Boot camp your way to a job!

According to the 2013 National Education Statistic, over 200,000 students graduate from the institutions of higher learning annually*. However, a 2014 Malaysian Economic Monitor (MEM) report states that 31.4% of degree holders remain unemployed after their graduation**. The same report adds that 65% of companies surveyed feel that fresh graduates tend to lack the necessary soft skills such as creativity, communication and critical thinking skills. 

“By and large, if you speak with Malaysian employers, the general feeling is that the technical skills of our graduates is there, but attitudes and communication skills need to improve,” says TalentCorp’s Head of Malaysian Talent Development – Graduate Employability, Siti Norliza Mohd Sahar.

Recognising this, TalentCorp, in collaboration with universities and leading employers, introduced the Graduate Employability Boot Camp. A 3-day, 2-night residential programme, these boot camps are held throughout Malaysia and open to local graduates who have yet to secure a full time employment after six months of graduating from university. 

Participating graduates have the opportunity to learn important skills to help market themselves in the workplace, gain insights on improving their CVs as well as obtain tips to ace future job interviews. The aim, of course, is to help fresh graduates become more attractive to potential employers. 

Getting ahead in today’s highly competitive job market requires more than just academic and technical rigour. 

“In fact, based on feedback from employers we’ve engaged, it is also a mastery of ‘soft skills’ such as communication and business etiquette that sets you apart from the competition,” emphasises Siti Norliza.

Amirul Zarif Azei, a KL boot camp participant, believes that boot camps are a good way for students to gain some practice with resume writing and interview skills. “This will give students a good solid base and equip themselves with the skills and competencies so that you won’t go out into the workforce unprepared.”

The boot camps also provides opportunities for these young graduates to secure full time employment through interview sessions with employers such as MCMC, SPAD, Infineon, Top Glove and Bank Islam.

Amirul Hafiz Abdul Razak, who participated in the Kelantan boot camp, attended interviews with four companies and was offered a full time position via Human Capital Connections, a company specialising in recruitment and HR management. He believes that the boot camp helped in his journey and strongly “encourages graduates to join” these boot camps.

“You’ll be surprised at the amount of things that you’ll learn, skills that are not necessarily taught by teachers in academic institutions, things like CV drafting, interview etiquette and ways to answer interview questions,” adds Amirul Zarif.