Career centre launched to improve graduate employability

As part of its measures to enhance graduate employability, Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) launched the first Industry Engagement Zone (Ind-E-Zone) yesterday, which was officiated by Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, minister of education II at University Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM).

Ind-E-Zone comes in line with the recent Budget 2015, where the Prime Minister had called for greater industry academia collaboration towards developing graduates that are industry-ready.

Johan showing Idris around during a tour of the Ind-E-Zone resource area in UPNM.

Designed to be a dedicated area within university campuses, Ind-E-Zone is a one-stop career information centre aimed at connecting students with leading employers, and educating them about the career opportunities available in Malaysia which is within the key economic areas.

The area will be filled with industry-related content and resources for students to read up on to know about the current key industries that are in demand, upcoming career opportunities, and will also act as a hosting centre for related activities such as networking sessions, career talks, and sharing sessions.

TalentCorp CEO Johan Mahmood Merican said that while Ind-E-Zone provides an ideal platform for employers to connect with students on potential career paths, this was also an ideal opportunity to educate them on the employers’ expectations of graduate skills, knowledge, and experience.

“By building better and closer partnerships between employers, universities, and the government, we can collectively ensure Malaysia has the steady stream of industry-ready graduates that its bright economic future requires,” said Idris.

He also added that Malaysia’s young generation should not only strive to be jobseekers, but also to become job creators and entrepreneurs, which would in turn contribute to solving the current issue of graduate employability.

TalentCorp has identified 11 more public universities throughout Malaysia that will be hosting the Ind-E-Zone centres, including Universiti Malaya, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris.

All the centres are aimed to be operational by early next year.