PETALING JAYA: Graduates will have to be outstanding and fight hard for jobs because the freeze on new civil service recruitments will add pressure to their search in the private sector.
Malaysian Employers Federation’s executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said the freeze in the public sector would force those affected to turn to the private sector for work.
“Some feel that the public sector offers better job security. So, usually between 10% and 11% of fresh graduates apply for jobs in the public sector annually,” he said when interviewed yesterday.
He cited instances where some 30,000 fresh graduates had applied for 100 vacancies in the public sector.
Although the job market is still healthy, he noted that it was currently an employers’ market where bosses were selective in hiring.
“Jobs may be available in the market, but it will be tougher to find employment as a graduate has to find a suitable job to apply for.”
He noted the implementation of the 60-year-old retirement age last year would see some 200,000 positions available in the job market in 2018.
Online recruitment portal myStarjob.com manager Ivy Leong said the job market was still hiring and there were still demand in the sales, IT, engineering and construction sectors.
She said they were working with TalentCorp to give a listing of flexible working arrangements for job seekers.
Public Service Department (PSD) director-general Tan Sri Mohamad Zabidi Zainal had issued a notice to the Public Service Commission on April 22 stating that the recruitment of new employees in all government departments and agencies were frozen effective immediately.
Last year, the country had 1.4 million civil servants, who included the federal and state public services, joint public services, the education sector, the judiciary and legal service, as well as the police and armed forces.
The Public Service Commission registered a fresh intake of some 26,028 new civil servants while 17,470 employees retired for last year.
The PSD said it was still gathering more information on the matter and would provide further clarification soon.
