What it does: Provides services in television, radio, multimedia, and home shopping services as well as film library licensing, content creation and distribution, and talent management in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Best known for: The largest direct-to-home (DTH) satellite Pay-TV provider in Malaysia.
Staff stats: Around 4,700 employees, with a male-female ratio of 51:49. The average age is 34 and 98% are Malaysians.
The good bits: Reported to have an innovative and enthusiastic work environment. Plenty of room for personal and learning development.
The not-so-good bits: Long work hours and poor work-life balance.
Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad is one of the leading integrated consumer media and entertainment holding companies in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, the conglomerate operates in four key areas of business namely pay-TV, radio, publications, and digital media.
The company has a customer base of 5.7 million residential customers, accounting for 77% of Malaysian TV households. It offers 172 TV channels including 40 HD channels delivered via DTH satellite and other platforms. The firm is the first to provide the first non-subscription-based satellite TV, offering 28 TV channels in Malaysia.
Astro is also the country’s leading radio operator with 20 radio stations and more than 16 million weekly listeners in 2018. In 2014, it established Go Shop which runs Malay and Chinese home shopping channels. To date, the company has almost a million customers and sold over 1.5 million products.
Established in 1996, the company is owned by Astro Holdings Sendirian Berhad. Formerly known as All Asia Broadcast Centre, Astro started broadcasting with 22 TV channels and eight music channels with the launch of MEASAT 1, the satellite network of communications satellite operator MEASAT Satellite Systems. Since then, it has expanded its services to include radio operation and pay-TV. In 2012, the company went public and changed its name to Astro Malaysia Holdings.
The organisation offers the Astro Internship Programme for undergraduate students pursuing a bachelor’s degree and having at least a CGPA (cumulative grade point average) of 3.0 or equivalent. Through this programme, candidates will experience hands-on training in the media and broadcast industry and will benefit from classroom-style training sessions. At the end of the three-month course, they will gain experience and knowledge related to their field of study.
For better career advancement, employees can join the firm’s 18-month rotation-based course called the Astro Graduate Programme. Under this initiative, candidates may either opt for the Business Stream (for business degrees) or the Technology Stream (for engineering or IT degrees)
The Business Stream focuses on content creation and business development. It will give candidates up to five months of exposure to business areas covering customer, finance development, content, marketing and communications, and electives.
The Technology Stream focuses on broadcast and technology delivery. Candidates will experience various roles within the organisation’s Software Development Life Cycle, new product releases, and project management. They will also rotate through six teams in design & product, IT security, core business technical development, technology architecture, software engineering, and business.
The organisation is said to have an innovative work environment where employees are encouraged to think differently and develop new ideas. To drive this initiative, the firm promotes the ‘can do’ attitude among employees. They take challenges outside their work scope and always remain positive in difficult situations.
The organisation promotes equal opportunity for education through its Astro Kampus programme. In collaboration with the government, the programme provides access to 17 learning channels to over 10,000 schools and teacher activity centers across Malaysia. It claims that as of 2019, five million students and 419,000 teachers have benefitted from the learning channels.
Employees will look forward to coming to work regularly, given the enthusiastic and creative work environment. They will feel that they add value to the company as well as help create and maintain a productive workplace. However, the long work hours may lead to turnover in the long term as employees will feel its negative effects on their social and mental well-being.
Astro hires from all degree backgrounds and looks for creative and analytical individuals who possess excellent proactive listening, written, and verbal skills. Candidates must also be proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English and can work with minimum supervision. The firm also looks for applicants who are tech-savvy, organised, enthusiastic, and team players.
Aspiring candidates can send their resumes online through the company’s affiliated recruitment websites. They can also apply via employee referral, recruitment agency, or in-person. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by the talent acquisition team within a month upon receiving their applications. They will be scheduled for an online examination and interviews at the head office.
The online test consists of 50 questions in IQ, math, and personality to be completed in less than two hours. After passing the test, the talent acquisition manager will interview the candidates to assess their behaviour and attitude. The interview questions may include:
The hiring manager will conduct the last interview with the candidates and will ask skills-specific questions to measure their competencies. Questions may include:
The firm will perform a background check on the candidates’ credentials and will contact their references to find out more about them. Successful candidates will be contacted within a week after the interview and will receive the official job offer via email.
For interns, the reported monthly salary during their three-month training is placed at 950 RM (Malaysian ringgit). On average, the monthly salary for the positions of a web developer, marketing assistant, HR assistant, sales associate, accounting assistant, analyst, customer service representative, creative coordinator, administrative assistant, junior engineers, and broadcast journalist range from 3,000 to 5,000 RM.