60,000 Unemployed Malaysian Graduates…and Counting

If you Google “unemployed graduates” you’ll find a string of blogs, news archives relating to Malaysian unemployed graduates. According to Wong Chun Wai in his article “For our kids’ sake check the slide” (Sunday Star, Nov 16), there are 60,000 unemployed Malaysian graduates.

There are some quarters who sympathize with these graduates and even blame corporate companies for not making available more opportunities. The numbers are crazy, ridiculous and ludicrous – as is all the sympathy being showered on these graduates. As the number increases, the attitude and ability of the graduates go downhill.

Let me share some figures with you. Since the beginning of the year, ATCEN has had 16 interns/fresh graduates. Out of this, only FIVE completed their internship and received jobs – two at ATCEN itself. We do give them opportunities – but most of them can’t take the heat. Ask them to work until 9pm and they don’t turn up the next day. Couple this with zero initiative plus no common sense and it equals a recipe for unemployment.

Due to this affliction, most companies would rather pay a lot more in salaries and get better qualified people on board than to literally squander their time with these graduates. Time is wasted because these young people are trained, nurtured and in some cases mentored only for them to leave without even so much as a thank you.

Fresh graduates should realize that a majority of them have bad attitudes towards life and work. They are too picky and choose jobs like they are selecting fruits at the pasar malam. Most are also stupidly unaware of the position they are in, which is NOT a position to be fussy.

These graduates also want instant gratification, make lots money but not willing to put in the effort. What they need to learn is delayed gratification. I will keep telling them to wake up by slapping them on their face and make them suffer to learn the reality of the world.