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In the past two years, all industries have been through a tumultuous roller coaster ride as they navigated the pandemic, which led to government-sanctioned lockdowns at the country’s borders.
At this point, companies are forced to practice and embrace digitalization, even in industries that don’t typically want to use technology. According to a report by the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), non-traditional information and communication technologies (ICT) industries are seen as the most hiring for digital talent in 2021. .
In the year In 2021, many non-ICT industries such as tobacco, renewables, and environment and biotechnology are hiring digital talent. In 4Q, commercial real estate emerged as another non-ICT industry with the highest year-on-year growth in digital talent, indicating that these sectors are accelerating digitization.
Based on MDEC’s Digital Talent Snapshot report, 261,077 digital talents are available in Malaysia in 4Q last year, and 55.2% of them are located in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
In the last three quarters of 2021, Penang, Johor and Melaka have been identified as states that can hire digital talent due to relatively high supply relative to demand. In 4Q, Ipoh also emerged in this category.
All this data points to one thing – there are more than enough openings in the market for digital talent as they are in high demand across all industries today. Gopi Ganesalingam, head of ecosystem development at MDEC, said data from a LinkedIn survey showed that non-traditional ICT sectors in Malaysia were hiring more digital talent last year, along with ICT companies.
“These sectors include banking, insurance, HR and outsourcing. The challenge is that our digital talent is not well suited to the job market, which is why we’ve seen so many government-led reskilling and reskilling initiatives being introduced,” he says. Gopi
Another misconception in the industry is that tech talent is hard to find, but Gopi says, looking at the statistics, Malaysia is not short of digital talent. According to data from Premier Digital Tech University (PDTI), by 2021, there were 7,699 digital technology graduates in the market, 95% of whom were employed.
Gopi
“Digital technology is a fast-moving industry and there are many developments. However, there are cases where the skills of graduates may not match the needs of the industry,” he said.
“Therefore, MDEC emphasizes on ‘Hot Skills’ and ‘Giving back’ initiatives. One example of a support program led by MDEC is the Digital Skills Training Directory. Their journey to digitally develop Malaysians, particularly in fintech, data science, cyber security, software development, game development, Animation and digital global business services.
The MDEC Directory is a catalog of courses and online training providers that have been reviewed and approved by a panel of digital industry experts to help Malaysians choose courses that meet their career needs for digital economy jobs. Through this initiative, MDEC aims to promote lifelong learning among Malaysians in addition to developing local talent through matching industry-proven skills development programs to accelerate digital technology careers.
“For 2021 alone, 1,569 participants benefited from training under this directory, with the most popular areas of focus being software development, cyber security and data science,” says Gopi.
“This year, we have introduced new initiatives to promote digital technology skills and upskilling such as ‘Digital Up’, where we will provide existing employees with RM1,000 training grants for digital tech courses, gig workers and ‘Let’s Learn Digital’ in collaboration with industry partners and training providers to empower Malaysians with digital technology. A program to encourage them to develop their skills.
Helping companies buy the right digital talent
Considering the current employment landscape and the need for tech talent, MDEC established the MyDigitalWorkforce Work in Tech (MYWiT) initiative, which encourages employers with wage and training subsidies to hire unemployed Malaysians for digital technology and services jobs – thereby enabling businesses to thrive. Digital beyond 2021.
It aims to grow the digital business services sector and develop quality technology talent in Malaysia. This initiative is an extension of the #MyDigitalWorkforce movement launched last year to empower Malaysians to develop their skills and abilities for jobs in the digital economy.
The program aims to encourage companies to hire digital talent through salary and training incentives for high-demand and high-value digital technology jobs for digital business services jobs.
“The government has recognized the challenges brought about by the pandemic and MYWiT will serve as a catalyst to not only sustain the technology industry but also increase our capacity and capability to help the digital commerce industry survive and thrive,” says Gopi.
In a landscape transformed by the pandemic, adoption of digitalization and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies are essential for businesses and the Malaysian workforce. With this initiative, says Gopi, MDEC will achieve its aim to ensure that innovation and growth is taking place in workplaces and businesses.
The initiative encourages companies hiring new graduates or unemployed Malaysians for digital business services or digital technology roles. The initiative provides incentives of between RM9,800 and RM23,600 per employee.
For each employee, this incentive is divided into two parts – salary incentive, covering 40% of the employee’s monthly salary for six months (minimum salary of RM2,000); and a training incentive of up to RM8,000.
Eligible training courses include those listed in MDEC’s Digital Skills Training Directory, which has over 300 courses, all reviewed and endorsed by digital tech industry experts. These courses are aligned with the National Digital Tech Industry Skills Framework. Companies can opt for at least 40 hours of in-house training.
“More than 300 companies are expected to benefit from this program, and approximately 6,000 jobs will be created,” says Gopi.
“Looking at trends, we believe that individuals with limited digital skills may be more affected by increased automation and technology adoption.”
The World Economic Forum estimates that 75 million jobs will be replaced globally by 2022. LinkedIn, in its report, estimates that 150 million new jobs related to new technologies and software development will be created by 2025.
Gopi has made MDEC one of its main objectives to build a society that is not only digitally literate but also efficient, competent and contributing to the digital economy.
“MYWiT is set up as an incentive to re-skill and upskill the workforce as well as encourage unemployed Malaysians in technology and digital services. Employers can use these savings in other programmes, such as more ‘hot’ and ‘start-ups’, which focus on developing their own skills, especially digital skills. Revamping programs,” says Gopi.
“Programs like MYWiT help our local digital talent to be resilient in an ever-changing job market, while at the same time helping digital and technology-related companies compete in the global market, especially as the world moves towards a more level-headed era.”
The most popular way to equip technology talent
One of the partners of the MYWiT initiative is Fave, which believes that the goals of the program are aligned with the goals of the Fave Tech Hub, which is to develop high-level engineering talent and drive digital solutions technologies in Southeast Asia.
Yes
Yeoh Chen Chow, co-founder of Feve, shares the importance of investing in emerging talent as the backbone of the ever-growing fintech ecosystem.
“Tech players should ensure they are present in the market for human capital development like Fav Tech Hub and MYWiT programme,” he says.
Fresh graduates and career movers are having trouble starting their careers in the tech industry, he adds, due to a lack of practical industry experience and exposure to real-world challenges. In other words, there is an urgent need for industrial training and internship programs to develop these highly skilled teams and provide opportunities for them to gain industry experience.
“At Fev, we believe that building the technology ecosystem is essential to ensure a seamless integration into a prosperous digital future. Therefore, we are offering a variety of training and internship opportunities to passionate and motivated fresh graduates and interns who want to enter the FinTech industry.
“We are investing in partnering with local universities to conduct group mentoring sessions, tutoring sessions, workshops and career guidance sessions. Our goal is to shape learning pathways and inspire students to ensure they are ready for the real world environment. The next generation of engineers,” he says.
Yeoh says that Fev employees start as fresh graduates and are given the opportunity to grow in their careers. It’s ‘luck’ that got them where they are, and that’s why we believe in hiring attitude over talent.
“It is very difficult to establish a positive attitude. Our culture values people and we practice a growth mindset in our company. In addition, it is easier and more effective to train a passionate and self-motivated individual who shares the same values with the company, regardless of the level of knowledge / skills.
“Over the past five years, we have enabled more than 2,000 students and graduates to gain valuable experience in the region through the FAV Internship Program. We have placed many of them in full-time employment after internships or graduation. For example, two of our former interns are now senior product managers and staff engineers. Over the years, their work experience has grown rapidly.
In the last quarter of this year, the company will welcome its third intake to the FAV Tech Hub program in its ongoing efforts to grow engineering talent in Southeast Asia.
Changing employment trends
Following the Great Retrenchment and the demand for work-life balance, there has been a shift to favor the gig economy. Gopi talks extensively about the current and growing trend of freelancers and gig workers relying on remote work arrangements outside of a fixed office space for a thriving job market.
When hiring, companies tend to emphasize skills and attitude as opposed to qualifications and experience. Global companies such as Google, Apple, Tesla and IBM appear to be increasingly not requiring new hires to have a college degree, according to company review website Glassdoor.
Access to a global talent pool is truly a game-changer and will enable companies with an additional platform to hire the right candidates for their business.
“MDEC is continuously supporting Malaysian digital freelancers and helping them to be competitive on the global stage, and we are implementing this through our global online workforce program,” he said.
“We want our digital freelancers to be trained and able to meet the current needs and economic landscape. We want to address the unemployment in our economy and use the opportunity to improve household incomes. This can be done by upskilling and upskilling. We can improve the employment opportunities of gig workers.”
Click here to learn more about how your company can benefit from the MYWiT initiative
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