Aircraft engineer turned deliveryman; M’sian grads share sad job market reality
Over the weekend, a young engineering graduate had Malaysian
Twitter chuckling when he tweeted about landing a new job.
5 tahun aku ambil masa nak habiskan degree Aircraft Engineering ni. Alhamdulillah sekarang berjaya bergelar Food Distribution Engineer.
Okay lah dapat gak jadi engineer walaupun lari bidang sikit 🐼 pic.twitter.com/9NZVNlh6WH
— eskopi 🇲🇾 (@cukey28) August 25, 2019
User @cukey28 had completed 5 years of studies to obtain his
degree in Aircraft Engineering and now, he calls himself a “Food Distribution
Engineer†aka food deliveryman.
With 14.5K retweets and 16.6K likes (at the time of writing), his ability to poke fun at himself garnered much support and well-wishes for the good-natured graduate.
Of course, Malaysians being Malaysians, took the opportunity to share their own equally creative job titles.
Fluid Distribution Engineer
You are not alone bro..2 years already into Fluid Distributor Engineer🌽 pic.twitter.com/t2FSJuZpoQ
— Maghrib Juice🇲🇾 (@ustakmalhakiem) August 27, 2019
Business Chicken Administration
Business chicken administration. pic.twitter.com/4ar2fbECzy
— 🦡🦡🦡 🐒🐸🐸 (@Camolekebel) August 27, 2019
International Nasi Lemak Business
Saya pon International Nasi Lemak Business haahahaha pic.twitter.com/4iMcQjX6aP
— AWWABIN🇲🇾 (@syahmianz) August 27, 2019
Jewellery Sales Engineer
Same here bro. 4 years of mechanical eng. Alhamdulillah sekarang berjaya as jewelry sales engineer pandora. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/FSpClA3B62
— Farhan Fuad (@Farhanfuadd) August 27, 2019
Aircraft Tool Store Engineering
Beberapa bulan lepas, sales engineering. Sekarang, aircraft tool store engineering hahaha. pic.twitter.com/eQojtjBjIR
— Aidil (@aishrf) August 27, 2019
Business Studies in Coffee Master
Business Studies in Coffee Master @Starbucks @StarbucksMY pic.twitter.com/WEUDCtqxej
— Faris (@DatukFarisFitri) August 27, 2019
Safety & Health Officer aspirer to Fashion & Beauty Officer
Dip Occupational Safety & Health. If SHO is known as Safety & Health Officer, so I’m FBO, Fashion & Beauty Officer 😂. Kita jalan je dulu mana boleh sauk kita sauk. Lepas hujan kan ada pelangi 😊 pic.twitter.com/cWcqFVXgVw
— ⚫ (@_saifullllll) August 27, 2019
Shirt Printing Engineer
Aku grad mechanical engineer, igtkn nk jd engineer btoi rpanya jadi tshirt printing engineer. Jadi laa pic.twitter.com/5bdMoOVS2F
— Apit Nurmagomedov (@afifauzi_) August 27, 2019
Information System Photographer
Sama bro..5tahun ambil masa habiskan dip & degree.. last2 jd information system photographer… Rezeki kat sini.. jalan dlu.. pic.twitter.com/gibcIDboMN
— Inspektor Yoe (@caeyshahir) August 27, 2019
Diploma in Electrical Power Technology to Security Guard
Bachelors in TESL to Security Guard
A Surveyor hopeful turned Sales Advisor
dlu amik Diploma in geomatic science, degree in quantity surveying, ingat boleh dpt title Sr. tapi dpt SA😅 (sales advisor) pic.twitter.com/hZ5D4YENUo
— Tengku Mohd Zairul (@jay_jay7447) August 27, 2019
Management degree to managing a kindergarten
Same like me.. 4 tahun abehkan dgree in managemnt.. Alhamdulillah aku dpt manage anak2 taska dgn jaya nye.. 😂 keje apepn xpe.. Asalkan keje…
— S.H.M.A (@s_hdjh13) August 27, 2019
Despite the hilarity that ensued from @cukey28’s tweet, the replies worried netizens about the sad reality of the job market where Malaysian graduates are underemployed.
Underemployment is real 😰
We seriously need to fix this structural economic problem. pic.twitter.com/j5jrCo6Acr
— Syahir (@syahirsyhr) August 27, 2019
According to an MIDF Research reported in The Edge, Malaysia has a high youth employment rate with a record of 10.8% in 2017. The most likely reason for this was skills mismatch.
The report also found that low-skill jobs made up a total of 86.3% of job vacancies in 2017. Meanwhile high-skill job vacancies that were more suited to fresh graduates was only 4.1% of total job vacancies.
Aware of the youth employment problem, the Youth & Sports Ministry are working to come up with solutions.
Most notable of which is the recent announcement of Go-Jek’s upcoming arrival in Malaysia which minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman hopes will create “hundreds of thousands of job opportunities” for the “Mat Motos.”
As for the skills mismatch issue, The Star reported back in April 2019 that the Cabinet has agreed to set up a task force to create one million quality job opportunities.
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