Should Employers Start Investing in Apprenticeships?
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In the coming months, apprenticeships could be a trend among companies, as it provides youths with opportunities to put their skills into practice and secure employment more quickly.
An apprenticeship is a method of learning particular skills on the job while also studying. Though the exact conditions differ from country to country, apprentices often start at around 17 and 18. However, the schemes are typically open to people of all ages.
Traditionally, apprenticeships cover manual jobs such as building trades or artisanal occupations, but now it is steadily expanding to cover service sector jobs.
According to the CEO of the multinational company Siemens, Carl Ennis wrote a letter to his imaginary 16-year-old self. In it, he said how he does not regret training as an apprentice despite his father's concerns back then.
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Apprenticeships offers youths a way to learn specific skills on the job while also studying.
"Don't worry about Dad not liking the decision to do an apprenticeship rather than following an academic path. You can trust me when I say that when you show him your business card from GEC [General Electric Company], he'll come round."
Youths tend to see training through apprenticeships more favourably compared to older generations.
Based on a study of 1,268 youths by Academos in Quebec, over half think that school has poorly prepared them for the job market.
27% of those surveyed said that teaching is too theoretical, and they would prefer to have more practical advice to guide them on the job market. 17% of the respondents think that the classes proposed are not representative of the employment market's reality and do not allow them to approach the market in a concrete way.
As a result, a majority of youths are thinking of turning to more practical studies.
Apprenticeship initiatives in Malaysia
In July 2020, the Youth and Sports Ministry, Human Resources Ministry, and the Works Ministry worked together on an initiative to provide more job opportunities for youths.
Called the National Apprenticeship Scheme (SPN), the initiative aims to provide over 10,000 job experience opportunities to youths in the private sector and government-linked companies (GLCs).
With the place-and-train concept, the scheme is open to those aged 18 to 30, regardless of whether they are Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), skills certificate, diploma or degree holders, provided that the Malaysian government recognises the qualifications.
Eligible apprentices receive an allowance of up to RM2,000 per month from employers participating in the scheme. During the placement phase, apprentices are continuously assessed and given relevant skills training (reskilling, upskilling and cross-skilling) by their respective employers.
As of Nov 2020, 397 youths have participated in the training, with 376 benefitting from job placement. About 67 employers have participated in the SPN programme to provide training and job opportunities for youths.
Employers and companies that wish to participate and provide training and job opportunities to youths can contact the SPN secretariat at spn@kbs.gov.my or 03-8871 3265/ 3264 / 3463.
Sources: The Sun Daily, FMT, FMT
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