According to a recent report, legal, banking, engineering and technology roles will be in high demand in the Central and Greater Klang Valley regions, according to Robert Walters, a specialist professional recruitment consultancy company, according to a survey conducted by a major specialist recruitment agency operating in the country.
The report noted that this is due to the implementation of new policies proposed and adopted by the Malaysian government, coupled with the increased adoption of digitalisation in business processes, the company added.
According to the report, the Salary Survey for 2019 stated that the recruitment market is likely to improve in Penang.
It said engineering and mechanical skills will continue to be high in demand as Penang strengthens its position as a manufacturing hub.
According to the survey, top talents in the supply chain with good communication skills will be highly sought after. Other skills in demand are leadership competencies, R&D (research and development) focus jobs like mechanical design, embedded software and system development, it said.
Salary increment, meanwhile, will likely remain minimal with increments of around 15 to 20 per cent for job movers in the region, experts noted.
Across industries, job seekers in Malaysia seeking middle to top management positions will also need to sharpen their soft skills in leadership, communication, business partnering/business acumen, business strategy and learning agility to have a better chance to secure these high yield positions as talents in these areas are scarce.
Hiring managers in the industrial sector will be increasingly looking for professionals with strong functional experience, strategic mindsets and strong leadership skills, according to the country manager of a major specialist recruitment agency that operates in 28 countries including Malaysia.
In addition, with the new government direction where compliance to regulation imposed to minimise waste and lower operational expenses would be the order of the day, digitalisation will continue to be a key market driver and strong information technology talent will be highly sought after.
Companies will be eager to hire human resources professionals with more than generalist or administrative experience, favouring candidates with an ability to leverage human capital to add value to the business, the study noted.
Technical know-how is also a key requirement as digital transformation and automation of various key sectors is still ongoing, and professionals need to have the ability to leverage on a variety of technological and analytical tools for vibrant data analysis, it said.
The country manager noted that the recruitment agency foresees a rise in SMEs (small and medium enterprises), corporate organisations and multi-national companies (MNCs) adopting automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitalisation in their business processes in 2019, hence, we will see a rise in demand for talents with a good mix of soft skills and technical know-how.
She said the marketplace is getting more competitive, pushing companies to embark on aggressive digital transformation initiative to stay relevant and improve business processes, hence, companies are expected to increase investment in new systems and talent development to create a greater presence online.