OUMH1103

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES

SEMESTER 1 / 2012

OUMH1103
LEARNING SKILLS FOR OPEN DISTANCE LEARNERS

MATRICULATION NO

820628015958001

IDENTITY CARD NO.

820628015958

TELEPHONE NO.

0177649260

E-MAIL

pettyteng@hotmail.com

LEARNING CENTRE

JOHORE LEARNING CENTER

OUMH1103

Table of Contents
1.

2.

3.

Crucial skills needed in employees

1.1

English Language proficiency

1.2

Interpersonal skills

1.3

Problem solving skill

1.4

Leadership skill

1.5

Planning and organizing skill

Suggestions on how to obtain these crucial job-required skills

2.1

Roles of the universities

2.2

Joint events and Internships

2.3

Mentoring and Coaching

2.4

Chances for personal development

Conclusion

References

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What employers seek in graduates?
1.0 Introduction Crucial skills needed in employees
Universities are churning up tons of graduates every year. Despite this statement,
recent studies (Malaysia, 2011) have shown that many graduates still remain unemployed
even with the acquisition of their fresh university degree. Many of the graduates have gone
through numerous job interviews yet without landing any job successfully until several
attempts later. A minority of them even failed to obtain any jobs at all. The main reason is
that most candidates fail to meet their employers expectation. To meet the globalization
demands, employers are demanding for candidates who are equipped with multitude skills
and attitudes. Regardless of which job field, almost all employers are seeking for employees
who are equipped with certain universal job-required skills, which will be highlighted in
details in the section to come. Imperative actions that could be taken by parties such as
university, government bodies and graduates themselves will also be discussed.
1.1 English Language proficiency
According to the recent study done on employers perception on Malaysian graduates,
(Rahmah, Ishak & Lai, 2011) it has been summarized that the top most sought off skills
among the employers towards their future potential employees is the ability to converse well
in English, both written and oral. For example, chief executive from the Institute for
Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) had put strong emphasize on this. He stated that
English proficiency is crucial to embark on the global market. (Institute for Democracy and
Economic Affairs, 2012) To further strengthen the importance of this skill, managing director
Melissa Norman from Kelly Services (M) Sdn Bhd in one of the article from The Star
(Azizan & Lim, 2011) had stated that six out of ten graduates failed to communicate in
English effectively during the interviews. It has been reported that many candidates struggle
to answer questions during the interview session. Corresponding with this, many people have
put the blame on the education system in Malaysia. In Malaysia, almost all students start to
learn English since they start out their first footstep into primary schools. And by the time of
graduation, they have been learning that language for about twenty years, if not more.
Therefore, if Malaysians cannot master English after twenty years of learning, current
Malaysian education system must have its flaws.
Another reason that shows the deterioration in the mastery of English is the attitude of
the students themselves. Many of the students are reluctant to communicate in English among
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their peers. Instead, they rather prefer to communicate in their mother tongue. Just as learning
any languages, the rule of thumb to speak a language fluently is to constantly practise the
language - in this case, speaking of that particular language, English. However, it is by nature
that people tend to be judgmental towards each other. As such, most people are afraid or too
embarrass to practise new languages as they fear that others may be too judgmental in their
inabilities to speak the language properly, i.e. English. If one can put aside this kind of
thinking and dare to speak instead, eventually ones mind will be tuned and accustomed to
speak in English. After all, practice makes perfect. Although it might be tough to use proper
grammar during conversation at first, but with constant training and practice it would become
a habit as Rome doesnt built in one day. This would normally goes without saying, but the
importance to an effective communication skill is far more substantial than any other skills. It
is because it allows one to express and deliver their ideas clearly to others without creating
any confusion or misleading information. The consequences of a failed communication by a
global company employee may result in companies losing potential business partners, which
in turns losses money. At the end of the day, the only choice left by the employers is to look
for new employees who are capable in conversing in English fluently.
1.2 Interpersonal skills
Moving down the list is the interpersonal skill. Such skill involves mixing with coworkers to create a harmonic working environment. Most people with timid or shy
personalities often afraid that they would not be able to blend in with their work circles. It is
deemed important as it promotes teamwork and the capability to solve problems together. It
is suffice to say that a good interpersonal skill will not only expand ones social circle, but
also attract others to work alongside oneself. The opportunity to build interrelationships
between coworkers does not necessarily restrict to offices, but outside as well. One could
occasionally organize an outside gathering, sports events or trips to enhance relationships
between colleagues. As a matter of fact, good interpersonal skill often comes with the ability
to build rapport among others with ease. With good rapport within a team, people will be
supporting each other even in dire times thus overcoming problems will be just one step
ahead.
Other than that, interpersonal skills also include the ability to listen keenly to other
people's points of view even though they may be of a lower rank. (George, 2003) One of the
key measures of people skills is how approachable subordinates consider one to be.

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Graduates should be able to take and give criticism positively and be ready to delegate work
as this helps bring the self-confidence on team members.
1.3 Problem solving skill
Problem solving is yet another skill set that most employers seek. They are seeking
for people who are able to think critically even under stressful situations such as rushing
through project deadlines. Most often interviewers will ask their candidates a series of IQ
related questions to test their abilities to think critically under stress. Surprisingly, most
candidates have stated that those questions are answerable after the interview sessions but
they just could not answer them during the interviews. This has proven that most graduates
still cannot perform well under stress.
There are seven steps for an effective problem-solving process in workplace that
graduates can employ. (Hicks, 2001) First, graduates must identify the issue and be clear
what the issue that needs to be solved is. Second, graduates should understand everyones
interest on the issue. For example, graduates have to know what their superordinates and
subordinates think about the issue and how they intend the outcome to be. Then, graduates
should know how to list out every possible solution for the issue and evaluate each and every
one of them. Consequently, graduates should pick the best solution after making miniresearches and collecting data for the best solution. The last step in problem-solving is, after
making a decision; graduates should always monitor and evaluate the implementation of their
solutions. If the solution is not suitable after being implemented, graduates should be able to
fall back and work on other solutions.
1.4 Leadership skill
If one wants to climb up to the top of the corporate ladder, they must of course
demonstrate their leadership skill. Most people think that such skill is imprinted from the
moment of our birth as the saying he is born to be a leader goes. However, leadership can
be trained through rigorous training courses and most have proved to be a success. Most
graduates often do not feel confident when asked whether they have such ability. Lack of
confidence in themselves leads to the inability to convince others that they can lead well.
Nowadays, employers are at the stakeout for people who can become both a team
player as well as a team leader. One cannot always be the project leader and chances are that
everybody will take turns to become the leader in a team. Hence one must be able to accept
the opinions of the subordinates while is capable of having his own mind.
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Other criteria to supplement leadership are the ability to listen to others advice, be
supportive, understanding, motivated and persuasive. (Eichelberger, 2010) A leader must
understand his team players well, such as their strengths, weaknesses, as well as their
relationships between others. When he senses a tensed relationship between his subordinates,
or a conflict is about to happen, he must stand on the neutral side and take necessary actions
to relief it without jeopardizing the whole team. This is because conflicts will cause unwanted
results such as affecting the entire teams performance. Hence, a leader must be able to settle
conflicts as soon as possible, and in the best manner possible.
When setting out for a task, a leader must have a clear goal in mind and such goal
must be delivered to the teammates as clear as sky. Following a project without a clear goal is
like a flock of chick without a hen to lead. Being a leader also means that being able to make
decisive actions after careful consideration of different views for a problem. A leader must be
able to evaluate the risks involved in each path and goes with the alternative if there are some
complications in the initial plan. Being a leader also means that one should not be stubborn
and thus must be willing to listen to others advice. He must also ensure that actions are being
executed properly. A good leader will get the respect that he deserves and approved by
others, and their attitude will allow others to work with him with ease. Subordinates will be
willing to work and pour up more effort whole working with a respectful leader.
1.5 Planning and organizing skill
Planning and organizing skill is yet another most sought after skill by employers.
This includes the ability to lay out a series of goal oriented steps that could be achieved
within a designated time frame or deadline. Many projects often seemed promising at the
beginning but later on proved to be a failure due to improper planning such as lack of
resources or inability to complete within a certain timeframe. This would result in a total loss
of money, personnel, time, and effort. Employees who are good in planning and organizing
skill are able to foresee risks and damages for each chosen path in their job decision-makings.
They should be able to draw a proper disaster recovery plan to turn the tide around when they
have accidentally made bad decisions.
Planning is one of the most important organizational skills in the workplace. (Kartha,
2012) Employees especially graduates should be able to plan each and every work aspect.
However, there are many people who think that organizing and planning is a tiring and timeconsuming process. But, what they do not realize is that planning their work will give a

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general idea of what they have to do throughout the day. Effective work planning enables one
to accomplish prioritize work in the given timeline.
2.0 Suggestions on how to obtain these crucial job-required skills
After discussing the aforementioned skill sets that are most seek by employers, one
may stop and wonder what are the ways to ensure that future graduates are equipped with
those skill sets. Indeed, a joint effort and commitment by various parties are essential to
ensure that such goal can truly be met.
2.1 Roles of the universities
Universities play an important role as they are the final level of studies in preparing
the graduates to the working industry. Universities offer numerous opportunities to equip
future employees with such crucial job-required skills, thus all undergraduates need to do is
to grab these opportunities. In fact, many universities have cooperated with goverment to
launch various soft skills training programs to enhance soft skills among the undergraduates.
However, this had at times proved to be unfruitful as it is mostly a single-sided effort.
Undergraduates often treat these programs as a waste of time and do not fully participate in
them. Most of the time undergraduates attend these courses for the sake of responsibility
instead of passion. Such attitude will only waste the time and effort from both parties.
Universities can also offer career advice to the undergraduates at the end of each
semester to gauge how well they have prepared to venture into the working force. For
instance, the University of Malaya has taken the initiative to organize a career fair annually.
This effort has drawn a huge interest among the undergraduates as it creates the opportunity
for on-the-spot job interviews without the hassle to go to their offices. Other universities
should also follow their footsteps in order to reduce the unemployment rate among graduates.
Aside from that, universities can also play the role to build more industry links to
further improve graduates employability. According to The Wilson Review of GoldSmiths
(Latham & Leymarie, 2012), the strong ties between universities and industries will equip
their students undergraduates with adequate business-ready skills so that they could stand a
better chance in a highly competitive marketplace. Their industry link with one of the worldrenowned advertising agency, M&C Saatchi, had launched a 48 hour event called
GAME5HACK which will joined by both the workers in Saachi as well as the students in
GoldSmith to test their skills to produce innovative games. Hence students are able to take
this opportunity to test whether they are on pit with the other workers. Then, students will
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know whether the skills that they have learnt during their learning can be put into use or not,
which is one of the questions often asked by the students themselves.
2.2 Joint events and Internships
Besides, undergraduates are also directly getting the chance to expand their
professional network and provide them on edge with hands-on experience in their industry if
they participate in joint events and internships. These contacts are vital to their success once
they have graduated. A strong tie in the industry link will create more opportunities for the
undergraduates to gain more insight and working experience. Through these opportunities
during joint events and internships, companies will be able to provide feedbacks on the
undergraduates performance. These feedbacks will certainly prove to be useful as it will
sprout more ideas to think about on how to further enhance the undergraduates weaknesses.
Having these working experiences will certainly improve the odds of undergraduates to be
employed after they graduate.
2.3 Mentoring and Coaching
In the graduates point of view, they must constantly seek ways to engage in ways that
could help them develop professionally in both job skills and soft skill. This could be
achieved through rigorous mentoring and/or coaching from someone who understands these
skills well during their free time. For example, a life couch could help an individual to think
through personal goals and motivations to plan future actions. Other parties such as
universities could also play a role in this matter. They should assimilate soft skill courses in
their core academic program to encourage the undergraduates to participate. A series of wellstructured syllabus and goals should be outlined properly so that the undergraduates know the
benefits that could be reap. According to the Personal Development Planning (PDP) and
employability by The Higher Education Academy, (Ward, Atlay, Strivens, Stapleford,
Beasley & Palmer, 2007) the primary objective of PDP is to train undergraduates to become
self-directed learners, where they understand how their learning is related to a wider context,
able to articulate personal goals, and evaluates progress towards their own achievements.

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2.4 Chances for personal development
Personal development is another thing that graduates should put emphasis on. In a
workshop called PDP: Back to Basics? led by Jamie Thompson at the 2005 national
residential seminar, (Ward, Atlay, Strivens, Stapleford, Beasley & Palmer, 2007) three major
elements had been identified in their discussions: self-awareness, capacity to change and
adapt, and dialogue with and about self. Personal development is somewhat different from
other attribute because it cannot be taught like a subject, and there is certainly no grades that
are involved as it is purely subjective. In fact, personal development is somewhat associated
with many aspects and could be practiced and refined in various context such as
communication skills, teamwork, problem-solving, project management, and so on.
Undergraduates and graduates who have the opportunities to participate in personal
development courses will certainly have a higher chance to be employed as they are better
equipped with job-required skills.
3.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, this article had provided a clear insight on several most wanted skills by
employers. These skills mentioned include English Language proficiency, interpersonal skill,
problem solving skill, leadership skill and planning and organizing skill. Besides, several
suggestions that could be practiced by various parties are also provided. If everyone could
stand up and follow those rules of thumb, who is there to say that the odds for the future
graduates to be employed will not be improved?

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References
Azizan, H. & Lim Y. M. (2011, April 10). Top jobs only for those who know the language
well. The Star. Retrieved at 5th March 2012, from http://thestar.com.my/news /story. asp?
file=/2011/4/10/nation
Eichelberger, C. (2010). The Importance of Leadership in the Workplace. Retrived at 17th
March 2012, from http://community.gettinghired.com/ blogs/articles/archive /2010/10/04/theimportance-of-leadership-in-the-workplace.aspx
George, B.Y. (2003) Examples of Good and Bad Interpersonal Skills at Work. Journal of Eye
on Psi Chi, 7(3), 40-41.
Hicks, T. (2001). Seven Steps of Effective Problem Solving in the Workplace. The Journal of
Negotiation, 17(1), 235-263.
http://www. buzzle.com/articles/organizational-skills-in-the-workplace.html
Institute of Democracy and Economics Affair. (2012). Social Market Economy: The Case of
Germany and Suggestions for Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.: Robert Hass.
Kartha, D. (2012). Organizational Skills in the Workplace. Retrieved from
Latham, R. & Leymarie, F. F. (2012). Enhancing Employability - The Importance of
University-Industry Collaboration. Retrieved at 26th March 2012, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/professor-william-latham/wilson-review-enhancingemployability-t_b_1306201.html
Malaysia, Department of Statistics.(2011). Unemployment rate of Graduates in Malaysia.
Rahmah I., Ishak Y. & Lai W.S. (2011). Employers Perceptions on Graduates in Malaysian
Services Sector. Journal of International Business Management, 5(3), 184-193.
Ward, R., Atlay, M., Strivens, J., Stapleford, J., Beasley, L., & Palmer, S. (2007). Personal
Development Planning and Employability. United Kingdom: The Higher Education
Academy.

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