Graduates in Malaysia who have difficulty finding jobs will now have help from the government. Some 44,000 Malaysian graduates have yet to find work – an increase from 43,000 in 2010 and 41,000 in 2009.
As the number of unemployed graduates continues to rise, government agency TalentCorp has unveiled a programme that aims to boost their employability.
Known as the Graduate Career Accelerated Programme (GCAP), it provides six weeks of training for unemployed graduates with cumulative grade point averages of between 2.0 and 3.0. Two private education centres, Scicom Education Group and MyPartners, will be conducting the trainings.
After the trainings, firms will help graduates find jobs in the services sector, such as in banks or multi-national corporations (MNCs). TalentCorp CEO Johan Merican said that this is likely to be more effective since employers are involved in the process.
In a report by The Straits Times, Merican said: “With industry input provided by the partner-employers, it will enhance the industry relevance of these graduates.”
Some 150,000 people graduate from Malaysia’s universities each year, but for many of them, their job search has been fruitless.
The GCAP wants to ensure that at least three quarter 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.
Experts say that the high number of unemployed Malaysian graduates is because many are not adequately equipped for the working world, with weak English, poor problem-solving skills and a lack of professional etiquette.
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