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• Tracked from June 2020 to April 2021, more than 75 percent of the vacancies are for experienced talents
• Sharp rise indicates a thriving digital economy amid the pandemic

Opinion Editorial by Dr. Sumitra Nair, Vice President & Head of Digital Skills and Jobs at the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)

As Malaysia and the world is experiencing extended impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of digital is ever more important for the survival of businesses. It is therefore not entirely surprising that digital job vacancies in Malaysia have almost tripled from June 2020 to April 2021. This finding was made based on Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)’s tracking of digital vacancies on five popular recruitment platforms in Malaysia since June 2020. MDEC found that the number of digital job vacancies increased from around 19,000 in June last year to more than 56,000 vacancies as at April 2021, with the largest share of vacancies posted on Linkedin. The most popular jobs posted were in Software Development, Data Science, IT Services and eCommerce. 76 percent of the vacancies were for experienced hires, versus only about 20 percent of vacancies open to fresh graduates and rest being for internships.

Based on data extracted from the LinkedIn Talent Insights (LTI) platform, skills which are high in demand in Malaysia as well as the South East Asian region include analytical skills, software development, various programming languages and cloud computing.

As more non-tech industries embrace digitalisation, companies in market research, cosmetics, music and tobacco have been actively hiring digital talents over the past year. At the same time, the information communications technology and financial services sectors are struggling to meet the strong demand for digital talents in their respective sectors.

MDEC’s Digital Skills and Jobs Division made these findings based on its analysis of data derived from the LTI platform in April 2021. MDEC’s research involved more than 960 digital roles across all industries in Malaysia and the South East Asian region.

Where are these digital talents?
As of April 2021, there are more than 240,000 digital talents in Malaysia that have LinkedIn profiles and more than half of them are located in Selangor or Kuala Lumpur. Outside the usual hotspots, a surplus of digital talents can also be found in Johor, Penang and Malacca, most likely due to the presence of universities like Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, University Sains Malaysia and Multimedia University in those states. Employers who are in dire need for digital talents may want to run their recruitment drives in those states.

The most popular job titles amongst digital talents in Malaysia include Digital Marketing Executive/Specialist/Manager, Data Scientist, Full Stack or Software Engineer, Head of Digital and interestingly, YouTuber. Data from LTI also suggest that over the last one year, there has been a 20 to 30 percent growth in the number of talents that are either self-employed, working as freelancers or YouTubers. This trend of growing number of self-employed or freelancers bodes well with the government’s growing focus on the gig economy and workers. This includes MDEC’s GLOW Penjana programme which trained more than 10,000 unemployed Malaysians on how to secure freelance jobs via online platforms.

What skillsets do these talents have?
In Malaysia, fast growing digital skills includes Computer Science, Information Technology, Python and Adobe Premier Pro which consistently showed a growth of more than 30 percent in the past year. Phyton is one of the foundational skills for data science careers which may explain the spike in this skill. Fast-growing skills in Malaysia are somewhat different from the South East Asian region. For example, there’s been much steeper growth in data analytics, back-end web development and React.js skills in the region compared to the types of popular skills in Malaysia. Since the skills that are in demand in Malaysia include Cloud Computing and a variety of programming languages, digital talents who wish to enhance their marketability would do well to pick up skills that are fast growing in our neighbouring countries.

What do these trends mean for Malaysian talents?
While the number of digital job vacancies is high, the majority of the vacancies are for experienced talent. This poses a challenge to fresh graduates. In the short term, fresh graduates could close their experience gap by taking up digital jobs on freelance basis via platforms like Upwork, Freelancer.com or Fiverr. At the same time, junior level talents should also start to pick up some of the in-demand digital skills like analytical skills, software development, various programming languages and cloud computing. To help talents identify the right training courses, MDEC has established the Digital Skills Training Directory which lists courses that have been reviewed and endorsed by expert tech practitioners. Job seekers would do well to refer to this directory, while those who are employed can also enhance their careers by taking up courses to acquire some of the in-demand skills mentioned in this article.

As for secondary school leavers or pre-university students who are wondering what courses to pursue in university, these trends suggest promising career opportunities in digital technology-related disciplines. In this regard, MDEC works with 11 universities and five Polytechnics as part of our Premier Digital Tech Institutions initiative. Thanks to the strong collaboration between these institutions and industry players, more than 90 percent of their digital tech graduates get employed within six months of graduation.

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Malaysia Catat Peningkatan 3 Kali Ganda Jawatan Kosong Digital

• Kajian bermula Jun 2020 hingga April 2021 mendapati sebanyak 75 peratus kekosongan jawatan adalah untuk tenaga kerja berpengalaman
• Kenaikan mendadak ini menunjukkan ekonomi digital terus berkembang ketika pandemik

Oleh Dr Sumitra Nair, Naib Presiden dan Ketua Bahagian Kemahiran dan Kerjaya Digital MDEC.

Oleh kerana Malaysia dan dunia mengalami kesan yang berpanjangan akibat pandemik COVID-19, peranan digital semakin penting untuk kelangsungan perniagaan. Oleh itu, tidaklah menghairankan bahawa Malaysia telah menyaksikan peningkatan hampir tiga kali ganda jawatan kosong digital bermula Jun 2020 hingga April 2021. Data ini diperolehi berdasarkan kajian kekosongan pekerjaan digital oleh Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) di lima platform pengambilan popular di Malaysia sejak Jun 2020. MDEC mendapati pada Jun tahun lalu, jumlah kekosongan jawatan digital ialah sebanyak 19,000 dan meningkat kepada lebih 56, 000 kekosongan pada Mac 2021. LinkedIn menawarkan kekosongan jawatan paling banyak berbanding empat platform lain. Pekerjaan paling popular meliputi bidang Pembangunan Perisian, Sains Data, Perkhidmatan IT dan e-dagang. Sebanyak 76 peratus kekosongan adalah untuk pekerja berpengalaman berbanding hanya 20 peratus yang ingin graduan baharu manakala selebihnya untuk pelajar menjalankan latihan industri.

Berdasarkan data daripada platform LinkedIn Talent Insights (LTI), kemahiran yang sangat diminati di Malaysia dan Asia Tenggara merangkumi bidang analitik, pengembangan perisian serta pengaturcaraan dan pengkomputeran awan. Pada masa sama, semakin banyak industri bukan teknologi seperti syarikat pasaran, kosmetik, muzik dan tembakau telah meningkatkan pengambilan bakat digital sejak setahun lalu. Selain itu didapati sektor teknologi maklumat , komunikasi dan perkhidmatan kewangan juga turut berusaha untuk memenuhi permintaan yang tinggi untuk bakat digital di sektor masing-masing. Bahagian Kemahiran dan Pekerjaan Digital MDEC mendedahkan perkara ini berdasarkan analisis data yang diperoleh dari platform LTI pada April 2021. Penyelidikan MDEC melibatkan lebih daripada 960 peranan digital di semua industri di Malaysia dan Asia Tenggara.

Di manakah bakat digital ini?
Sehingga April 2021, didapati lebih 240,000 bakat digital di Malaysia mempunyai profil LinkedIn dan lebih separuh menetap di Selangor dan Kuala Lumpur. Selain itu, taburan bakat digital juga didapati di Johor, Pulau Pinang dan Melaka .Ini berkemungkinan besar disebabkan oleh kewujudan beberapa universiti seperti Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia dan Universiti Multimedia di negeri-negeri tersebut. Majikan yang sangat memerlukan bakat digital mungkin akan melaksanakan pengambilan pekerja mereka di negeri-negeri tersebut.

Jawatan paling popular di kalangan bakat digital di Malaysia merangkumi eksekutif, pakar, pengurus pemasaran digital, saintis data, jurutera perisian, ketua bahagian digital dan yang paling menarik ialah
YouTuber. Data daripada LTI juga menunjukkan bahawa sejak setahun lalu, terdapat peningkatan antara 20 hingga 30 peratus dalam jumlah bakat yang bekerja sendiri sebagai freelancer atau YouTuber. Kecenderungan peningkatan bilangan pekerja bebas ini sesuai dengan fokus kerajaan terhadap ekonomi gig. Ini termasuk program Global Online Workforce (GLOW) Penjana MDEC yang melatih lebih daripada 10,000 rakyat Malaysia yang menganggur mengenai cara mendapatkan pekerjaan bebas melalui platform dalam talian.

Apa kemahiran yang dimiliki bakat ini?
Di Malaysia, kemahiran digital yang berkembang pesat merangkumi Sains Komputer, Teknologi Maklumat, Python dan Adobe Premier Pro yang secara konsisten menunjukkan pertumbuhan lebih dari 30 peratus pada tahun lalu. Phyton adalah salah satu kemahiran asas untuk kerjaya sains data yang dapat menjelaskan lonjakan kemahiran ini. Kemahiran yang berkembang pesat di Malaysia agak berbeza di negara -negara Asia Tenggara yang lain. Sebagai contoh terdapat peningkatan ketara membabitkan data analitik, dalam analitik data dan kemahiran pengembangan laman web dan kemahiran React di negara - negara berkenaan. Memandangkan kemahiran digital yang sangat diminati di Malaysia termasuk pengkomputeran awan dan pelbagai program pengaturcaraan, bakat digital tempayan yang ingin meningkatkan kebolehpasaran mereka boleh mendalami kemahiran yang sedang berkembang di negara -jiran.

Apakah maksud trend ini untuk bakat Malaysia?
Walaupun jumlah kekosongan jawatan digital adalah tinggi namun kebanyakan adalah untuk pekerja berpengalaman. Ini memberi cabaran kepada graduan baharu. Dalam jangka masa pendek, graduan baharu boleh merapatkan jurang pengalaman dengan menyertai pekerjaan bebas digital melalui platform seperti Upwork, Freelancer.com atau Fiverr. Pada masa yang sama, bakat digital junior ini juga harus mempelajari beberapa kemahiran digital yang sangat diperlukan seperti analitik, pengembangan perisian, pengaturcaraan dan pengkomputeran awan. Dalam usaha membantu bakat memilih kursus latihan yang tepat, MDEC telah mewujudkan Direktori Latihan Kemahiran Digital yang menyenaraikan kursus yang telah disemak dan disahkan oleh pengamal teknologi pakar. Pencari kerja dinasihatkan supaya merujuk ke direktori ini manakala pekerja sedia ada juga dapat meningkatkan kemahiran dengan mengikuti kursus -kursus yang ditawarkan.

Bagi lepasan sekolah menengah atau pelajar pra-universiti yang masih keliru mengenai kursus yang harus dipohon di universiti, trend ini menunjukkan peluang kerjaya dalam bidang berkaitan teknologi digital. Dalam hal ini, MDEC bekerjasama dengan 11 universiti dan lima politeknik menerusi inisiatif Institusi Teknologi Digital Premier (PDTI). Hasil kerjasama erat ini yang turut membabitkan pemain industri, lebih daripada 90 peratus graduan teknologi digital mereka mendapat pekerjaan dalam tempoh enam bulan selepas graduasi.