KUALA LUMPUR: The weakening ringgit compared to the currencies of other countries is not the only factor for some Malaysians to move overseas in search of better job opportunities.
Jobstreet by Seek Malaysia managing director Vic Sithasanan said there are many factors that must be taken into account before a person decides to work overseas.
"In fact, to work in Singapore even, they have to take into account a lot of factors such as whether they will be relocating with or without their family, the search for accommodation and the potentially high cost of living.
"If the currency is weak, it does not mean that a job seeker will decide to move in search of job opportunities overseas because it is not that easy in the first place.
"We do not have any data that supports this on our platform. What we see is an increase in the number of candidates; and there are increases here and there in the number of job applicants on our platform," he told a media briefing on the future job landscape in Malaysia and the transformation of Jobstreet Malaysia and Seek here today.
Vic added that when a country has a currency that is getting weaker, it will have more meaningful foreign investment which will translate to more opportunities in the job market.
"So for sure this augurs well for job seekers," he said.
Speaking on his observations for this year, Vic said that they predict an increase in the number of jobs in the job market.
"We can see there was a sizeable increase last year and we continue to see such a momentum being carried on this year.
"There are many opportunities out there in the market for job seekers. We can see people and candidates actively applying for more and more jobs on our platform.
"My advice to job seekers who have a lot of criteria, please do not be too selective and fussy. Start building your career in order to achieve your dream position through upskilling, learning and adapting to new technologies," he said.
Meanwhile, Asia Seek chief executive officer Peter Bithos said the company has invested RM560 million to merge the platforms in the Asia Pacific region involving Seek, Jobstreet and Jobsdb.
Moving forward, he said it will now operate under one platform.
"One unified platform means that we can now offer a product to millions of people all across Asia in a new way so that customers can find jobs and skills much easier.
"This will put us in a much stronger position, even better than before to realise our goal of helping 500 million people to develop their careers along with five million companies in this region," he said.