KUCHING: Among the thousands who streamed through the doors of this year’s SCaT Fair at Hikmah Exchange Event Centre, where more than 1,982 job vacancies were on offer, Sarawak Tribune talked to three individuals whose stories paint a vivid picture of what it means to enter – and re-enter – the Malaysian job market today.
Nurfarahin Oki, 26, arrived with a degree in Communications and a clear plan. She would filter through the listings, find roles in her field, and apply.
Reality, however, had other ideas.
“Most of the positions I came across were not directly related to my field,” she said, standing near one of the career booths after completing a walk-through of the hall.
“So I took this as an opportunity to explore other career options.”
Among the roles that caught her eye was quantity surveyor – a far cry from communications, but one she was not prepared to dismiss.
As a fresh graduate, she said, keeping an open mind is not just an option. It is a necessity.
Two years after graduating in 2024, Nurfarahin has moved between training programmes and industrial attachments, building what experience she can. But the road has not been without frustration.
She pointed to a pattern that many young graduates will recognise – job advertisements that say they are open to fresh graduates yet quietly demand one to three years of experience.
“It is quite challenging,” she said simply.
Still, she arrived at the fair with a shortlist of five companies she had researched in advance, and left having already sat through one interview for a graduate training programme.
Her hope is modest but sincere: a permanent job, a stable future, and enough room in the market for the growing number of graduates like herself.
Not far away, Meldrick Ferris Lalas Peter, 31, moved through the floor with the ease of someone who had done this before – because he had.
A Mechanical Engineering graduate, Meldrick has been attending the SCaT Fair since 2016, first as a student, and now as a working professional quietly keeping his options open.
“I always come because this fair gives me the chance to learn about companies operating in Sarawak,” he said.
Currently a contractor with Sarawak Metro in the systems field, he is eyeing a return to something closer to his engineering roots, visiting four companies on the day with that goal in mind.
His decade of attending the fair has shaped him in ways that go beyond the job listings.
He recalled arriving in the early years gripped by nerves, unsure how to speak to employers or answer their questions.
Over time, he said, he learned to identify his weaknesses, refine his resume, and sharpen the way he communicates.
“If I did not succeed in getting an opportunity, I would reassess and improve,” he said.
His willingness to adapt extends to his career itself. Though trained as a mechanical engineer, he has since spent time in systems and telecommunications – industries he had no formal background in. He does not see this as a compromise.
“Not all companies offer opportunities that match a person’s academic background,” he said.
“What matters most is to always be ready to learn and never give up easily.”
The youngest voice at the fair belonged to Muhamad Danial Zamri, 22, who spent part of his morning waiting nervously for his turn at an interview booth.
Danial is already employed, but like many in his generation, he is restless for more – more experience, more growth, more of what the working world has to offer beyond his current role.
The fair, he said, felt like the right place to start that search.
He had set his sights on an electrician position at AEON, a practical choice that reflects both his skills and his pragmatism.
What struck him most about the event, though, was simpler than any specific vacancy.
“There are many job opportunities being offered, especially for those who have just finished their studies,” he said.
“This makes it easier for young people to find work.”
When asked about the interview experience itself, Danial was refreshingly candid.
Face-to-face sessions still unsettle him – the formality, the quiet, the weight of being assessed.
In a more relaxed setting, he finds his footing more easily, though the nerves rarely disappear entirely.
“I am still in the process of getting used to it,” he said.
Beyond the crowded hall and the rows of company booths, these three people faced through different stages of working life. But the stubborn, quiet belief that the right opportunity is still out there connects them together, and showing up is the first step to finding it.
