KUALA LUMPUR: Fresh graduate employment prospects in Malaysia is likely to see a boost as employers ramp up hiring next year and in 2022.

Talentbank, recruitment, market research, education and employer branding company, with 196 organisations in Malaysia revealed that a whopping 73.41 per cent of respondents intend to hire fresh graduates from private and public universities in Malaysia in 2021.

The survey conducted in October also showed that 21.97 per cent of respondents were unsure and only a small percentage of 4.62 per cent of employers were unlikely to hire.

A total of 76.3 per cent of respondents were also optimistic they would be hiring fresh graduates from Malaysia's public and private universities in 2022. 

Talentbank Chief Executive Officer Ben Ho said the outcome of the survey was indeed good news in the current period of volatility and uncertainty brought about by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic which has caused many companies to cut operating costs by reducing manpower to get through the crisis.

"It also means that private and public universities in Malaysia are producing graduates with the right set of skill sets needed by the industry," he said.

On the survey, Ho said respondents were mainly in senior positions attached to mid-sized and large organisations.

"They formed 80.35 per cent of all respondents. Public listed companies in Malaysia made up 33.53 per cent of his segment."nThe survey results also revealed promising job prospects for fresh graduates with backgrounds in Accounting, Business Management, Marketing, Computing and Information Technology, Human Resource Management, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Mass Communications, Banking and Economics.

The monthly salaries offered to fresh graduates from all these fields average between RM2,501 and RM3,000, while internship allowances average RM1,000 a month.

"We asked employers if they placed a greater emphasis on attitude or academic results when hiring fresh graduates and the responses came as no surprise. A majority of 91.91 per cent of the respondents chose a good attitude over academic results while the remaining 8.09 per cent stressed on academic results over good attitude.

"These results point to a growing demand for people who are versatile, able to pick up new skills and take on new responsibilities thrown at them," said Ho.

He said the top 10 most important recruitment metrics that leading employers used when hiring fresh university graduates were: Career readiness, extra-curricular activities, university reputation, recruitment processes, Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), salary range, time to hire, cost to course applications, employee retention and students' international exposure.

The survey revealed the employers' top five hiring sources for fresh graduates were from various job sites, company career pages, career fairs held in universities, and social media channels.