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November 08, 2005
The lazy graduate
Thank you very much. The Star Malaysia reports that there are 60,000 fresh graduates in Malaysia and all of them are unable to find a job because they are lazy, lack motivation and communication skills.
All of them?
I for sure know some fresh graduates that were the exact opposite. Sure, there are graduates that are lazy, but may be because they haven't found the right opportunity yet? Is it really better to just take any job and find out, 2 years down the road (if it takes that long), that you actually want to do something differently? Is it really better to do any job and become an unengaged, disruptive employee who job-hobs just to get out of the dreadmill? Isn't it clear that any job you take will somewhat determine how your life turns out to be? A small deviation adds up to a lot over time.
May be they are right - graduates are really lazy, and pampered. But have they been taught life skills? Instead of performance? How many As do you need to be successful? If all of the graduates achieve the same number of As, may be we need to add on some more topics? Where is their life? Is tuition really that important and the A in any topic or subject?
Are those responsible for education actually clear what is needed for Malaysia on the job market in 10, 15 or 20 years? Isn't it clear, from any visit to the bookshop, to conversation with a CEO, to surfing the Internet or reading Fortune Magazine, that what is needed is placed aside of "normal education"?
Let me call it lifeskill and what do I mean by that?
Lifeskill to me are skills that help you manage your life in the future:
- Innovative thinking
- Creativity
- Teamwork
- Being fast in what you do, but also being able to step back from speed, saying that Slower Is Faster (
- Being able to take and understand different positions
- Being able to think cross-functionally
- Being able to learn, unlearn, forget and relearn
- Being able to adjust to new situations
- Being able to find, extract and manipulate information
- Being able to understand what is required in the small and the big picture
- Being able to challenge, adjust and swim along the status quo
There might be more, but thank you, for now, that is enough.
And hey - one more thing: I believe there is no failed student, only failed institutions. How is that?
Posted by Andreas at November 8, 2005 04:54 PM
Comments
I totally disagree with the statement that ALL Malaysian graduate are lazy. Rather than putting them blame on fresh graduate, I would like to put the blame on the organizations.
Most of them are unwilling to take on fresh graduates. A scan of the job ads in any newpaper reveals that almost all of them require applicants to have at least 2 - 3 years working experience. If they can't get a job in the first place, where are they going to get the experience.
Posted by: Adam at November 10, 2005 03:21 PM
Although part of the blame can be directed to the institutions that these unemployed undergrads come from, sometimes it is just because of the individual. Sure, you can teach loads of stuff to a person, but if the person is not willing to learn, is not determined and motivated to grow and learn, you'd end up nowhere anyways. We live in a society that celebrates mediocrity (just look at the UM issue), and people tend to adopt the "Tidak Apa", or "it's ok" attitude. You dont need to come from a local institution to see this. I was given a scholarship to study abroad, and I will have to say some of these 'lucky' students just take their scholarship for granted and choose to spend their time playing online games, etc (of all the things you could do while overseas,ya?). So yes, attitude is a HUGE factor.
Posted by: azure at November 9, 2005 11:34 AM
The thing I don't get is this: Don't these fresh graduates come from families? Don't their parents teach them anything? I somehow have the funny feeling that parents aren't doing their job anymore; they expect the education system to take over and be their kiddies' parent.
It's like that TIME graphic I saw which read along the lines of this: Parents think the education system is like a washing machine. You dump your kiddie in school, all dirty and bad AND expect them to come out clean when you come to collect them.
Personally, I feel that it's this: if people don't want to help themselves, no matter how much we try, they just won't get better. You can take a donkey to the well but you can't make it drink if it doesn't want to.
Posted by: Mei at November 8, 2005 07:57 PM
KNS lar.
I think it comes down to attitude most of the time. Maybe the institution hasn't prepared the students for the 'real' business world. But know this: I've worked with some people, who after more than a year or two working, still have the mentality that everything comes around in a conveyor belt, wrapped up with ribbon, on the left side; on the right a jukebox that not only produces music but gold coins and in front, a robotic hand that feeds using stainless steel spoon.
And for that, I feel like slapping them.
Posted by: thatbottle at November 8, 2005 05:43 PM
I read that, and laughed out loud that they dared to publish something as discriminating as that.
Posted by: Marita Paige at November 8, 2005 05:34 PM
being a local grad, i have loads to say about this coz i have been interviewing local and oversea grads for executive positions. in summary, the symptoms are the unemployed grads and the root cause is the education system. will blog about this some other time, provided i don't go into a ranting mood! hehehe
Posted by: buaya69 at November 8, 2005 05:13 PM