AUGUST 28 — The youth of Malaysia have a critical role to play in the country's effort to achieve the status of a fully developed nation. Malaysia aims to develop all aspects of the country including national unity, social cohesion, economy, social justice, political stability, and system of governance, quality of life, social and spiritual values, and national pride and confidence.

Youth remains one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Such vulnerability was demonstrated by the impact of Malaysia's recent economic recession particularly on youth. Researchers have voiced that the job market and the needs of the labour market for young Malaysians are different in comparison to twenty years ago. The labour market is now less predictably changing is more rapidly and is more competitive. As a result, some youths face difficulties in finding jobs.

There are huge numbers of youth who lack in skills, experience, and moral ethics. Generally, there is a trend that most organisations prefer to recruit those with experience and with a good track record of moral ethics. The Industries now require youths to have some work experience in addition to the requirement of their skills and abilities to ensure that employers sustain their economic competitiveness. In the current labour market, youths not only need to compete among themselves but also with other less educated candidates with years of work experience. As a result, chances of employment are becoming a growing problem.

Employment in Malaysia is set back by educational and skill mismatches. This usually happens when institutes of learning produce a new workforce that cannot enter the labour market because of the differences in what they perceive is needed in the market and what is needed. The students themselves also tend to underestimate the job market while the job market's preference for experience over qualification tends to aggravate the situation even more. Before the problem mentioned the most important factor is the youth mindset as well. Most of the underachievers or rather school dropouts are lost in this fast-moving world. Along with this, they also carry with them negative personalities such as low self-esteem, lack of motivation, unable to realize their future which is now at stake.

In today's competitive world, entering the workforce requires youth to adapt to new social realities such as:

1. Adaptation of open society as the mean of globalisation
2. Ever-changing labour markets which give a new term to "work/job"
3. Difficulty/complexity and ever-demanding criteria of today's work/job.

The task of preparing young people to enter the labour market requires a sustained effort on several stakeholders concerned with the problem. Parents, educators, guidance counselors, government agencies and department as well as youth leaders all have a role to play in helping to prepare young people for the future.

Employability is about the potential of the individual to obtain fulfilling work. In other words, do youth have the attributes that will make them employable? Theories of employability are especially linked to institutional performance. The institution provides a range of implicit and explicit opportunities to youth which includes job getting knowledge and abilities, such as labour market information, interview techniques, and curriculum vitae writing. Employability is, thus, more about ability than it is about being employed. To summarize employability means developing a range of achievements, understandings and personal attributes that make it more likely you'll get a job and be successful at it. Employers value applicants with good skills, knowledge, ability, and attributes on top of their certification because they can 'add value' to their organization.

There are two major entities which we need to look at despite stakeholders' interest in building high-performance youth:

1. Youth itself