Over 70 percent of employers intend to hire fresh graduates in Malaysia next year. This was revealed in a recent survey conducted in October 2020 by Talentbank, a market research, education and employer branding company, with 196 organisations in Malaysia. The survey also revealed that 22 percent of respondents were unsure and a small percentage of 4.62 percent said were disinclined to hire.

The results painted an equally optimistic picture for fresh graduate employment prospects in Malaysia in 2021. A total of 76.3 percent of respondents were optimistic they would be hiring fresh graduates from Malaysia’s public and private universities in 2022.

Talentbank Chief Executive Officer, Ben Ho, said: “This is indeed good news in this period of volatility and uncertainty brought about by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic which has caused many companies to cut operating costs by reducing manpower in order to get past this crisis. “It also means that private and public universities in Malaysia are producing graduates with the right set of skill sets needed by the industry. “Respondents were mainly in senior positions attached to mid-sized and large organisations. They formed 80.35 percent of all respondents. Public listed companies in Malaysia made up 33.53 percent of this segment.”

The survey results revealed promising job prospects for fresh graduates with backgrounds in these fields; Accounting, Business Management, Marketing, Computing and Information Technology, Human Resource Management, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Mass Communications, Banking and Economics. Monthly salaries offered to fresh graduates from all fields average between RM2,501 and RM3,000, while internship allowances average RM1,000 monthly.

Ho shared: “We asked employers if they placed a greater emphasis on attitude or academic results when hiring fresh graduates and the responses came as no surprise. A majority of 91.91 percent of the respondents chose good attitude over academic results while the remaining 8.09 percent stressed on academic results over good attitude. “These results point to a growing demand for talents who are versatile, able to pick up new skills and take on new responsibilities thrown at them.”

The top 10 most important recruitment metrics that leading employers used when hiring fresh university graduates were: Career readiness, extra-curricular activities, university reputation, recruitment processes, Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), salary range, time to hire, cost to course applications, employee retention and students’ international exposure.

The survey revealed the employers’ top five hiring sources for fresh graduates were from various job sites, company career pages, career fairs held in universities, social media channels and career fair at Sunway Pyramid Convention Center.

Established in 2011, Talentbank has successfully built the employability ecosystem for universities, undergraduates and employers, bridging the gap between employers and undergraduates, a gap that continues to exist even today. They have helped graduates define and kick start their careers by connecting them with career opportunities that enable them to make their dream jobs a reality. Their mission is to increase the nation’s employability rate.

This latest October survey is part of Talentbank’s efforts to assess the job market conditions for fresh graduates in this new normal. It also marks the soft launch of Talentbank’s Employers’ Top Choice Employability Ratings which serves as a guide for future school leavers to compare and enrol into a university that can increase their chances of getting employed upon graduation.

Source: HR Asia