SANDAKAN – Young job seekers here deny that they are choosy when it comes to applying for jobs, saying that there are, in fact, limited opportunities in Sabah.
Aliza Alawi, 29, said before she found her job as a clerk, she desperately searched for three months after her previous employer shut down operations in January last year.
“I have a diploma in mass communication. When I looked for a job, I set my expectations really low but still had no luck for three months. I was expecting only a minimum wage,” she said, adding that she had applied for more than 20 jobs in three months.
Aliza added that she is never choosy when looking for a job, as she is the eldest in her family and has to support her family.
I even applied for a job as a babysitter. I failed almost all of the interviews, as I was told that they were looking for someone younger, someone with more experience in a certain field, or someone who could speak and read Mandarin.
“It may seem like there are a lot of job opportunities out there if one looks at the advertisements, but what people don’t know is that there are many applicants fighting for that one spot.
“There are simply not enough job opportunities in Sabah right now,” she told The Vibes.
She said when she was finally offered a job in Peninsular Malaysia, she decided not to take it, as the salary that the company offered would not be sufficient for her living expenses, taking into account the fact that she would need to rent a house.
“I was lucky that I personally knew a friend who had a vacancy as a clerk at his company.”
Last Sunday, state Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Yakub Khan, when launching Sandakan’s Perdana Career Carnival here, advised job seekers not to be choosy and to just grab any available opportunity.
This has invited criticism from the opposition, with Sabah DAP secretary Phoong Jin Zhe, who is former state youth and sports minister, saying that the government should not label unemployed locals as picky if the government itself is incompetent in creating jobs.
Nur Atiqah Izzaty Mohd Jat, a job seeker who was present at the carnival, said degree holders such as herself would naturally opt for higher paying jobs, and if possible, related to her studies.
“It is not to say that we are choosy. It is because we were educated in certain areas and would like to utilise our knowledge in our jobs.
However, we have long learnt that it may be hard to land a job related to our degree, and I had set my target lower to any job that has a decent pay,” said the 26-year-old.
Atiqah, who obtained her biology degree from the Sabah campus of Universiti Teknologi Mara, said she is currently working as a barista while searching for better job opportunities in Sandakan.
Meanwhile, Noorastella Muhamma, another job seeker in Sandakan who is temporarily selling homemade cakes for a living, said she has been looking for a permanent job here for years.
“It is not as easy as it looks. People may not notice it, but when a company posts a vacancy on Facebook, the post will be filled with comments from interested candidates. This may seem like a small matter, but it shows that there are a lot of unemployed people here.
“I do not think that job seekers being picky is the problem here. I think the main problem is there are not enough job opportunities in the state. There are a lot of people who are only looking to work with a minimum wage, but are still jobless.” – The Vibes, January 28, 2022
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