Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Malaysia Youth Career Survey 2009

The job scene for our generation sure has changed. Jobstreet, Asia's largest online portal recognized this need and initiated this research project to allow youths to understand the job market better and also help employers to shape better job positions for today's generation. As a joint effort with YouthSays, the Annual Youth Career Survey was opened up to the YouthSays community as well as jobseekers on Jobstreet. A total of 3,217 youths between ages 15 to 35 volunteered to participate in this online survey. Official results for this survey can be found HERE. I’m merely highlighting what is relevant and beneficial in the job seekers point-of-view.

1. 39% of the respondents stated that stable and high income jobs are important factors that lead to a dream career whilst 27.5% stated passion and interest. This proved that a stable job is still very much important in determining an ideal job compared to a not-so-secure job like being an entrepreneur.

2. 32.5% stated that they themselves are the motivator to their dream career with parents and family taking a back step with 26% and friends with 16.5%. This undoubtedly proved that absolutely nobody can change your mind on your career choice once you are certain that that is the right path for you. Not even the conventional mindset of family and peer pressure.

3. 36.4% of those interviewed believed that they can become millionaire by age of 30-40 years old.

4. A whopping 88% believed that education and good grades have helped them pursue their dream career and 83.37% of them are enrolling themselves in self improvement courses to achieve their dream career. Malaysians in general still strongly believe in scoring good grades to have a chance to help them pursue their dream career and they are taking the extra mile doing so (in self improvement courses).

5. However, a huge 62.63% stated that finding a job in Malaysia today is not easy. Plus, the current economic downturn has certainly not helped prospective graduates. Therefore, instilling oneself with appropriate skills are extremely important and finding your niche will be the key to securing your dream career.

6. 90.27% of them believed on work loyalty with the company and 95.05% of them agreed that employers’ responsibility to provide adequate job training and guidance to new employees. Companies around Malaysia, heads up! Job seekers are not getting what they deserved here! They are so loyal yet some do not get the proper training to gain the necessary technical skills needed.

7. A positive 55%, 63%, 71%, 70% and 64% in the age range of 17 and below, 18-22, 23-27, 28-32 and 33 and above respectively hunt for jobs on online portal such as JobStreet.com and YourPartTime.com. And believe me not, the future will be more that that! With the Internet and social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) playing a HUGE role in shaping the way youths are thinking and doing today, we can only imagine what they will bring in the near future!

8. 56% are willing to put in longer hours for a higher pay.

9. An astounding 75% will dedicate their life to their career. This serves as a clear indication that Malaysians are a good bunch of people that will not “jump boat” for a better offer if the particular company can surpass their expectations to a dream career!

To participate in further and discuss what you think about these results with other YouthSays members who participate in this survey, see HERE. Hopefully this insightful survey by JobStreet in collaboration with YouthSays will benefit all job seekers; especially the youths in Malaysia.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Youth Jam ‘09


In conjunction with Merdeka day coming up real soon, we bring you one special event you certainly do not want to miss! Read on for more details.

As the title suggest, the special event will be Youth Jam ’09. Organised by Jazzada Solution and dubbed the Penang Largest Merdeka Youth Carnival 2009, this spectacular event promise to bring together various exciting activities by youths for youths!

The largest youth patriotic event for the younger generation is planned in conjunction with our 52nd national Merdeka Eve’s celebration ‘09! With an estimated 10,000 youths celebrating Merdeka in Penang this year, the latest patriotic craze will hit the island with a dazzling array of youth activities like:

1. Street Ball 3 on 3 challenge;
2. Street Dance workshop;
3. Cheerleading Workshop;
4. Open stage for Local Artists and Band Performances;
5. Entrepreneurs in action;
6. Food Fair / Vendor;
7. H Factor (Make a difference);
8. Dj spin the plate workshops and...
9. Merdeka Countdown!

Supporting partners for this extravaganza:


This one-day event is scheduled to start at 7am right up to midnight this Merdeka eve and to be held in Penang Times Square. Those not in Penang can still come as accommodation and transport to the venue has been taken care of by the organiser. See HERE and HERE for more details.

In conjunction with this event, YourPartTime.com will have a booth in the upcoming Youth Jam ’09 fiesta for being their supporting partner. Come and spend some time in this eventful day with games, activities and knowledge! Who knows, you might be inspired in any one of the activities mentioned above.

See you guys there and Happy Merdeka!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Future Trends in HR Operating Models

Based on an interesting article from the web HERE, I am merely just quoting the main points stated in this highly intriguing idea. The future of HR and recruitment will look like this, perhaps?

1. Workforce and economic changes will require HR to allocate more resources to delivering HR Strategy
- The key drivers for change includes unprecedented economic change, workforce challenges, different technologies for different generation and technological and social enables (like social network sites)
- In short, the new HR Operating Model will be focused on 4 main agenda - workforce, economy, HR Vendor Market and TECHNOLOGY.

2. New tools will enable improvements in collaboration, productivity and managing the workforce
- We are using a variety of social media and other tools from Twitter to Google to LinkedIn.
- In HR, according to research by Communications Management, 8 out of 10 HR professionals belong to online communities or social networking sites in their daily work. One in three (32.3%) have already asked for supplier recommendations through this medium.

3. HR Outsourcing market will restructure to deliver standardised services

4. HR as a corporate function will be leaner, with Employees and Managers doing more

5. HR Skills will develop in Change Management, Project Management, Vendor Management and Technology

Interesting to see how the HR sector will change a year or maybe 10 years from now. Stay tuned for more interesting write-up regarding HR/recruitment and how social media are definitely playing its part on this.

Human Power for Your Company