KUALA LUMPUR: The weakness of ringgit against other currencies is not the main factor driving Malaysian workers to migrate abroad, according to Jobstreet by SEEK.
Jobstreet by SEEK managing director Vic Sithasanan said individuals seeking immediate financial gains may consider opportunities elsewhere, but the decision is influenced by various factors beyond just the weakening ringgit.
“So, even just moving to Singapore, for example, means you need to relocate your family, find accommodation, and deal with a higher cost of living. It’s not as simple as only being motivated by a weakening currency to consider such a move. We haven’t observed any data supporting that on our platform. Instead, we’ve noticed an increased number of candidates and a higher volume of applicants on the platform,” he told reporters after the future of Malaysia’s job landscape and Jobstreet Malaysia’s transformation with SEEK media briefing yesterday.
He said that when a country experiences a weakening currency, it tends to attract more foreign investment resulting in a greater number of job opportunities in the market.
“So that’s definitely a good thing for job seekers,” he added.
Looking forward to this year, the company foresees an increase in the number of jobs in the market.
Jobstreet identifies an increasing number of opportunities in the market and observes a considerable increase in the number of active candidates applying for positions on its platform.
“We saw a great amount of increase in 2023 and we continue to see that momentum into 2024,” said Vic.
His advice to job seekers is that it’s essential not to be overly selective when considering job opportunities.
“Start building a career and build yourself up to the kind of dream position that you want through kind of upskilling yourself, learning new skills, adapting technology and so on and so forth. So there’s a lot of opportunities for Malaysians today,” he said.
SEEK has invested A$180 million (RM560 million) to unify its Apac (Asia-Pacific) employment marketplaces – SEEK, Jobstreet and Jobsdb. Going forward, it will operate under a single platform.
The move comes 10 years after it acquired Jobstreet and Jobsdb and follows three years of development with an estimated A$180 million investment.
“One unified platform means we can now offer our product to millions of people across Asia in an entirely new way, so that our customers can find jobs and talent more easily. This puts us in a stronger position, more than ever before, to realise our ambition of helping 500 million people develop their careers with five million companies in the region,” said Asia, SEEK CEO Peter Bithos.
The unified marketplace platform brings forth new AI-powered advancements to Jobstreet by SEEK’s platform, aimed at enhancing the employment experience.
The company said that following the unification programme, Jobstreet can also now harness a larger dataset across Apac, which will empower its AI algorithms to provide even more precise and relevant matches between employers and talent.
