Chungshan Institute planning recruitment drive

• By Aaron Tu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology is planning a special program to recruit talent for the development of stealth, submarine, aerospace and other critical military technologies, the state-owned defense research corporation said on Tuesday.

Recruitment of qualified research personnel must be stepped up to sustain Taiwan’s quest for cutting-edge defense technologies that cannot be obtained from foreign countries, the institute told lawmakers in a report in April.

Crucial fields identified by the institute as export-restricted or nascent include high-frequency microwaves, autonomous aerial flight and navigation, and satellite and aerospace technologies, it said.

The institute is taking measures to facilitate domestic research and development of the technologies including through a talent acquisition program involving contractors, targeted recruitment and collaboration with academia and the private sector, it said.

Salaries and benefits at the institute would be raised to attract highly skilled workers, it said.

The institute said it is targeting several scientific and technical fields for recruitment, including microwaves, laser, photonic, superconductor and nanotechnology.

Jobseekers with the right skills and knowledge could be offered a higher base pay in the institute’s performance-based pay system, which is being implemented, it said.

An increased maximum wage, performance-based rewards and bonuses, benefits, subsidies for continued education and on-the-job training as well as a friendly work environment would serve as additional incentives, it said.

The institute’s scholarship program includes 506 students who are to work for the organization following graduation, it said.

Hiring is determined by the needs of ongoing projects and the number of expected retirements, and it is conducted in partnership with job banks and research programs at the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Science and Technology, it said.

Military officers are another source for recruitment, it said, adding that hundreds of people join the institute’s ranks every year.

The details of the program are stil being ironed out, it added.

Staffing of the institute is at 50 percent of the planned level set during its transition into a non-departmental public body in 2014, sources said.

Last month, the legislature’s Budget Center warned that the institute would face a staffing crunch in the next five years, as 20 percent of technical staff and 12 percent of research and development workers are slated to retire.

The retirements could disrupt institutional knowledge at the organization, the bureau said.

The institute said at the time that term contracts would be used to retain workers, while new people are recruited through civil service examinations.