Youths are to be Blamed for Unemployment, Say Employers

Youth unemployment in Malaysia continues to be a major problem for the country. Though the mismatch may be real, many employers and even employees blame the problem on the young people themselves. They also disagree that a mismatch of expertise is the main cause of youths being unable to secure a job after graduating.

Attitude towards work

According to a report by FMT, one of the reasons why employers found it hard to retain good employees was their attitude towards work. An employer said that youths are picky over what they want in a job, even though the job description fits what they studied in university. The employer also said that many job candidates only prefer the glamorous parts of the job and are unwilling to deal with paperwork and boring tasks.

Another employer said that most of the youths do not know what they are looking for in a job. According to her, companies that offer internship programmes need to improve on how they train youths. She believes that these companies do not take interns seriously and give them simple tasks that are not relevant to their job.

'Youths do not take their jobs seriously'

A project manager in a civil engineering firm said that many young employees nowadays simply do not take their jobs seriously. According to her, many of them tried to avoid work and some just don’t want to learn from their mistakes. She said that these are the reasons why most companies would rather hire senior positions than junior ones.

She further said that sometimes companies hire junior position to cut costs. In order to ensure graduates are hired, she said that youths need prior exposure and training to help them decide if they want to pursue a career in a certain industry.

In 2017, youth unemployment was at its highest at 10.8%. 40.5% of total unemployment are filled by unemployed graduates. As demand for low-skill jobs continues to be high, the government will fall short of its 35% skilled workforce target by 2020 , according to Malaysian Industrial Development Finance research.

'Too fussy'

An economics graduate said that most of the job offers he received were only for management trainee positions. He added that he had to go through several interviews and tests to get the job offer. In one of his interviews, he said the company would hire two out of 400 shortlisted candidates. According to him, the recruiter said that they wanted someone who will not leave after few months on the job as it will disrupt the company’s workflow.

He also admitted that many of his friends couldn’t find a job because they were too fussy. He said that some of them don’t understand that a fresh graduate cannot demand a high salary since they lack the necessary expertise for a senior position.

He dismissed complaints by youths who claim they are unable to find jobs, explaining that the course he studied qualified him for a wide range a jobs. As he wanted to work as a market researcher, he was focused on finding companies looking for that role and found a job within a month.

Lack of planning

A junior auditor of an accounting firm said there is a lack of planning among youths today; those from wealthy backgrounds don’t need to think twice before quitting their jobs. He added that most people would look for a new job before quitting a current job, but many modern youths don't understand what is at risk.

“Our firm is currently hiring, but so far we haven’t received a single resume. From the feedback I gathered, graduates don’t want to work long hours. But that is what an auditor is required to do. So that is another reason why some say they can’t find jobs,” he said.

He also said that university and colleges may need to start training students before they graduate and make industrial training compulsory. He believes that will help graduates to understand what they they are required to do at work.

“Depending on interest alone is not enough. For example, I may be interested in painting, but do I have the talent and what it takes to turn that into a career?” he added.

Employers are wishing that more youths displayed such common sense.

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