central) once was our GREEN secretariat, now an Irshad associate. Khairani (SE-DGB) and Jaslizan (SE-SRM) were from GREEN batch V.

ngeh3x

The two girls at left are Nur Deyana (SE-SRC) and Edayu (SE-FRT), also from GREEN batch V.

The all-black guy on the left is Mr. Eizel (SM-SRC), while next to him is Mr. Shukri (SE-HSH). See the happy face of the SM and SE...

...and even happier face of Dato Azahar (PM) and Mr Azman (SM-SRM)

Hj Raji (COO) aka Mr Photogenic helped with the pipe thing

yeahhh...fill em up, fill em fast! My team include Maza (Central), Hj Muhammad (SM-RRC), Mr Eizel, Shaz & Hanan. Faizah Zainal and Edayu not shown here.

Hj Muhammad is the one with grey shirt. He handles Borneo (RRC/KTH)

Nobody sees anything! says Mr Shamsul aka Sam (PM), the orange guy.

What card is this? Is this the one? Blind like a bat, they're looking for a pair card. Hj Adam (CEO) looks on back there.

Dato' Azahar: yeyeea! we won! - Mr Sam: don't count on it, Dato'... - Mr Azman: I've got a pair. So I win la ekk? The guy with cap is Hj Ibrahim (SM-RRC/KTH)

Kak Zaireen (SM-DPC) with Doc Mail (Central) at her back, Ms. Salina (Central), Fida, Asmaa' (ex-HSH), Fairuz, Naniq, Mr. Ahmad Shukri (Central), Mr. Azman, Mr. Haron?? (Central), Mr. Ismail (Central)

Don Salim, Hj Raji, Jazz, Mr. Azahari (SM-DGB), Mr. Azlan (SM-FRT), Ms. Khatijah (Central), Deyana, Ms. Salmah (Central), FAR

Hj Rashid is so serious...as well as others back there...

Look! a T-Rex passed by over there....we looked with awed.

On March 30^th, 2009, the our GEMS office was officially launched, with VIPs coming like our boss Hj Adam and Khazanah’s GEMS Project Manager Pn Fazlinda.

Now, even busier office than ever. (Actually, they all waiting for food)

Yes Fairuz? pick up some virus on your PC? Not to worry, Bro Hairul from Masscomp (glasses, seated at middle) the tech-guy will help you

Central girl power: Zylla, Kak Ani, Nadia, Meiza

Poor Sabarina. She had her sweet tooth removed, so she's clutching her cheek.

What? Black-shirt Faizal (SE-RRC/KTH) and purplish clad Dayang aka Mimi (Sage) also present

No matter what pose he does, or what angle this camera is, Hj Raji always looks kacaks!

The boss, Hj Adam, with Pn Fazlinda beside him

Makan time!

the food tray all will be half-empty by the time Don Salim took his meal

VIPs dining session

Mr Azlan: Sam, dah le tu keja..mohle kite makan...takkan xterliur tgk kak Katty makan tuh..jomlerr..Mr Sam: ah ko, sampai ati tiru gaye Wan Toren..tinggal sikit2 cam aku dah le...

So there it is. On my next entry, I will talk about my Darul Puteri experience as a secretariat.

[* sebahagian caption2 gambo diatas hanya gurau2 je ye..hihihii]

Picasaweb photo collection link below:

[Irshad Day 1][Cherating][Irshad Day 2][GEMS Office]

Before any other citizens of this proud nation knew about this, I was amongst the ‘early-birds’ to witness and helped to run the inaugural of GEMS programme at MoF, Putrajaya on 12th-13th March 2009, which was lauched by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Yang Amat Berhormat Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak. How come? I attended the preparation and pre-rehearsal the day before the launching.

For any of you who want to know about GEMS, and might want to register, please visit this website. For a little bit of intro, GEMS stands for Graduate Employability Management Scheme. This programme is designed to help graduates to enhance their employability in participated GLC companies. This programme also designed to reduce the number of unemployment, which is the number 1 problem of today’s fresh graduates, and even for those who didn’t get a job for several years. As we all know, with today’s economic crisis and recession, one will always hard to get a job. Even a lot the worker from the private sector have to quit ‘forcely’ as their respective company had felt the pinches of this problem. So what’s the different between GREEN, the one I entered last year? For me, GEMS is government’s version of GREEN, while GREEN is more Khazanah Nasional Berhad-specific project. In other words, GEMS is GREEN with more publicity...hehe...Anyway, see the website for insights of the programme, venues, modules etc.

Back to my intended story. Our batch had received the invitiation to come to the launch day, and in the same time, asked any of us who are free to come and help in rehearsal. Since I’d quite a lot of free time at MRCB, I might as well lend a hand to them. So my journey started after lunch on the 12th, where I took the U80 bus to Pasar Seni. I’ve researched on the net before that from here, one could get a RapidKL E1 bus which the destination is Putrajaya Sentral, which I did. This was the first time I came to Putrajaya by myself. However, I only knew one bus that pass the MoF building, The U42, so I had to wait for that one. I arrived at the place at about 6:30pm.

The hall where the ceremony was being held.

Puan Fazlinda (pink outfit) is the Assistant Vice President, Strategic Human Capital Management of Khazanah, or should I say, ‘mother figure’ for GREEN, and now, GEMS. She’s amongst the major person in this programme.

Bob (Biotech) was the emcee. He is always considered as the ‘de facto’ for this task in any programme.

Sabarina (Irshad HR Consulting) and Fazri (Khazanah), the usherettes.

So what’s left for me? I was becoming an usherette too, situated at the main entrance, so I was amongst the 1^st person to greet the DPM. I, with some other friends, will also get the chance to get on stage with DPM for photography session as a GREEN alumni.

Anyway, let’s see some stuffs outside the hall…

These frames (I didn't know the actual name of this board) will be taped on the softboard to show some GREEN info…

…And we were the ones who were taping it. (From Left): Maza (Irshad), Ardi (Khazanah), me, Mr Salim (Irshad), Faizal (‘Freelancer’) and Sabar.

GEMS Banners. See all the boards at the background…

…and now, see what happened the next morning. I thought somebody purposely arranged like this, but actually the boards had fallen off. Well, now we know that masking tape couldn’t do the job :p

After some rearrangements, and with the addition of LCD screen and a laptop for showing off the website (mocking only) by Rahimie (Proton), the setup turned out quite good. A table as an information counter was to be put afterwards.

The two lucky counter girls were Junita (MAFC) and Dayang (Sage Consulting).

The view of the hall after Friday prayers. These mostly were VVIPs, CEOs, Managers of the GLC’s. Some alumni parents also came.

The DPM came about 3:00pm and gave the speeches. After his signature on the digital ‘plate’, we, the selected alumni went on the stage with the DPM and some of the VVIPs. This was the time when all the cameramen and photographers from various press and TV stations took a lot of shots of us. Admittedly, there was some kind of ‘hiinnssss’ feeling (hidung kembang) during this moment. Unfortunately, none of the GREENies took these pictures, so I was in dire, hoping to get these photos, possibly from the press itself (which I don’t know how to request it). To inflict further damages to my misery, while the launching occasion did came out on the TV news at that night, apparently the camera guy were shooting at a different position than where I was standing, so I did not have a ‘nationwide appearance’, unlike those who were standing at the right of DPM…darn…

So the only I could do was to take photos of myself beside the slide…huuuu…

Some of the Batch IV alumni attended…Dayang, Ardi, Faizal, me, Rahimie, Fazri…

Puan Fazlinda and her ‘right-hand man’, Mr Amizi (Khazanah)

The shots outside the hall showed the people who crowded the lobby, and the food table. I was also about to get a shot of DPM with his tea break, but one of his bodyguard won’t let me. “Adik, Datuk Seri kalau time makan tak nak diganggu…nanti dia habis makan baru boleh…”..ooo okay…sorry didn’t know…

After the successful launching event, since we were a bit tired, some of us got the chance to feel the exotic life at a 5-star hotel at Putrajaya, Pullman. Mr Azahar Mansor (Irshad) aka Datuk (the sailboat guy) rent a room for us to stay for a night. Unlucky for me, I had to go to a friend’s wedding on the following day, so I had to go back…

…And I can’t even get access to the junk food stored in this fridge. This will add up the cost anyway.

Me and Mr Azahar (not sleeping together, mind you) and also Ardi…

And during the nighty, Mr Azahar, the kind and generous one, treated us at Padi, one of the grandest food stall at Cyberjaya. (Ini ayat bodek mintak belanja lagi lepas nih..hihihihi)

(PS - The rest of GEMS photo collections have been uploaded at, as usual, my Picasa)

You can find your hope
Amongst the crowds
Of all the people you've let down
We'll find a way to make this OK
We always skipped through the nights
It's all that we need to
And maybe it's all that we'll ever need
Just to make us feel alive

You are the one the only one
(you are the one the one the only one you know)
You are the one the only one
(you are the one the one the only one you know)

I will never give up on you for
all the times you sat and sang to me, tried to make me better.
So now I'll try to let you know that
this is the English way to make a soul fit back together.

Please don't speak these words, just save
Them, walk with me and take a trip
We'll only stop for water and some other things
We always skipped through the nights
It's all that we need to

You are the one the only one
(you are the one the one the only one you know)
You are the one the only one
(you are the one the one the only one you know)

I will never give up on you for
all the times you sat and sang to me, tried to make me better.
So now I'll try to let you know that
this is the English way to make a soul fit back together.

Too many lives have been lost unto all this
Of too many people that have lost their voices.

I will never give up on you for
all the times you sat and sang to me, tried to make me better.
So now I'll try to let you know that
this is the English way to make a soul fit back together.

SONG: The English Way
ARTIST: Fightstar
ALBUM: Be Human
YEAR: 2009