KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 29): The Malaysian recruitment market will bounce back next year, riding on pent-up energy of employees.
Randstad Malaysia head of operations Fahad Naeem in its 2022 Market Outlook & Salary Snapshot Report said employees in Malaysia had a lot of pent-up energy after staying at home for more than six months in 2021.
“Many of them are eager to get out of the house and make lifestyle adjustments once restrictions are fully lifted and as activities return to normal,” he said.
Naeem said workers may also have the motivation to hunt for new jobs, especially if they had planned to do so before the lockdowns and want to take advantage of the new job opportunities once businesses restore their full operations.
He said some employees may be compelled to change jobs as a result of negative work experiences they have had during the lockdown, such as working with a bad manager or not having adequate support to work from home.
Malaysia remains candidate-short market
However, Naeem said even as it is anticipated that more people will re-enter the job search market, companies should not mistake it as a bigger candidate pool to tap into.
He said industries like technology, manufacturing as well as banking and financial services are facing hiring challenges due to a mismatch between their company’s digital growth ambitions and the shortage of qualified talent to realise their business goals.
He said due to further tightening policies on hiring foreign workers, many employers are looking to hire skilled and digitally-adept talent locally to support their digital transformation projects.
“In particular, talent in cybersecurity, blockchain, digital banking and the Internet of things are in very high demand.
“Many companies are also expecting candidates in other functions such as human resources, sales and marketing as well as accounting and finance to be familiar with working on digital platforms and processes.
“Candidates are also held to higher expectations in terms of their ability to think creatively and adopt technology to improve operations and boost productivity,” he said.