Press Digest - MEF estimates only 40% of fresh graduates will be able to find job next year

PETALING JAYA: With the economic outlook for Malaysia made bleak by the weakened ringgit and low crude oil price, the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) estimates that only 40% of fresh graduates would be able to land their first job next year, down from 65% this year.
MEF president Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said the Malaysian job market is flooded with some 250,000 fresh and retrained graduates each year.
In view of the lower growth forecast for next year, there will be fewer new job openings, which means fresh graduates will face greater challenges in securing a job, he said.
He pointed out that the 250,000 fresh and retrained graduates, including those returning from overseas, entering the job market next year also have to compete with existing job-seekers, some of whom have prior experience.
Given that employers prefer to hire applicants with experience, those graduating next year will have a harder time landing a good job, Shamsuddin told Oriental Daily News in an interview published today.
He said generally when our economy is stable, 65% of these fresh job-seekers will get hired within the first year upon graduation.
However, as the job-market worsens with more cases of retrenchment, not more than 40% of the fresh and retrained graduates will be successful in landing a job next year, he opined.
Shamsuddin disclosed that 200,000 Malaysians were jobless between 2013 and now, and the majority of them are graduates.
With more employers tightening their purse strings next year, more people will be jobless, he said.
He urged fresh graduates not to be too choosy, saying their priority should be to land a job as soon as possible to gain experience.
Those who cannot find a job soon should consider taking up short courses that will make them more marketable, particularly on improving their English communication skill, "as surveys showed that 50-70% of employers put communication skills of applicants as the top consideration in recruitment".