A government agency formed to convince Malaysians living abroad to
return home to live and work is now being tapped to improve the job skills of
the country's perennially unemployed.
As the number of unemployed
graduates continues to rise - to 44,000 last year, up from 43,000 in 2010 and
41,000 in 2009 - the agency, TalentCorp, has unveiled a pilot programme to help
them help themselves.
Known as the Graduate Career
Accelerated Programme (GCAP), it provides six weeks' training by two private
education centres, Scicom Education Group and MyPartners, for unemployed
graduates with cumulative grade point averages of between 2.0 and 3.0.
After the training, these firms
will help graduates find jobs in the services sector, including banks and
multinational companies. TalentCorp chief executive officer Johan Merican said
the six-week programme will be effective because employers are involved.
"With industry input
provided by the partner-employers, it will enhance the industry relevance of
these graduates," he said.
Malaysia defines graduates as
those with degrees awarded by about 50 public and private universities, as well
as those with diplomas from 200 private colleges and polytechnics.
Some 150,000 people graduate from
these institutions every year.
But for many of them, the
euphoria of receiving a degree scroll is fast giving way to the frustrations of
a long job search.
Despite millions of ringgit
poured into government training programmes to help graduates find jobs, the
number of unemployed people is still rising.
The GCAP aims to ensure at least
75 per cent of graduates land jobs shortly after graduation. Last year, only
about half of them found employment while the rest either pursued further
studies or could not get jobs.
The results are critical as the
country needs a skilled workforce to move up the income ladder by the year
2020, a government goal.
TalentCorp believes its programme
will work as it comes with job placements.
"The uniqueness of the GCAP
is the active participation of its partner-employers, which include small and
medium-sized enterprises, government-linked companies and blue-chip
multinational companies in industries such as telecommunications, tourism and
finance," said Merican.
It does not help that although
the ministry of higher education (MHE) has increased oversight of private
learning institutions, their numbers have mushroomed, producing more graduates.
As a result, some 44,000 graduates were left on the kerb last year due to poor
English, lack of problem-solving skills and professional etiquette. This was
despite 20,000 jobs being posted daily, according to online recruiter
JobStreet.
Under the GCAP, graduates are
trained to develop essential skills for customer management. The programme
includes learning business etiquette, English and how to build one's
confidence.
Participants of similar training
programmes conducted by Scicom and MyPartners have found jobs. Others, like Lim
Yoke Wah, who attended a course organised by MHE, do not think such programmes
help.
Lim, who scored a 3.0 GPA in
university and earned a degree in business administration, is still job-hunting
after three months.
"Prospective employers are
still more interested in our academic qualifications... They didn't seem to
care whether I had attended such training programmes or not," she said.
Yong Yen Nie
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