Sunday, June 2, 2013

Graduates only know SMS jargon, not proper English

MALACCA: Many multinational companies have to bear with jobseekers who can only write in SMS jargon, said state Private Sec­­-tors Affairs, Human Resources and NGOs committee chairman Datuk M.S. Mahadevan.
These firms are finding it difficult to hire graduates who possess a fair command of the English language, he said.
“They are not looking for candidates with impeccable English but those with a moderate command to get the task done.
“But the pool of graduates who apply for jobs can only write in SMS jargon, which is not a formal way to carry out business correspondence,” he said in an interview yesterday.
This was among the grouses he received from the management of multinational companies here when he went around to introduce himself since taking over the state executive councillor portfolio.
Mahadevan said he would advocate for the English-speaking officers to screen applications from graduates before they were referred to these organisations.
“We have to take care of investors and their requirements, especially those who have to communicate with their clients from other countries where English is the main commu­nication tool,” he said.
Mahadevan also lamented about young graduates who demanded high salaries but did not possess the qualities required by the prospective employer.
Some employers complained that their new executives, who were hired based on their paper qualifications, could not string a proper sentence not just in English but also in Bahasa Malaysia.
They believed that these executives could have plagiarised materials from the Internet and submitted paperwork to their superiors to pass off as their own ideas, he said.
Mahadevan said he would also propose the idea of a skills training hub in Gadek, Alor Gajah, to guide job seekers on how to cope with requirements at the workplace.
“There should be a shift in mindset among young employees.
“Nothing comes easy, so they should stop being demanding just because they are gra­duates,” he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment