Introduction about Career Opportunity

Career opportunities’ efficacy can be gauged from a mutually beneficial perspective. In this respect, it has to be noted that sustainable environmental careers opportunities denote a mutually beneficial relation where the employer offering the employment and the candidate considering in seeking a life-time career with the employer within an advertised job position are both provided with opportunities of growth and development, apart from accessing the potential for financial growth and development (in terms of profitability). Moreover, there are different aspects of the recruitment process that adhere to the principles of sustainability. In this respect, it has to be taken into account that to make the job offer more sustainable, an organisation has to attract the talent pool through effectively advertising the job opening through their website and through effectively utilising its career section as a tool for presenting the job descriptions explicitly and clearly, especially for the positions offered, entailing the roles and responsibilities of the concerned job positions that are open for employment.

On the other hand, there are some specific responsibilities of candidates, applying for the open job position. In this respect, pivotally, candidates need to understand the job description thoroughly and tally their skills and talents with the description provided. But for this purpose too, from a candidate’s standpoint, a clearly described job, entailing comprehensive indication of the roles and responsibilities is imperative for boosting their confidence and enthusiasm for applying for and securing a lifetime career. It is considering such facets of employment, and especially of the process of recruitment and the constituent of job description that I have been encouraged to apply to a specific job position with a key player within the public mobility sector, ComfortDelGro (Comfort Delgro).

Company background Comfort Delgro

A multinational land transport company, listed on the Singapore Exchange, Comfort Delgro was founded on 29 March 2003, and to date the company has emerged as one of the world’s largest land transport and Mobility Company with revenue of S$ 1.903 billion with a total investment of S$ 428.2 million (ComfortDelGro, 2022). The company has in operation around 14,999 fleets and it has workforce strength of 12,605 employees (ComfortDelGro, 2022). The company operates in seven countries, including Singapore, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, China, Ireland, and Malaysia, with a global network of around 34,000 vehicles (ComfortDelGro, 2022). In 2022, the company appointed new board members, including their first overseas-based Director (ComfortDelGro, 2022).

Company analysis Comfort Delgro Singapore

While analysing the company from the perspective of the SWOT framework, its specific strengths and weaknesses can be observed. From the strength perspective, it has been observed that the primary strength of the company is its existing distribution and sales networks that are widespread and add to the revenue channels in a thorough and effective manner (Gurel, 2017; Mulky, 2013; Groß & Vriens, 2017). High growth rate of commuters in the domestic and international markets, and higher investment spree in countries like Malaysia and UK into land transportation has also strengthened the business of the company (Yusoff et al., 2021). Moreover, it has been observed that being the market leader in the Singapore public transit system, the company is often backed by the government and funding opportunities as well as myriad forms of subsidies (May, 2004). Besides, expanding into new sectors, including monorails and high speed tram services in some specific countries of operation has also enhanced the revenue and business strength of the company effectively. But despite such strengths, the company suffers from some specific weaknesses. One of its pivotal weaknesses is under-recognised brand presence. Compared to the competitors with established brands, like Grab, Uber, Bolt, etc, Comfort Delgro’s brand recognition is internationally low (Resende & Lima, 2018). Moreover, a stiffer competition within the mobility sector with the presence of myriads of cab/bus operators catering to the needs of a growing number of commuters is a threat that has not been thoroughly mitigated by the company, making such lack of initiation a weakness (Sprei, 2018).

Moreover, when analysing the company’s internal resources, strengths, and capacities from the perspective of the VRIO framework, some specific features becomes observable.

From the VRIO analysis it becomes clear that the value of competitive disadvantage is nil for the company, owing to its widely visible and pronounced corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance that has entailed the objective of contributing largely to the greening of the economy and the transportation sector (ComfortDelGro, 2017). Transparency in fares and transportation as well as logistics charges is yet another attribution that has shielded the company against competitive disadvantage from the valuable proposition. Moreover, from the perspective of sustainable competitive advantage, in specific, it has been found that the company is valuable from resource enhancement perspective because it has a propensity to integrate innovation and has the capacity to raise capital for giving practical shape to such innovation (Espedal, 2005). Besides, from the perspective of sustainable competitive advantage, the company does have rarity because the competencies that the company has grown and developed have only been possessed by a handful of firms within the mobility and transportation sector worldwide. But it has been found that due to the trend of following the global megatrend of technology acceleration, from the inimitable perspective, the company’s sustainable competitive advantage is inimitable because not many of its key competitors are extending to other transportation segments that could have made the future competition stiffer for Comfort Delgro (ComfortDelGro, 2018). However, the company is structurally organised and is ready for implementing those core business strategies that are going to make its organisational strength a future sustainable competitive advantage.

Job description analysis at Comfort Delgro Singapore

The company did post a job opening on 23 September 2022 for the position of Customer Service cum Operations Officer (Jobstreet, 2022). But analysing the job description from the perspective of management theory and sustainability focused thinking; it has been found that the description could have been strengthened even more (Manninen & Huiskonen, 2018). From the leadership theory perspective, the job description seems to be devoid of the potential to motivate the candidate. In this respect, it has to be noted that from a transformational leadership theory perspective, the element of motivation can be delivered when the candidate can see opportunities of training and development in a way that would make them capable of contributing to the organisational decision-making process, paving their own way of advancing to the leadership position (Nazir & Shah, 2014). The job description has mentioned that the candidate, if recruited and appointed, will become the first point of contact for learners/customers, providing backend customer care support for the ComfortDelGro Driving Centre (CDC) (Jobstreet, 2022). But nowhere in the description there is any hint of provision for skill and knowledge development training programmes and any related mandate. From a leadership motivational perspective, the mentioning of a training and development programme opportunity would have strengthened the appeal of the job opening. Also, it seems that the job description could have been strengthened effectively through the integration of some points that indicate the company’s willingness to promote the practice of Green HRM. In this respect, it has to be noted that if the job description would have emphasised the need of using resources efficiently, like avoiding use of paper and undue documentations, more use of online communication and directives, mandate for maintaining social distancing as much as possible considering the same as a CSR initiative in the post-COVID era, etc, then the appeal to the candidates from a candidate value perception proposition would have been greater (Renwick et al., 2012). Also, when analysed from the values-driven sustainability management framework, it can be seen that it would have been better for the job description to over-emphasise the role of the employee in contributing to social development by catering to the resource planning needs of the existing customer segment, and if the principle of inclusion and diversity would have been highlighted in the context of communicating with the customers and internal stakeholders, the appeal of the job advertisement would have been greater to the candidates. Moreover, another shortcoming observed in the job description that needs to be overcome is the void of any mentioning of leadership or workforce transformation. Even though the qualification requirements for the job has been mentioned and despite the enumeration of the job roles, nowhere in the job description the candidate has been asked to demonstrate the skill to bridge the knowledge gap among the internal stakeholders. In this respect, it has to be taken into account that even though the job description mentions roles like processing enrolment for learners, conducting course enrolment briefings for new learners, managing queries from learners, fostering awareness of school licensing, etc; the description is devoid of the ways in which, depicting leadership skills, the candidate can either coach or mentor the young learners for ensuring their positive role transformation and knowledge enhancement.

Conclusion

What is found is that the job description is appealing because the job roles are clear and the benefits are clearly mentioned. But it is recommended that the job description could have been made better through the inclusion of specific management theory and sustainability focus stances, including the points clarifying the leadership role and CSR initiatives of the candidate applying to the post.