Most white-collar Malaysians open to working abroad: JobStreet

• 55% of Malaysians and 88% of Singaporeans open to overseas work opportunities
• Reasons are working exposure, plus better salary, living conditions, education for kids

ACCORDING to a recent survey by online recruitment company JobStreet.com, 55% of Malaysians in white-collar positions said if given the opportunity, they would say yes to working overseas.
 
A similar JobStreet.com survey conducted on Singaporean white-collar workers showed 88% were open to overseas work opportunities, the company said in a statement.
 
For the Malaysians who said that they would like to work abroad, 36% said it would enhance their working exposure; while 29% would do it for better salary and living conditions, and 18% said it would be to experience a different culture.
 
Those in manager and senior manager positions also felt that they could provide better education for their children while working abroad.
 
When asked which countries they would prefer to work in given the opportunity, the United Kingdom was the first choice, followed by Australia, Europe, Singapore, Korea and Japan.
 
“Living abroad is a challenging experience. I will have to adapt to a new culture and a new way of life, but I hope to become more independent and gain strength of character. Working overseas can give me great benefits which I feel I am not able to find in Malaysia,” said one of the fresh graduates surveyed.
 
In the survey, 96% said they intend to return home, stating family as the main reason for returning home and validating the fact that working abroad was for financial rewards or career reasons and not for migration, JobStreet.com said.
 
The survey also showed that seven and a half years is the ideal number of years to be working abroad to achieve their desired goal.
 
In contrast, the majority of Singaporeans who answered this question said not more than five years would be the idea length of time.
 
A total of 3,347 employees in Malaysia participated in this survey, of which 19% were managers and senior managers; 24% were senior executives; and 57% were junior executives and fresh graduates.
 
JobStreet.com is an online recruitment company presently covering the employment markets in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, and Vietnam. The group currently services over 230,000 corporate customers and has over 13 million jobseekers in its database.
 
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