Google acquires more IBM patents

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Latest batch of IBM patents include email, server backup, e-commerce, advertising, mobile technologies, and database tuning

By Juan Carlos Perez | IDG News Service

Google has acquired more IBM patents, adding more than 200 to approximately 2,000 patents it had previously bought from IBM.

The move, first reported by the blog SEO by the Sea, was confirmed by a Google spokesman who didn't immediately comment on why the company is interested in these particular patents and on how they may benefit Google products and its customers.

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The latest set of IBM patents, transferred to Google on Dec. 30, 2011, includes 222 patents and covers a variety of technologies, including email management, server backup, tuning and recovery, e-commerce, advertising, mobile Web page display, instant messaging, online calendaring, and database tuning. Google acquired about 1,000 IBM patents in July of last year and about 1,000 other IBM patents in September.

In the past, Google officials have said that acquiring patents helps the company prevent intellectual-property lawsuits and that, when one is filed against it, patents boost Google's ability to defend itself.

It's hard to determine which patents represent technology that Google plans to develop and which ones are intended as litigation protection, said IDC analyst William Stofega.

However, considering the rash of IP-related lawsuits in the mobile market, it's safe to assume that many mobile-related patents Google acquires are meant to strengthen its ability to fight lawsuits, said Stofega, who is IDC's program director of mobile device technology and trends.

"Google has had a great run with what they've done so far and it's clear their patent portfolio isn't as rich as those of others, especially in mobile," he said. "If you're going to be a mobile platform player, you need to make sure you have your ducks in a row regarding intellectual property."

A large part of Google's motivation for buying Motorola Mobility is the latter's patent portfolio, which includes more than 24,000 patents. That $12.5 billion deal is due to close early this year, after the companies obtain all necessary approvals.

Juan Carlos Perez covers search, social media, online advertising, e-commerce, Web application development, enterprise cloud collaboration suites, and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Juan on Twitter at @JuanCPerezIDG.

China's VanceInfo Technologies Tries To Outdo Indian Outsourcers

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Ron Gluckman, 10.26.11, 06:00 PM EDT Forbes Asia Magazine dated November 07, 2011

Two tech guys named Chen are trying to answer the question: Can China do IT outsourcing like India?

When David Chen met his future business partner, Chris Chen, in 1992, David was a Chinese student struggling to make ends meet in Southern California and Chris was working at a Great Wall computer store. Happy to find a fellow mainlander behind the counter, David put in an order for one of the cheap knockoffs the company sold. "It was all I could afford," he says.

Over the years, whether to fix a mafunctioning keyboard or brainstorm big ideas, they kept in touch. Today the pair, who aren't related, run one of China's fast-growing info-tech outsourcing businesses, VanceInfo Technologies. It's a long way from playing in the same league as the Indian giants--Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Infosys and HCL Technologies--but it does list blue chips such as Microsoft, 3M, IBM, Citibank and AirAsia among its customers. VanceInfo collected $212 million in revenue last year and turned in a $30 million net profit. This year consensus estimates call for $276 million in revenue and a $40 million profit. Analysts say revenue could jump to $345 million next year.

Typically, big companies turn to outsourcers such as VanceInfo to handle some part of their operation. The outsourcer supplies the office space, employees and the ability to scale up quickly to fill a need. Last year Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways delegated some of its growing IT and software development workload to VanceInfo, which set up an office across the border in Shenzhen. Cathay's chief information officer, Tomasz Smaczny, says outsourcing an IT operation pays better dividends than buying individual IT services or hiring more staff: "We didn't do this so much for cost savings as for effectiveness and increasing our capabilities. Outsourcing allows us to dial up or dial down as needed."

VanceInfo runs such offices around the country and works with some 25 universities to provide and train staff. Many of the offices are scattered around a huge new computer park on the outskirts of Beijing, though there's no way to tell from the outside--they often sport only the customers' sign. There's a big office for Microsoft, a customer since 1997, where VanceInfo worked on Windows 7.

VanceInfo also keeps its headquarters here. Despite the marquee clients, and stakes that make them both well off--Chris' 8.6% stake is worth $37 million, David's 0.7% stake $3 million--each Chen drives his own car, unusual for Beijing executives, and works out of a nondescript office when he's not traveling. David, 43, the company vice chairman and president, has files piled to the rafters in his. Chris, 48, the chairman and chief executive, sits in the next one, which does boast a window but it looks out at the wall of another IT office. "It's our style to be frugal," he says. "We're in an industry where there aren't big margins. What impresses our customers is good service at good prices."

The austerity is certainly part of the company culture. One example cited by Alicia Yip, a former Citigroup analyst who followed VanceInfo, involves the chief financial officer, who found that his flight to the U.S. had been booked in business class. "He quickly went online and changed the ticket to economy," she says. Another time, at a conference, she remembers that VanceInfo executives checked out of the pricey conference hotel and moved to a nearby budget inn.

Chris Chen grew up in Wuning, a remote village in remote Jiangxi Province that had scant electricity. His mother is illiterate. "She cannot even write her name," he says. Nonetheless, he scored high on the national college test and won a place at Tsinghua University, considered the MIT of China, and graduated in 1986. He didn't know anything about information technology then, so when he started working for Great Wall, then China's biggest computer company, "Some people thought I was useless," he says. "My major was mechanical engineering."



Chris' skills were more suited to an entrepreneurial age that hadn't yet dawned in China. He spent six years with Great Wall and was posted to California, partly to scout new technology. In addition to selling computers to walk-in customers such as David, he was always on the alert for opportunities. One arose when IBM asked Great Wall to translate its operating system software into Chinese. The profit margin didn't interest Great Wall. Chris pounced.

Raising money from friends and relatives, Chris started a business. That morphed into a company called Worksoft, which later changed its name to VanceInfo (see box, p. 38). It quickly enjoyed success in localizing software for China and helping foreign IT firms operate there. "We had no concept of outsourcing," says Chris. "We just did projects, focusing on opportunities to make money. If I knew anything about outsourcing then, we'd be much, much bigger now."

David brings a dab more international expertise to VanceInfo. From Fujian Province, he went to the University of California, Irvine, earning a computer engineering master's in 1994. He moved to Silicon Valley, where he worked as a software engineer at Oracle and a consultant at KPMG. After a decade in the U.S. he returned to China in 2001 and joined Chris. With his Silicon Valley background, David comfortably courts new customers and oversees operations. Chris is more of the strategist, as well as the closer. "Chris has great people skills, and is a good storyteller," says David.

But can the Chens propel VanceInfo out of the crowded ranks of midsize Chinese outsourcers and into the global big leagues? It's probably one of the three or four biggest outsourcers now. (Comparisons are tricky--larger companies, such as Insigma, Neusoft and DHC, get some of their revenue from software and product sales and other sources.) Analysts also see VanceInfo as one of the two or three best run and most reputable. Frances Karamouzis, an analyst for Gartner and the coauthor of a report last year on the Chinese outsourcing sector, praises VanceInfo's adoption of Western-style accounting, which led to a New York Stock Exchange listing in 2007; most competitors opt to trade in China.

The comparisons with India are inevitable. Outsourcing has mushroomed into a $70-billion-a-year business in India, while some analysts value the Chinese sector at $20 billion; CLSA predicts that it will reach $30 billion in 2014. "China is almost exactly where India was a decade or so ago," says Pierre Samec, former chief technology officer of U.S. Internet travel company Expedia. "I think it will follow the same rapid growth curve." VanceInfo set up an outsourcing operation for Expedia in Shenzhen.

But times are different, and China is a different country--it may never produce another Infosys. Just as the Chinese industry is today, the Indian industry was once very fragmented, with dozens of small companies vying for business. The industry underwent a rapid consolidation, but in China, where analysts have been predicting the same trend for five years, it's been slow in coming. Karamouzis says that when it does arrive, the key for VanceInfo will be how well it handles the numerous deals and the integration of thousands of added employees. It's done four deals this year, spending almost $9 million to buy three Chinese outsourcers and one in Australia.

A hiccup for VanceInfo over the past six months was the drastic drop in its share price after an accounting scandal at rival Chinese outsourcer Longtop erupted in May (see box, p. 36). With consolidation a key to growth, the lower share price leaves VanceInfo with a weaker currency for buying other companies. Indeed, of its four deals this year, it did the two before May with cash and stock while the two since May were cash only. But David says: "We are actually in good shape. We have a lot of cash on hand ($130 million as of June 30), and are still looking at acquisitions." He added that a lower share price could be an advantage in buying companies, giving the sellers more potential upside.

Another difference from India is that most of the Chinese outsourcing business is in Greater China--with Chinese companies or multinationals operating in China. Indian companies exported most of their work to the West (and have never been able to make many in-roads in China). VanceInfo's headcount numbered 12,542 at the end of the second quarter--up by 25% from a year earlier--but only 200 of those were outside Greater China. The company does seek to grow in Europe and North America by moving into consulting and business solutions, allowing it to travel up the value chain by taking on more lucrative projects.

But despite VanceInfo's digital culture, change can be slow. In fact much of the industry looks inward, because business has been so abundant in China. "This is a very Chinese company," says Samec, noting that there has been much talk of adding foreign expertise to help the company grow and especially to expand overseas, but little action. Says David Chen: "This is something we have talked about and agreed upon, but we have been slow to implement. We really need to step up."

Punished for a Rival's Misdeeds
 
VanceInfo began the year tipped as one of the world's hottest stocks. Then in May a scandal erupted at rival Chinese outsourcer Longtop Financial Technologies, hitting the shares of the entire sector. From around $32 a share, VanceInfo's stock fell to almost $5 early last month before beginning to rebound to around $11. And it didn't help that VanceInfo Chief Financial Officer Sidney Huang served as CFO of Longtop in 2005–06; he has not been connected to the scandal.

Investors were giving the sector's wave of listings increased scrutiny, albeit a bit late. Both Longtop and VanceInfo went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2007. Choosing the U.S. over markets in China opened the vaults to bigger investments, at the price of more regulation and paperwork. The scandal came to light when its auditor for several years, Deloitte Shanghai, resigned, alleging that financial information had been falsified.

By the time trading in Longtop was halted in August, over $1 billion in value had evaporated. Scores of lawsuits are pending and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation guarantees that the matter will remain in the news. "It will take some time to recover," says VanceInfo's David Chen. Yet he downplays any long-term impact. Rising costs and the yuan's continuing strength, he maintains, are bigger concerns that also contributed to the stock drop. Now, with a chance for the sector to feast on Longtop's clients, analysts see VanceInfo becoming a hot stock again, climbing to a $16 to $20 range. --R.G.

The Name Remains The Same
 
VanceInfo's first name was Worksoft, but the company later discovered a U.S. company called Worksoft. When it changed its English name to VanceInfo, it decided it didn't need to change the Chinese name. The first character denotes literature or culture, and the second, contemplation and thinking. In Chinese they sound similar to "vance," so the company chose VanceInfo for the English name. It's a play on "advancing information," says President David Chen. "It is really what we are about, to advance your potential." --R.G.

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• VanceInfo Technologies Shares Popped: What You Need to Know (fool.com)
• China's IT Outsourcing Firms Aim to Move up the Value Chain (pcworld.com)
• 2 Positive Signs for VanceInfo (dailyfinance.com)

CEO, the Least Popular Job in Silicon Valley

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Potential CEOs are opting for quicker dollars at startups and investment firms

 

Illustration by Sophia Martineck

By Peter Burrows

Dave DeWalt is known within Silicon Valley for his technical chops, his charisma, and his business accomplishments, which include reinvigorating security software maker McAfee and selling it to Intel (INTC) in 2010 for $7.7 billion. At 47, he now has bigger ambitions. “Running a big-cap company is considered the crowning achievement in many people’s careers, and I feel that way as well,” says DeWalt.

Such talk makes DeWalt an anomaly. In tech circles, the C-suite at a publicly traded company is no longer the be-all and end-all. Just look at the troubles Yahoo! (YHOO) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) have recently had finding new leaders. HP canned former SAP (SAP) Chief Executive Officer Léo Apotheker after just 11 months—then faced a barrage of criticism for replacing him with HP director and former EBay (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman without bothering to look beyond its own boardroom.

Industry consolidation has created a small number of very large technology companies such as HP, Cisco (CSCO), and Microsoft (MSFT). They’ve stumbled in recent years as disruptive developments like the mobile revolution and the dash to the cloud shake the entire sector. As the job of leading these companies gets tougher, there are fewer talented leaders with the skills—and inclination—to do it. Rather than wait for high-profile CEOs such as Cisco’s John Chambers, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, and Research In Motion’s (RIMM) Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie to step down, many potential replacements have decamped for more exciting, and potentially more lucrative, gigs at startups or as investors. “This is the first time in tech history that you have this many companies with CEOs approaching 60 that don’t have any obvious successors,” says John Thompson, vice-chairman of recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles (HSII).



Consider Cisco. With 62-year-old Chambers now in his 16th year as CEO, many of his most capable lieutenants have given up waiting for their chance to succeed him. The list of departures since 2007 includes former Chief Development Officer Charles Giancarlo (now a private equity partner at Silver Lake), longtime general manager Tony Bates (who jumped to Skype just before it was purchased by Microsoft in May), and former head of the data center business Jayshree Ullal (now CEO of Arista Networks). While the accomplishments of Chambers and other longtime CEOs including Ballmer are undeniable, their long tenure has sapped the strength of the back bench, says Heidrick’s Thompson. Now a common belief is that both companies will need to go outside for their next CEO—not an easy task when the competition for talent includes hot pre-IPO companies such as Facebook. “The people who could possibly do these jobs realize it would be easier to create a new company rather than try to get an old stodgy one to adopt new ideas,” says Trip Hawkins, CEO of game developer Digital Chocolate.

Boards of directors get low marks on recruitment and retention, too. Few give much attention to succession planning until crisis hits, says Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean of the Yale University School of Management. New hires such as Bartz and Apotheker are set up for failure as boards prioritize near-term earnings over long-term risk-taking. “We’ve been weeding the qualified people out of the system for the past 15 years,” says Roger McNamee, a longtime technology investor and co-founder of private equity firm Elevation Partners.

Nor have tech companies excelled at developing CEOs. Once executives prove themselves in a given area—say, software engineering—they rarely go through General Electric (GE) -style development programs to get exposure to a business’s full breadth. There are exceptions: Intel and IBM (IBM) are both organized so that top executives get to run multibillion-dollar business units. IBM Senior Vice-President Michael E. Daniels, for instance, runs the $56 billion services business. At Intel, young executives have an apprentice system where they shadow top executives (current CEO Paul S. Otellini spent years carrying Andy Grove’s bags). As a result, both companies have succeeded at finding internal candidates for the top job. But this is not the norm in Silicon Valley, where most companies are organized along strictly functional lines such as marketing. “The tech industry is great at producing technology, but it’s not producing leaders,” says Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor of administration at Harvard.

To break the cycle, some tech industry veterans say it’s time for a new approach to choosing CEOs. Forget the old idea of finding an older, well-known operations or sales executive to maximize earnings and soothe nervous shareholders. Too often, those experiments—Dell’s (DELL) Kevin Rollins, Apple’s (AAPL) John Sculley, Yahoo’s Carol Bartz—have failed, says McNamee. Now Old Guard tech companies need to find risk-takers willing to bet big on new visions. That’s hard enough for entrepreneurs such as Amazon.com’s (AMZN) Jeff Bezos. It may be even harder at companies settling into middle age.“Somebody is going to have to take some risks, and bring in younger CEOs for a while,” says McNamee.

To find them, some boards are taking a larger role in succession planning. Egon Zehnder International has been testing a new approach for two years, in which board members use a number of techniques such as mentorship programs to groom internal candidates, says Karena Strella, managing director of the firm’s U.S. unit. The goal is to take some focus off past accomplishments and identify impassioned, adaptable people. Then it’s up to the board to back them, says Thompson. “People forget that it took Steve Jobs seven years to really move the needle at Apple,” he says. “If you used that standard today, he would have been fired long ago.”

The bottom line: Shortsighted boards and the long tenure of some CEOs have led to a succession crisis at big-cap tech companies.

Burrows is a senior writer for Bloomberg Businessweek, based in San Francisco.

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iQuit - Steve Jobs Resigns: Apple CEO Stepping Down

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Official Press Release from Apple

CUPERTINO, California - Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple's Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Letter from Steve Jobs

August 24, 2011

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Who is Tim Cook?

Currently. Timothy D. Cook is Apple’s chief operating officer and reports to Apple’s CEO. Cook is responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also heads Apple’s Macintosh division and plays a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Before joining Apple, Cook was vice president of Corporate Materials for Compaq and was responsible for procuring and managing all of Compaq’s product inventory. Previous to his work at Compaq, Cook was the chief operating officer of the Reseller Division at Intelligent Electronics.

Cook also spent 12 years with IBM, most recently as director of North American Fulfillment where he led manufacturing and distribution functions for IBM’s Personal Computer Company in North and Latin America.

Cook earned an M.B.A. from Duke University, where he was a Fuqua Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University.

Read more: http://everythinginbudget.blogspot.com/2011/08/iquit-steve-jobs-resigns-apple-ceo.html#ixzz1WCRuy0gc

Steve Jobs - The iCon says 'iQuit'

Steve Jobs has resigned in a long-expected move and named Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook as his replacement. In tribute to the 'iCon' here's a look at Jobs through the years. PHOTOS BELOW.

AP Photo

In Pictures: Steve Jobs through the years
Click on the thumbnails BELOW to view a brief history of Steve Jobs' now legendary career. 

Apple's legendary co-founder and top ideas man Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive Wednesday, the company said, in a long expected move after he began a dramatic fight with cancer.

In a written statement, Apple, the world's second biggest company by market capitalization, announced that chief operating officer Tim Cook would take over as CEO but that Jobs would stay on as chairman of the board.

"Steve's extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company," board member Art Levinson said in a statement.

No reason was given for Job's resignation, but his health problems, including a lengthy medical leave for a liver transplant in 2009 and his increasingly gaunt appearances at public events, fueled speculation he would have to give up the everyday running of the company he co-founded in 1976.

Cook ran Apple when Jobs went on medical leave and has essentially been running day-to-day operations since early this year with the company racking up record revenue and profit.

Jobs is seen as the heart and soul of Apple, with analysts and investors repeatedly expressing concern over how the Cupertino, California-based company would handle his departure.

"The board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO," Levinson said.

"Tim's 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does," Levinson continued.

Jobs submitted his resignation on Wednesday and urged the board to implement its succession plan and name Cook as his replacement, according to Apple.

In Pictures: Steve Jobs through the years

Cook was previously responsible for Apple's worldwide sales and operations, including management of the supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries.

Jobs is a living legend in Silicon Valley. He is the beloved visionary behind the Macintosh computer, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

Born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco to a single mother and adopted by a couple in nearby Mountain View at barely a week old, he grew up among the orchards that would one day become the technology hub known as Silicon Valley.

Jobs was 21 and Steve Wozniak 26 when they founded Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs's family home in 1976.

While Microsoft licensed its software to computer makers that cranked out machines priced for the masses, Apple kept its technology private and catered to people willing to pay for superior performance and design.

Under Jobs, the company introduced its first Apple computers and then the Macintosh, which became wildly popular in the 1980s.

Apple's innovations include the "computer mouse" to make it easy for users to activate programs or open files.

Jobs was elevated to idol status by ranks of Macintosh computer devotees, many of whom saw themselves as a sort of rebel alliance opposing the powerful empire Microsoft built with its ubiquitous Windows operating systems.

Jobs left Apple in 1985 after an internal power struggle and started NeXT Computer company specializing in sophisticated workstations for businesses.

He co-founded Academy-Award-winning Pixar in 1986 from a former Lucasfilm computer graphics unit that he reportedly bought from movie industry titan George Lucas for $10 million.

Apple's luster faded after Jobs left the company, but they reconciled in 1996 with Apple buying NeXT for 429 million dollars and Jobs ascending once again to the Apple throne.

Since then, Apple has gone from strength to strength as Jobs revamped the Macintosh line, revolutionizing modern culture with the introductions of the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes online shop for digital content.

Related articles

• Steve Jobs Resigns, Tim Cook Named New CEO of Apple (bilerico.com)

Poor attitude caused jobless, low income, poor career!

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The problem with fresh grads

By P. ARUNA aruna@thestar.com.my

 PETALING JAYA: Poor attitude -including asking for too much money - is the chief reason why employers shy away from hiring fresh graduates. Another common complaint is that many graduates are poor in English.

A survey by online recruitment agency Jobstreet.com showed that 55% of employers cited unrealistic expectations of salaries while 48% of them said poor English was the main reason why Malaysian fresh graduates from both public and private institutions remain unemployed.

“While previous surveys named poor English as the main cause for unemployment, bad attitude has now topped the list,” said its chief operating officer Suresh Thiru.

He said their attitudes were so bad that some did not even bother to inform the companies if they were running late or unable to attend scheduled interviews.

It was announced that the number of jobless graduates had increased from 65,500 to 71,600 although the overall unemployment rate had dropped from 3.4% last year to 3.1% during the first quarter of this year.

Another study by recruitment agency Kelly Services showed that fresh graduates asked for flexible working hours and expected their work to accommodate their personal life, not vice versa.

Its marketing director Jeannie Khoo said employers were also turned off by the lackadaisical attitude and lack of drive to improve among many of them.

“They have the misconception that they can earn high salaries at entry-level. They enter the banking industry expecting to earn RM3,000 while the market rate is only RM2,200,” she said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia head of recruitment Salika Suksuwan said some candidates had many offers in hand but acted unprofessionally in rejecting job offers - by not turning up for interviews or the first day at work.

“We sometimes have to call them and remind them about a scheduled interview when they didn't turn up,” she said.

Talent Corp CEO Johan Mahmood Merican urged fresh graduates not to make demands on their salary.
“It is more important to join a company that can develop your skills and prepare you for future opportunities,” he said.

In a related development, Human Resource Deputy Minister Datuk Maznah Mazlan said half of the applicants who registered with the JobsMalaysia portal (www.jobsmalaysia.gov.my) had found employment.

Speaking when launching the Graduan Aspire 2011 employment fair yesterday, she said about 300,000 job applicants were currently registered with the website.

Star readers come to fresh grads’ defence

By P. ARUNA aruna@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Readers of The Star have come to the defence of unemployed graduates who are accused of demanding high salaries, saying it was almost impossible to survive in the city with the entry-level pay offered by many companies.

Karthikumaran Nadarajan, 26, who was unemployed for six months, said he had never demanded a high salary and had attended every interview.

The electrical and electronics graduate felt that job offers had not come his way due to stiff competition, especially for jobs advertised on major online recruitment agencies.

It was reported yesterday that poor attitude including asking for too much money was among reasons why employers shied away from hiring fresh graduates.

A survey by online recruitment agency Jobstreet.com showed that 55% of employers cited unrealistic expectations of salaries while 48% of them said poor English was the main reason.

Photography graduate Noorezerey Abdul Ghafar, 23, has been unemployed for the past two years and has not received any offer despite actively applying for jobs online.

“I have never been demanding about salary,” he said.

On The Star's Facebook page, some readers agreed that many fresh graduates had bad attitude while many defended fresh graduates.

“I absolutely agree. Poor attitude, arrogance, and they think they deserve a high pay with their bad English,” said reader Patrick Yau while human resources practitioner Vincent Cheong said he had seen some fresh graduates who even had difficulty filling up an application form.

“Worst of all, they demand high salary and benefits to support their social life expenses,” he said.
Another user Yew Lee Yin said some showed up for interviews wearing unsuitable attire and others never bothered to show up.

However, David Hamtaro said anyone living in Kuala Lumpur needed to earn a minimum of RM3,000 to be able to survive while Ong Joo Parn argued that employers needed to realise that the cost of living had gone up.

Bank Negara training aims to make youths marketable

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite holding an industrial bio-technology degree, Thiyagarajan Subramaniam had difficulty finding a job as he was unable to speak English fluently and lacked self-confidence.

However, now he is an administrator at IBM and is able to speak the language more confidently after joining the Bank Negara's Graduates Programme (GP), a corporate social responsibility initiative.

He said the programme, which is aimed at enhancing employability of graduates under the age of 25 from low income families, helped him discover that he could quickly come up with ideas and to be more disciplined.

Prior to joining the programme, the 26-year-old attended more than 10 interviews with multinational companies but none got back to him after that.

“I took up some part-time jobs for income as it was difficult to get a job in bio-technology,” Klang-born Thiyagarajan said.

Fellow coursemate Edmond Leo Lopus, 26, repeatedly sent his resume to various companies but only one offered an interview after he had completed his degree in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in October 2009.

But his fortunes changed once he was accepted in the Bank Negara's Graduates Programme. Even before completing 23 months of on-the-job training at Swedish Motor (Volvo) through the programme, he was absorbed as a process quality engineer at the company.

“This is my dream job as I've always loved cars and aeroplanes,” he said.

Johor-born Siti Syarah Sanip (pic) said she was afraid of ending up like her friends, who did better than her in university but worked as cashiers and salesmen after not being able to secure a corporate job.

After joining the programme, she now works as a junior executive at Proton Holdings Berhad's finance and planning department and is grateful to Bank Negara for choosing her to join the programme.

Bank Negara assistant governor Marzunisham Omar said 98% out of the 500 of the programme's first batch have been employed while 14 participants from the 200 graduates in the second batch secured permanent employment after one month of attachment.

He said training for the second batch started on March 28 and would end next year. He added that plans for a third batch were in the pipeline.

A recent Jobstreet.com survey cited poor attitude and poor English as among the reasons many fresh graduates were having difficulty in securing jobs.

Jobstreet.com chief operating officer Suresh Thiru said previous surveys named the poor command of English as the main cause for unemployment, but bad attitude had now topped the list.