Comms, English skills more important for employers: JobStreet survey

By Digital News Asia September 23, 2013

Over 85% of employers looking at fresh graduates; others believe they lack necessary experience
Deciding factors: Interpersonal and communication skills, English and right salary expectation

Comms, English skills more important for employers: JobStreet survey ACCORDING to a recent JobStreet.com survey, employers are increasingly looking beyond academic results when it comes to hiring fresh graduates. The No 1 deciding factor is good interpersonal and communication skills, followed by a good command of English and the right salary expectation.

Over 85% of the employers surveyed are looking at hiring fresh graduates as they can be easily trained and are quick to adapt to a company’s culture. The other 14% believe fresh graduates lack the necessary experience, maturity and communication skills required for the job.

Every year in Malaysia, about 180,000 students graduate from institutions of higher learning, JobStreet.com said in a statement. There’s always been a gap between employers’ expectations of graduates and the quality of graduates produced.

JobStreet.com is an online recruitment company presently covering the employment markets in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. The Group services over 80,000 corporate customers and has over 11 million jobseekers in its database. JobStreet.com is listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities (JOBST).

A total of 1,019 JobStreet.com clients, managers and senior managers across various industries in Malaysia participated in this survey conducted in July 2013.

Nearly 70% of employers think the level of quality among fresh graduates is only average. They said it’s not due to lack of academic qualification, but because of their bad attitudes or poor communication skills shown during interviews and/ or at work.

Workplaces today are more complex and globalised, with managers expecting their staff to get up to speed much faster than in the past.

Job candidates were shown to be lacking the most in written and oral communication skills, adaptability, multitasking, making decisions and problem solving.

Sadly, these are many of the skills employers need most, JobStreet.com said.

“The work place, universities and society should work closely to narrow the gap of these expectations,” said Chook Yuh Yng, country manager of JobStreet.com.

“Apart from universities needing to create more well-rounded graduates, graduates should also create opportunities for themselves to have proper career planning and seek to constantly improve their skills.

“Employers too need to step up and be more innovative in helping these young employees learn to resolve specific business problems,” she added.

On the bright side, employers do not discriminate against graduates based on their educational background. A high 64% indicated they don’t have any preference when it comes to hiring a graduate from a public university, private university or foreign university.