Working together with top employers to upskill our local graduates

Many Malaysian employers agree that the most challenging thing about hiring local graduates is finding quality candidates who possess the all-in-one package of the right qualifications, skillset and attitude. A common observation is that our local graduates, in general, tend to be less competitive and fall short of soft skills, which include the ability to communicate with clarity and to think critically, especially when it comes to problem solving.

Recognising this, TalentCorp’s Graduate Employability Management Scheme (GEMS) aims to alleviate this problem by incentivising employers in key economic sectors to hire unemployed graduates. Each GEMS candidate will be hired for a period that lasts eight months up to a year, during which candidates will be equipped with periodical technical training and sector-specific soft skills, on top of on-the-job training offered through a host company.  

The GEMS programme is yet another one of TalentCorp’s many initiatives that aim to close the skills gap in this country. Key to the success of the GEMS programme is the participation from top Malaysian employers.

“By building better and closer partnerships between employers, universities and the Government, we can collectively ensure Malaysia has the steady stream of industry-ready graduates that its bright economic future requires,” said the Minister of Higher Education, Dato' Seri Haji Idris Jusoh.

TalentCorp also runs, on a regular basis, the Graduate Employability Boot Camp, a 3-day, 2-night residential programme open to local graduates who have yet to secure a full time employment after six months of graduating from university. In this boot camp, participating graduates will 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. 

In the previous boot camps, participating graduates have also had the opportunity to meet recruiters from top companies, and some have even secured full time employment with companies such as HP, Brandt International, DRB-Hicom, Hong Leong Assurance, Infineon, HSBC, Aegis BPO and Maybank.

No doubt, as a country, we still have an uphill challenge in upskilling our local graduates to meet the talent demands of our economic aspirations to become a fully developed nation. However, through initiatives like the GEMS programme and other collaborative efforts between academia and industry, Malaysia can and will continue to develop a talent pool that is not merely employable, but also retainable, to grow in tandem with the long-term success of our nation.