By Teoh El Sen
June 9, 2011 | Free Malaysia Today
PETALING JAYA: Malaysians will be at a “slight disadvantage” in the competive global environment because of their poor command of English, said Jobstreet.com.
The online recruitment company recently placed Malaysia, behind Singapore and the Philippines in an English Language assessment test conducted in Asian countries.
“We are not that far off in the ranking but the third place does mean that we do have a slight disadvantage when we compete globally for businesses,” said JobStreet.com country manager Chook Yuh Yng.
Chook said there was a need to appreciate the importance of English proficiency as English is recognised as the international business language.
“Proficiency in English influences one’s ability to communicate effectively, and to articulate ideas and solutions well. It also affects self-confidencethe , ability to work in a team and excel, and so on,” said Chook.
“In a 2009 survey with employers, we found that lack of proficiency in English is also the one of the top three reasons for the unemployment rate among graduates,” said Chook.
She said that in a 2009 survey, 91% of companies surveyed said that English was their official business language.
She added that the lack of English proficiency was a “worrying trend” as the ability to communicate is among the five main criteria employers look for in job applicants.”
The JobStreet.com English language assessment test was conducted from November 2009 on 1.5 million workers in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. The test comprised 40 questions to evaluate an individual’s grasp of the language.
It had ranked Singaporeans first, Filipinos second, while Malaysians came in third. Thailand and Indonesia came in fourth and fifth respectively.