Given the current challenging job market for both experienced workers as well as fresh graduates, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) is taking proactive measures to ensure its graduates continue to be in high demand with potential employers.
The university today inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with JobStreet whereby various initiatives were introduced to ensure UTAR’s students are equipped with the relevant knowledge and expertise to succeed in the working world.
“Our partnership with JobStreet goes beyond academic learning. Instead, our aim is to nurture students to be forward-thinking global professionals and entrepreneurs who are knowledgeable, competent and ethical life-long learners who would bring positive impact to society,” said UTAR President Ir Prof Dr Ewe Hong Tat.
Among the initiatives under the MoU is the JobStreet Student Portal, where students can apply for various internship positions with both local companies as well as multinational ones.
“The purpose of the JobStreet Student Portal is to help students land their first roles in the working world,” said Prof Ewe, adding that portal simplifies processes making it easy-to-use for internship applications.
The MoU also covers both parties exploring and conducting joint research collaboration activities, as well as joint academic-industrial collaborative activities including conferences, webinar, workshops, publications, and seminars.
JobStreet Country Manager Gan Bock Herm expressed delight to have concluded the MoU, which he described as a “collective effort to ensure UTAR students stay above the rest”.
“The current job market is challenging for both experienced workers as well as fresh graduates as companies take steps to review their operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns,” said Gan.
“COVID-19 greatly affected the job market even for fresh graduates. However, we have since seen progressive recovery of the job market with restrictions being eased,” he added.
“The number of fresh graduate roles have increased by 300% in this period, bringing the total number of fresh graduate jobs to over 1,700 available jobs, making JobStreet the largest job portal for fresh graduate jobs in the market.”
From a recent JobStreet COVID-19 survey, findings indicated that 25% of the employers surveyed will be looking to hire again in the next 6 months and this will include fresh graduates.
“Based on the research, the top 5 industries still hiring are information technology, food & beverage, science & technology, government and health & safety sectors,” revealed Gan.
Gan also shared that, as the MCO had changed the way companies need to operate in order to survive, skills related to digital and IT are highly sought after.
“The demand for new roles such as Digital Marketing Analyst, Social Media Executive, Data Science Executive, Big Data Analyst, Junior Mobile Application Developer and UX Designer is even higher as companies move into digitalising their business.”
Fresh graduates were also encouraged to remain “driven” and be proactive in securing employment.
Gan reaffirmed that, while the job market remains challenging, JobStreet is committed to helping fresh graduates build their careers by connecting them with jobs.
“Besides the specifically created portal, we would highly encourage fresh graduates to download our latest mobile app that will enable them to connect with jobs in the shortest time possible,” said Gan.
“It is JobStreet’s mission to help graduates land their first employment roles, and to be their ‘career partner’ for life,” concluded Gan.