What are the dos and don'ts of finding a job in Malaysia?

How did I find looking for a job in Malaysia as an ex-pat?
Absolutely dreadful!

Especially at senior management and consultancy level. You respond to job postings and you never get a response or any feedback. Like a message in a bottle. I spent 4 straight months looking for a job without any success for the following reasons;

1. As an ex-pat at senior level you command a higher salary compared to locals and companies are reluctant to pay for this. They would prefer hiring locals who may not be as qualified or experienced, the end result being the decline in quality of service which is very much apparent anywhere you look.

2. Fewer companies are willing to arrange work permits.

These are some of the reasons finding a job as an ex-pat is almost near impossible.

I have since moved back to the U.K and found a job in less than a month. Glad to be back home.

My advice, secure a job/position with a company in your country with a satellite office in Malaysia before making your move.

Only an employer can apply for an professional employment pass - individuals cannot make an application. An employment pass relates to a stated employer and specific job - it is not transferable to another company or job. If you change employer, the existing EP has to be cancelled and the new employer has to apply for one under their company status.

Do remember that Stage I of your first recruitment process in Malaysia, requires you to be outside Malaysia while it is carried out (new rule since August 2016). Stage I is where the company submits its credentials and yours to get approval to make the recruitment. Stage II is the endorsement of the actual visa in the passport, once in country and the employment has started.

Immigration rules state that a company applying for a Professional Pass for a foreigner have to show no local is available to do the job. The skills required for the job have to be unavailable to warrant a foreigner being hired. At least 2 years' relevant professional experience is required and minimum a bachelor's degree from an accredited university.

Do not pay any money to an Agent for a DP10/11 work permit. Any reputable employer will not charge the prospective employee any money for hiring them. Applications are done online. They may ask the employee to pay the actual visa cost for dependents (but they will carry out the process on behalf of the employee). If possible get the dependent application processed at the same time as the employment pass (i.e. submit papers for spouse/children simultaneously with your own).

State if you would require am employment pass, otherwise your name/using a Malaysian address may result in wasted time attending a fruitless interview, because the company cannot hire foreigners (due of their lack of paid-up capital or quota).

Make it clear if you are the spouse of a Malaysian citizen on a LTSVP and therefore you can apply yourself for it to be endorsed with the right to work free of charge, if you have a job offer.

The CV should include a photo. It should concentrate on listing the duties in previous jobs. Do not state that you see the job you are applying for is to improve your skills and experience (the employers in Malaysia expect you to have the skills and experience to carry out the job already).

Some nationalities require a Visa with Reference to enter Malaysia to take up the Job Offer. This can take 1-2 months to finalise by immigration in Malaysia.

Be aware there is also a recruitment system for unskilled workers called Foreign Workers. It is carried out via a different system.

Directly contacting the company, I prefer as
It was so much easier - for me.

Sidra Khurram - disagree - the majority of foreign hires actually come from India. That is because they have expertise in software programming, testing etc. which are the most sought after skills in Malaysia. Next is Customer Service Centre employment - which requires various foreign languages (Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, etc. etc.). Long gone are the days of white supremacy...... ASEAN is the name of the game now.

As I just posted the other day, the DO is to get out there, mingle, circulate because connections lead to opportunities. There is no job waiting for you in your house. The job is....OUT THERE.

DO look the part all the time. Dress well, speak well, get up everyday as if you are on the job because the job is YOU.

DO be flexible and open to opportunity because you dont know where it will come from or when. Long time ago I found myself in the office of a book publisher who asked to respond to a bitter letter I wrote about a  crappy language book they were selling in shops. The publisher said, Oh, you think you are so smart, Ok, YOU write the book. I did. Sudden employment.  You never know. If you are reading my posts you will know I just said that people's heads of full of ideas and your hope is that those ideas will land on you. Maybe that publisher knew that book was garbage and was looking for someone to improve on it. And then you popped right into that brain scene.

In this way, DONT expect sending resumes will result in a job. In a real sense you have to create the job by selling yourself in non-CV ways. The theme of my posts on this topic are always the same. And that is, consider this....the HR Manager isnt a robot, they have to eat, shop, travel like anyone else. That person at the next table having lunch may in fact be the key to your next employment. You never know. Say hello! You can do that in Malaysia, so please DO. A similar scenario happened to a friend who eventually worked for Petronas as an oil platform manager. Just a chance meeting as a result of being out there. One thing leads to another.

Ten years ago, a thread like this would be five pages by now. Things have changed, people are not coming here so much anymore. As I have said, something most employers have in common is finding the best person at the cheapest price. That person might not be so good but if it saved money and was the best they could do TODAY, they go for it--local or foreigner.  DONT worry about the process and visas and where to live, all that gets worked out. Finding the job is the problem, and specifically finding an employer who believes you have something the others do not. After all, he has to sell that idea to the government, too. But 10-15 years ago things were more wide open and the government was less strict. Today, there is a solid, hard push to get locals into every good job available, so new expats have the worse chance ever. I think in five more years the door will be nearly closed, maybe the door will be open just a half-centimeter and you can peer in and try with your pry bar before it SHUTS. Try to see it from the Malaysian side, locals are more knowledgeable and better trained than before, why shouldnt they have the jobs? YES, there was and still is availability for one kind of job for sure, thats you training someone for your job. You want that? Thats a future? Thats a reason to come across the world? I think not.

Last thing, since there is a process by which you need to be outside to be hired, nothing stops you from making trips as a tourist and getting involved in things, and that goes for people who have jobs now and want to change. When and if needed, you can always go outside to be hired back in later. The challenge is simply to make non-stop connections because thats your key friend.

Oh! I should add one thing which I will also cover in a new topic. Ok, you got the job, you celebrate, you get drunk, you move here, bring your family and set up house. Wonderful! But in two years your pass isnt renewed because the employer found another way or the work simply ended. Previously, I believe jobs were intact and long term but not so, now. What to keep in mind is that for all the struggle to gain the job, you may be on your way home in just two years--which is five minutes from now.  Today, more people are hired for projects and then BYEBYE, like the new KL train line. Though there are no promises in life, look very closely at opportunities for their longevity and see how they fit into the chance of non re-newal of your contract and low chance of new employment.  Before, you didnt have to think too hard about this but you do now.

I would like to ask people who have successfully found work in Malaysia if they have used home-country online recruiters such as Naukri, Kelly Outsourcing and Consulting Group India Private Limited, etc. that are reputable - or have they found the best way is to use Malaysian online portals such as Jobstreet?

Hi I m not working. I m studing in malaysia.

I tried many sites. This is what I did.

I applied for many jobs in Jobstreet, then Linkedln. I think around 50+ applications in Malaysia.

Then only one interviewed me. Other rejected 

In the interview, they just asked me how experience I am. Then they focused on my field's knowledge such as:

"What do you think of doing a website?" (the role I apply is UX/UI Designer).///

"Do you know After Effect?"

"Tell me about yourself."

"What do you like most and why do you choose Malaysia?"

Normally, I do not let them to tell me "Do you have any question for us?". I always asked them during interview, such as: " this is my requirement, I want to work with a, b, c... and I think you can give me a chance to do it..."

Then we talked about it... but it was a discussion with knowledge, desire to work in some specific tasks. 

My company accepted me after the interview. I just told them to think again but they told no need... They saw my portfolio and with my attitude in the interview, they wanted to give me a chance to work, plus my aesthetics is good for designer, they need it.

After that, few companies in Linkedln contacted and gave me more opportunities involving to Design, and I introduce to other people who need it, but they require foreign people must have some experiences in technology and design field (according to what we exchanged, they need strong skills and excellent solving problem skill person who understand better in practical creativity) .

May be it is not detail enough, but there are many tricks to win over a foreign recruiter that I cannot explain here but there is one thing you have to do: research the culture first.

Any company has a "life pattern" that make them remember and unconsciously repeat times by times to let it pin down in their cultural behaviors. You have to quickly see it before hands to answer the "hook" (in film industry we call A HOOK to imply the peak dramatic events which transform a person). Any person/company has '' a hook" to find a suitable employee.

Eg: my experience in Romania Agency is the one like that. I asked them : why accepted me.

The boss told that she has a friend working in Vietnam, and it gave her friend a new exciting culture shock that impacted her strongly. 

So when my boss saw my application.... She felt it was like a destiny that a reverse situation came to her. That her friend found Vietnam, and now a Vietnamese entry level student found Romania and asked for internship in her agency (I am the only Vietnamese candidate). Plus I made interview video rather than making CV, and my boss really liked it. So she accepted me. 

The second time with Singapore company was the same. The one who interviewed me (also the manager) like to do charity, and I told him about my teaching job experiences with disability children in Philippines, and he said he is now involving to several NGO projects, I can join with him after going to work for the company.... he promised he paid for me to travel around Southeast Asia to work together with him in the job I interviewed and his projects too. That was the way I won over his heart, but I had to do two jobs at the same time (for his company and his projects).

The same with Malaysia Company I work now, they need people, and they found me, I found them.... I have the same passion like them, is to design something bigger beyond boundaries.

After working with them, they told me that they aim for 1st place.

It explained to me why they wanted me. Because they aim for big goal, so they have to break all rules, ethnicity, and accept new ways. I told them in the interview that I seek for place where people accept to break the rules to create new things. It matched and I got accepted.

>>> I realize it is not about your skills. Yes - Skill is necessary, but more than that - Purpose and time.

One of my lesson to find a foreign job is: You need to have a same "hook", you have to trigger their "hook", and it is the only element they will accept you no matter what. Each person/company has different hook, so you gotta see the "what lies below the iceberg".

So you gotta research first to understand their motives, values to have some ideas that they may like something, then in the interview, you have to find the way to gain information by many indirect questions to confirm from what you researched.

Eg: The Singapore company, when I came to their office, I realized they sticked a poster about a conference  in Sri Lanka, I guessed they must like to involve to humanity activities and it is true.. in the interview, I asked about the poster I saw, the manager felt excited, and he started to share all his videos of poor kids, and he became emotional.... and he found connection with me.