"Flipping through the job listing sections, there are hundreds of companies waiting for the right employees. Yet the rates of unemployed graduates are still terrifyingly high: We're talking tens of thousands of jobless graduates. It is an employee's market, but there are no employees. This then, begs the question: Are our graduates unemployed... or just plain unemployable? Put down that PS3, we're about to give you the harsh reality, and boy, it ain't gonna be pretty.
By Pauline Wong
Have you ever insulted the company you were applying for? No? Another fresh graduate did - when he told the interviewer he would like to be CEO of the company as the company is 'nobody' in the market.
Have you ever turned down a well-paying job because you have no transport to get there? No? Well, 82 out of 100 of graduates who were offered jobs by a prominent local company did.
From the lackadaisical attitude of graduates to wanting luxury, comfort and the 'easy life', fresh graduates these days are spoilt for choice in the job market, but are too spoilt to take the job.
Despite the endless number of articles, tips and advice found online or in books on how to have the perfect interview, graduates crash-and-burn in a fiery mess during interviews, or even before the interview.
From being fussy, or to talking about money too soon, employers have seen and heard it all - and they are not too happy with what they've seen.
Fresh Graduates: Unemployed, or Unemployable?
In 2008, a survey showed that as many as 60,000 graduates are currently still unemployed. As of 2009, various news articles put the estimate of unemployed graduates at anywhere between 80,000 and 100,000.
Sarah F. is an employee training consultant and has helped train and place fresh graduates with some of the biggest local companies and multinational companies in Malaysia. Having interviewed thousands of candidates, she is not surprised at the high unemployment rates.
"There is a lot of difference between the Gen Y employees now than employees before," she said. "In the past, the older generation grew up being told that they need to get a job and work their way up, even if they have to take two buses just to get to work every day."
It is now the employees market, she said. "Employers are desperate. It's the truth. Employees can pick and choose the jobs they want."
But now, said Sarah, the Gen Y employee is demanding.
"They want money, they want lots of time to themselves, comfort, and they feel that they have a right to say what they feel and think. They want the easy life, they don't want to work their way up and they are not willing to make sacrifices. I'll explain why I say this: The first: I've had graduates come in and the first thing they ask me is the location of the workplace. They will then ask me if there is transport there (either public or company) and if I say no, then they will not even consider taking the job."
She cites one example of a mass-hire by a very well-known company: This company wanted to hire over 100 fresh graduates, but of the 100 they offered, only 18 accepted the job offer. The rest had turned it down mostly due to transport issues.
"But this company is located in the heart of KL, and they were willing to pay more than RM2,300 for a fresh graduate. I was at a loss for words!"
After we cross the 'hurdle' of transport, she said, the next they ask is whether they will have to stay back after working hours.
"They ask me: Is it 9 to 5? They will tell me that they do not want to stay back and work overtime, and they do not want to work weekends. A large majority of graduates are like that and it worries me. I want to tell them the realities of life, and that nothing ever comes easy."
She has also seen too many fresh graduates who are too laidback, with no sense of urgency.
"In another similar mass-hire, two grads came up to me and asked if they could use the printer in the administration office. The reason? They had not printed out their resumes for an interview that was to take place in about an hour. I was shocked by their lackadaisical attitude - shouldn't you have printed them last night, I asked. They told me that they were too tired, and didn't have time to print it out the day before."
When she asked them to go to the shop nearby, they blankly told her that a 'friend' had said the shop was closed. It turned out that the shop wasn't closed - they just didn't bother to check and was hoping for an easy way out.
"Don't they want a job? Don't they care? What are they still doing sitting around when there is an interview going on?"
The No-Show
In the worst case scenarios, some simply don't show up.
"I once arranged for an interview for a candidate who was very eager for a better job. But on the day of the interview, he simply didn't show up. When I called the next day, he told me he had lost his way to the interview location and decided to just go home."
I was baffled, she said. "I asked him why he didn't just call to say he had lost his way, and he said he was 'scared'. I had no idea what he was scared of."
Similarly, some just don't show up entirely and tell her that their parents had said 'very far away, better work closer to home.'
Worse than not showing up, however, is turning up to the interview like it were an exam.
"A reputable company was looking for fresh graduates, and they interviewed one candidate who kept looking down as she answered the questions. It turned out she had prepared notes and answers to the questions and was looking down at her notepad. This didn't happen to one candidate - it happened with a string of them!"
"Come on, it is not an examination. Just show up, dress appropriately, talk naturally and tell the interviewer your strengths, weaknesses and what you're good at."
Cringe-worthy Interviews
But even with the numerous tips and do's and don'ts one can find on the internet, some candidates do such cringe-worthy things they defy belief.
"A friend of mine, who is in HR, told me that one candidate asked for a higher pay, around RM2,500. She said fine, okay, perhaps you can explain why you need more money?"
One would expect an answer of family financial commitments and such, but this candidate had other excuses.
"He said: "I need a higher pay because I need to go to Starbucks, man! A cup of coffee costs RM12, and I need to go there to hang out with my friends. If I don't get a higher pay I won't be able to go there anymore. I mean, I need to go there at least three times a week." It didn't help that he had actually slouched all through the interview."
Another candidate had impressed his interviewers right up to the moment he insulted them.
"When asked where he saw himself in three years, he confidently said: CEO. The interviewers were taken aback, but well, ambition is good. Until of course, he answered that he wanted to be CEO of their company because their company was 'no good, and is nobody in the market'."
The company in question, said Sarah, is number one in its industry. Luckily for the candidate, the interviewer was gracious enough to tell him never to repeat that again, and that he needed to get his facts straight before saying something like that. Clearly, he did not get the job.
And yet another story: A candidate Sarah interviewed for her own company actually said: "Yes I can work in a team, but if another member of my team is leader instead of me, I will work with him but make sure I pull him down so I may go up."
Communication Breakdown
Another huge, huge problem that needs to be looked into immediately is the command of language, especially English.
"The fact is: Almost all companies want candidates who can speak English well, or at least well enough. Things in our education system should have improved but they seemed to have gotten worse to the point where I wondered how they graduated in the first place."
"Some candidates can barely understand a word of English. Some of them just don't think about the importance of a good command of English until they come out to the working world and see the reality."
This is not reflective of all graduates, of course, stressed Sarah. Many candidates make an effort to improve their English but sometimes it's just too little too late, and she feels sorry for them.
"Resume writing is another hurdle that comes from a poor command of English. I still encounter resumes written in short-forms and leet-speak, like 'u', 'r' and 'ur'. If you think it's just one or two, no, eight out of 10 resumes I get are like that."
That is what's out there in the market now.
"If you ask me, between unemployed or unemployable, I would say that a lot of our graduates are unemployable. And that is the truth."
Rohayah Ahmad, Manager and Hiring Consultant at Jobstreet.com also shared that biggest barrier that graduates falter over is the most basic of all: Communication skills.
"Communicative skills are the main issue, from what we notice of candidates who are not hired. As fresh graduates with no experience, the ability to communicate well and having a good command of English is the determining factor to getting hired," she said. "We do our level best to screen our candidates before short-listing them for interviews (with our clients) but the fact remains that being able to speak and write well in English is only half the battle."
The other half is won by showing up and doing well in the interview.
Making an Impression
Similar to what was shared by Sarah, Rohayah also cites the attitude of candidates as a problem.
"They are demanding, especially about pay, and about work hours. They are fussy about the kind of job scope they will be getting." Many graduates do not carry themselves well. "They sit slouched, they dress badly, they pick up phone calls during an interview and worst of all, some of them even have bad breath!"
Some candidates do not print out hard copies of their resumes, and these things all go to creating an impression to the interviewer. "The way you dress and speak tell the interviewer about you and your personality."
Even something as simple as being asked to sit goes towards giving off the right or wrong impression.
"If your interviewer does not ask you to sit down, don't. Don't just come in and sit down without being invited to. Or ask if you can, if the interviewer forgets. And give a firm handshake. The handshake is more important than you think."
A limp handshake and a slouched demeanour screams sloppy, unorganised or worse, disrespectful.
The Conclusion
It isn't that there are no opportunites out there. It is whether the candidates want to seize them and get the job. So many websites like Jobstreet.com, JobsDB.com or Yahoo! Jobs give useful tips on how to behave during an interview or how to write the correct resume.
And there are positives to the Gen Y employee that all employers are coming around to accept: They are more outspoken, braver, and not afraid to tell you what they want.
So don't let this be the good advice that you didn't take, and learn from the mistakes in this story to snag that job you want."
