Malaysian Professionals Lack Skills for Complex Jobs Especially in Information Technology (IT) Sector

Malaysian workers lack skills for complex jobs

Article from FMT Business as published on January 17, 2023

Malaysian workers, especially those in the IT sector, are unprepared for complex jobs because of their lack of skills.

However, there is little opportunity for them to get the proper training to raise their skill levels or to acquire new ones, according to a new survey.

The survey by human resource solutions agency Randstad Malaysia showed that 85% of Malaysian workers believed that it was important for employers to offer learning and development training programmes.

However, only 36% of them said they actually received such training.

The lack of skills and talented job seekers have become a challenge for hiring managers. At the very least, prospective employers expect job seekers to be at least digitally adept enough to deliver on projects and tasks.

This phenomena is especially clear in highly technical roles such as engineers and project developers, Randstad said.

It said that as a result of this lack of upskilling programmes for employees and a general lack of preparedness among new graduates entering the workforce, work on more complex projects could not take off.

For the employees, this also means a stagnation in their career, it added.

The survey also showed that there is no lack of enthusiasm among employees to upskill themselves. Randstad said it found that 61% of those who responded to its survey expressed a desire to develop technical skills to become more capable and productive.

“It is clear that employees are aware of their skills gap and are motivated to upskill,” it said.

Randstad said employers would need to invest in efforts to upskill their workforce. “It is their responsibility to work with experts to improve the capability of their internal learning and development team to upskill their employees through relevant and useful training courses,” it added.

It said companies should also work with educational institutions to offer internship programmes with greater impact.

“Companies can create opportunities to let undergraduate students work on key projects to evaluate their skills and growth potential and convert them into full-time employees if they meet business expectations,” it said.

Randstad Malaysia country director Fahad Naeem said companies will see success in their hiring strategies only if they take steps to manage new talent expectations and upskill the local workforce.

He said that change is crucial for companies and employees to thrive in Asia’s rapidly evolving business landscape.

“With people serving as the backbone of any organisation’s success, it is important that business leaders address employee expectations for more effective talent attraction and management efforts,” Fahad added.