ABSTRACT

In now day era, getting a job is a pre-requisite to achieve stability and happiness. Having a
job means the people can expand their choices towards certain extends and having multiple of
choices usually improves life condition of the individual. But we need to concede that
marketability of individual play an important role toward on how they will get a job. Thus,
the aims of the research were to determine the factor of low marketability of an individual
and how the effect of difficult in getting job can harm their life. Hence, thirty respondents
from IPTA (Institut Pengajian Tinggi Awam) and IPTS (Institut Pengajian Tinggi Swasta)
were choosen randomly to assist in this survey. This study employed descriptive analysis and
presented results in figure and percentage. It was found that the majority of the respondents
believe on the same factor that can contribute to low marketability of fresh graduates on
engineering students in Malaysia. The study also found that how low marketability can affect
and bring harms to the individual financially and emotionally. It can be concluded that the
respondent know that this problem occurred specifically on engineering students in Malaysia.
Thus we hope that this study can help to improve as reference to future fresh graduates
awareness towards their obstacle in future
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all those who contributed to the
completion of this report. A special gratitude goes to our lecturer, Madam Radhiah bt.
Ghouse who contributed in stimulating suggestions and encouragement, helping us to
coordinate this task well especially in writing this report.

We would also like to convey our deep appreciation to all respondents for their
cooperation in answering the questionnaire. Lastly, a special thanks to our family for their
moral and financial supports during preparation of this report. These commitments enabled us
to succeed in completing this report on time. Thank you.
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................................ 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.0 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1 Problem Statement (NABIL)..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2 Objectives of the Study (Nabil) ................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3 Significance of the Study(Hilman) ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.4 Limitation of the Study(Hilman) ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.5 Previous study(PE) ................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.0 METHODOLOGY .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1 Respondents of the Study(ALAN) ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.2 Instruments of the Study(ALAN) .............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.3 Data Collection Procedure(ALAN)............................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4 Data Analysis Method(ALAN) ................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.0 FINDINGS ................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1 Background of the Respondents(DAH BUAT) ........... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2 Factors that Contribute to Low Marketability(NABIL) Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3 Effects of Low Marketability(PE).............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.0 CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS ......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.1 Conclusions(HILMAN) ............................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2 Recommendations(HILMAN) ................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
REFERENCES ..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
APPENDIX 1: SAMPLE OF QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................. 163
1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND STUDY

From 2016-2017, there had been a trend of analysis that showed to us that a large number of
fresh graduate are actually hard to be employed. What does fresh graduate means? A fresh
graduate is a person who has just recently graduated from particular institution. They usually
have little to no skill sets, making them ideal for apprenticeships, entry-level positions, and
have little experience depending on how long they have been in internship. When there were
fewer graduates, a generic college degree used to be a valuable credential. Now that the
market is flooded, diplomas countless, and specific skills count more. This means that, in
many instances, associates and technical degrees may be more financially valuable than a
liberal arts degree. After all, some of the fastest growing job categories are expected to be in
so-called "middle-skill" positions such as nursing, which do not require a full, four-year
education.

Numerous researches have been conducted about the number of these people unemployed.
But almost majority of the researches more to assume the factors of fresh graduates to be
unemployed. As the country has been categorized as a developing country, this means this
country have more job opportunity created every year in order to pursue one of the objective
of Wawasan 2020 which is economic stability. Therefore, it is important to investigate the
real question that may be lead to the actual solution for this problem.
 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Getting opportunity to get job in industry today is not that easy. Every year, it was informed
that the average number of student who were actually unemployed within 6 months after
graduating in Malaysia range from 20,000 to 50,000. Also, according to the Department of
Statistics, about 160,000 of Malaysians in 2016 who have a tertiary education are
unemployed (though reasons vary and the age range covers the entire labour force).Why
getting work early for fresh graduate today is important especially in Malaysia? Other than
employment can help financially for the individual to survive in this capitalistic world, full
employment is also play important role of the economic, social and environmental
development process and procedure of any country. Employment provides financial freedom
and decision making power. It plays the biggest role in poverty alleviation. That is why
employment is important if fresh graduate want to build happy and prosperous environment
in Malaysia and any country. We can see the happiness and level of excitement when fresh
graduates get jobs. It is not that easy to acquire a job these day.Although these fresh graduate
passed most of the pre-requisite to be integrated in industry (for example: high CGPA result)
but the chances for most of these student to get employed is relatively low. In our research,
we think it is important to point out a few important questions to be answered which are:

 What are the several important factors that contribute to the unemployment of fresh
graduate for the first six month?
 What are the effects of low marketability on graduates who are unemployed for the
first six months?
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY (nabil)

The purpose of the study is to investigate the marketability (importance) of fresh

graduate of engineering courses to get employed in Malaysia. This study suggests several
research objectives to be attained as follows:

1) To determine the important factors that contribute to the unemployment of fresh

graduate in this country
2) To determine the effects of low marketability on graduates who are unemployed for
the first six months.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The benefit of this study will actually affect several stakeholder of the problem. Firstly,
the one who benefit the most is the student of engineering itself because they will know
what the technical or theory preparation to be made in order to get employed. Secondly,
most corporation or manufacturing industry get those benefit cause when these fresh
graduate meet the criteria they want, they would not need to hired engineer from other
country which probably more expensive to do the work. Lastly, it could help the
university to find the right solution and solve these problems.(cite back from previous
study)

1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

There are several limitations that might occur in this study. As the respondent will come
from the different background of studies, it will be more likely that different syllabus
actually might affect the value marketability from each respondent .The effort or the
struggle of each respondent also are something hardly to measure, but also might
significantly affect to our result as well.
1.6 PREVIOUS STUDIES

Employability is a difficult concept to measure and to define (Harvey, 2001; Pegg, Waldock,
Hendy-Isaac & Lawton, 2012; Sewell & Dacre Pool, 2010). Employability concept appears
to grow in line with the changes in work pattern and manpower model. McQuaid and Linda
(2005) stated that although employability was a vague concept in the past decade, it now
plays an important role in determining the UK labor market policy, in some European
countries and other countries also. Employability now is looked upon as the main target in
most labor market policies and manpower strategies in most country especially for the
employability of graduates. University graduates hold a high position in the economy and
many countries deemed them as social elites and consequently as the work group to access
high income with the potential to fulfil the career of knowledge worker.

Every year, statistical data from Ministry of High Education stated that about 200,000
students graduate from universities all over Malaysia but, a quarter, or about 50,000 of them
end up unemployed every year. Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem
told the Dewan Rakyat that between 2010 and 2013, the number of unemployed graduates
have steadily grown. In 2010, there were only 42,954 fresh graduates who found themselves
jobless. Just four years later, in 2013, the number went up to 52, 282.

From the previous study we can conclude that the major factors that effecting the
marketability of graduated students are the attitude of the students itself, poor communication
in english and lack of communication skills. There were also some employer thinks that
graduates are lack of multitasking, decision-making and problem solving skills.

Almost all the study that had been done only generalise for type of courses in all university.
Therefore, we wanted to specific the research to marketability of engineering graduated
students only. Hopefully, with this research we can understand a bit more why some of the
engineering students hardly to get employed in Malaysia.

(detail of five article)

2.0 METHODOLOGY

This study basically refers to the respondent of fresh engineering graduates and
employee from any engineering related field. This is because, in this study, we are able to
analyze fresh graduate from various universities in Malaysia from engineering faculty by
questioning with several questions to what actually they had faced before they were
getting employed. Besides, experienced employee also have more thorough experience of
the cycle of the real industry of what they should and shouldn’t do than students and the
fresh graduates .

In the questionnaire, there are several important components will be included in

the survey form to verify this research. Firstly, they will be asked about their background
for instances their gender, age and working status. Next, the respondent will be asked
with the range of time for them to be employed whether within 6 months or more to
verify whether or not this problem is still exist in the society.

Secondly, the respondents will be asked about the factors that contribute to the
problems for example, English proficiency, soft skills and related certificate that increase
the higher chances for them to get employ. This section is significantly important in order
to determine the most common factors that might help for future purposes. Next section is
the impact of the low marketability on graduates who are unemployed for the first six
month .The collected data will be analysed using the Excel Software to obtain much
descriptive statistics. This study will be conducted in 10 weeks duration and the targeted
respondents will be 30 people minimum.

Moreover , area of the distribution of the questionnaire also one of the compulsory
points to gather more reliable data . For example, the distribution of the questionnaire for
fresh graduates are at the engineering faculty department. This is because, at the faculty
there are a list of the alumni that are able to be contacted and there are also several
meetings session that are created by the faculty for the alumni to give confession about
the industry for beginner. Next, we also distribute the questionnaire for the employee at
the company around UiTM Shah Alam as Shah Alam are one of the well developed town
that has a lot of industrial sector that can be pinpointed. They were distributed during
peak time hour such as lunch breaks and after work about 6.00 p.m. because that’s the
only time that we can get the respondents to answer and clarify the questionnaires. Range
 of time about 5 to 7 minutes are given to each of the respondents to answer the
questionnaire.

3.0 DATA FINDINGS

3.1 BACKGROUND OF THE RESPONDENTS

Background of the
Respondents
80.00% No, 66.70%
Number of people

60.00%

40.00% yes, 33.30%

20.00%

0.00%
Male Employed More than 6 month to
get employed

Figure 1 (Background of the Respondent)

The total respondent for this research are 30 people. They were consisted from various types

of IPTA and IPTS in Malaysia. From figure 1, 48.7 percent of them are male (14 people) and

the remaining are women. From the survey also, 58.6 percent of them (17 respondents)

already have job while the others still do not have it. Among the 17 people, 33.3 percent of it

(6 people) need more than 6 months in order to get employed permanently. From this

demographic data, we can validate the problem to get employed among the fresh graduates of

engineer is exist.
3.2 Factors that contribute to low marketability in engineering students in
Malaysia

Factors that contribute to low

marketability in engineering students in
Malaysia
100.00%
90.00%
NUMBER OF PEOPLE

80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Lack of
Too
certificate
Poor Lack of choosy Unsuitable
Low CGPA of
English soft skills picking syllabus
competenc
works
ies
Yes 43.30% 90.30% 61.30% 54.80% 93.50% 53.30%
No 56.70% 9.70% 38.70% 45.20% 6.50% 46.70%

Figure 2 : Factors that contribute to low marketability in engineering students in Malaysia

Figure 1 shows the proportion of agree and disagree engineering students in Malaysia

on factors that contribute to low marketability to get employed for instances low CGPA, lack

certificate of competencies, lack of soft skills, too choosy in picking work, poor English

communication and unsuitable syllabus in universities for working in engineering industry.

Based on figure 1, a majority of the respondents which are 93.5 percent were agree

that lack of certificate of competencies are one of the main reason that contribute to low

marketability in engineering students. Certificate such as green card, OGSP (NIOSH Oil and

Gas Safety Passport), SHO( Safety and Health Officer) usually required a lot of money to

have it. But possessing these kind of certificates when applying job in factory especially will

create a great advantage. There are two reasons for this, one, when the employer knows this

employee have suitable certificate for the company, this will create a better image and more

likely to be absorb in the company. Secondly, as mention earlier that this type of certificate
usually required a high cost, thus, the company itself can saves their expenses from providing

the training to the employees.

Next, the second largest factor contribute to the low marketability of engineering

students is lack of soft skills among the fresh graduates. Soft skills are a combination of

people skills, social skills, communication skills, character traits, attitudes, career attributes,

social intelligence and emotional intelligence quotients among others that enable people to

navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well and achieve their goals with

complementing hard skills. This sort of qualities usually playing important role especially

when performing certain project in manufacturing, making a healthy environment in works

and leading the task that have been given especially when to become a good engineer.

Usually fresh graduates can acquire this sort of skills during university session in a club for

example becoming student representative council, president of the club or other important

role in teamwork building. Therefore, it is undeniable that having a soft skill is important to

gain job.

On contrary, for engineering students, 56.7 percent of them thought that English language
were not that important factors that contribute to the low marketability.
3.3 Effects of Low Marketability in engineering students in Malaysia

Effects of Low Marketability

30
Number of People

25
20
15
10
5
0
High tendency to
Depression Financial Instability
commit crime
Yes 10 24 6

Figure 3 : Effects of low marketability

Figure 2 shows the effects of low marketability on fresh graduates. Based on the data
collected from 30 respondents 10 of the respondents agree depression are the effect of low
marketability on fresh graduates, meanwhile 24 of the respondents said it will cause financial
instability and 6 of the respondents agree that it will cause high tendency of the fresh
graduates to commit crime. As we can see that majority of the respondents agree that the
main effect of low marketability on fresh graduates is financial instability, then followed by
depression and high tendency to commit crime. When the fresh graduates facing problem to
get employed there will faced with financial problem, hence, those individuals will be in
poverty and in debts such as PTPTN due to inability to pay up their levies. The matter would
be worst if the fresh graduates having to support their family members. Then this problem
will cause the fresh graduates become depression and stressful. To get out from this problem
easily they would be thinking of possible ways, legally or illegally, to get money in order to
support their daily life expenses.
4.0 Conclusion

This research investigated the marketability of fresh graduates in engineering to get

employed in Malaysia. Primary data were collected by randomly distributing the
questionnaire to 30 students from various universities. As mentioned earlier in the
introduction, the research questions of this research are to investigate the factor that
contribute to the low marketability of fresh graduates and does it harm them.
The following conclusions can be drawn from the study. To begin with, this study
shown lack of certificate of competencies is the biggest factor that fresh graduates cannot
be employed. In addition, the second largest factors that contribute to this problem is lack
of soft skill among from fresh graduates. With regards to this problem, majority of the
respondents agree that financial instability is the main effect of low marketability of fresh
graduates. Others effects are subsequently coming from this main harm. (expand
more)why? What? Compare with previous study) recommendation.
10.0 REFERENCE

1. Ministry of Higher Education. (2006). Development of soft skills for Institutions of

Higher Learning. Serdang: Universiti Putra Malaysia. Malaysia’s August jobless rate
rises to 3.1 %. (2013, October 23).The Star Online, Retrieved December 23,2013
fromhttp://www.thestar.com.my/Business/BusinessNews/2013/10/23/MalaysiaAugust-
jobless-rate-riseto-31.aspx.

2. Pang Chau Leong (2011).Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT) in

Malaysia: Revisiting the TEVT Framework. Malaysia Prince Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
Rahmah et, al (2011). Employer Perceptions on Graduates in Malaysian Services
Sector.Med well Journals, 5(3):184-193

3. Wei, S. L. (2011). Unemployment among graduates: Study of employers' perception on

graduates Paper presented at the International Conference on Social Science, Economics
and Art 2011, Hotel Equatorial Bangi-Putrajaya, Malaysia.

4. STEPHANIE, A., & ANN-MARI, K. (2015, June 21). More Than a Degree. Retrieved April 22,
2018, from http://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star
malaysia/20150621/281496454922893
 APPENDIX

SAMPLE OF QUESTIONNAIRE ( Team Razlan, Hilman, Nabil, Nafie )

Dear respondents,

We are conducting a survey on Marketability of fresh graduate of engineering students. The

purpose of this survey is to identify why this fresh graduates are still unemployed after
graduation. We would greatly appreciate it if you could spend time to answer these following
questions. All your responses will be kept confidential.

Section 1: Background Information

Instructions: Please answer the questions.

1. Gender

Male Female

2. Age :___________ years

3. Working status
Unemployed
Employed

4. If unemployed, how long did you take to get a job

Less than 6 month
More than 6 month

5. Name of institution that you graduated from:____________________

Section 2: Factor effecting the marketability of graduates from engineering courses

Instruction: Please tick (√) your answer in the box.

1. Do you think poor communication skills and poor command in English are the main
reason for fresh graduates of engineering question?
Yes
No

2. Do you think that lack of soft skills can affect employer expectation?
Yes
No

3. Do you think certification of competency is important for engineering students to get

before they graduate to improve their marketability?
Yes
No

3 A) If yes, which one these competency that you have obtained :

Green Card
OGSP (Niosh Oil and Gas Safety Passport)
AESP (Authorize Entrant and Standby Person)
SHO (Safety and Health Officer)
No I do not have one
Others:_______________________

4. Do you think that fresh graduates from engineering courses are too choosy about the
position and wages offered in an organization?
Yes
No
 5. Do you think that what you have learned in university can be implemented fully
during your work?
Yes
No

6. Do you agree that high CGPA play an important role that effect student’s
marketability?
Yes
No

Section 3: The effects of low marketability on graduates who are unemployed.

Instructions: Please tick (√) your answer in the box.

1. Which of the following problems are legit when someone is not employed for more
than six months.

Depression
Financial instability
High possibility to commit crime
Others (Please specify: ____________________________________)

Thank You