Student Seeking Internship Sends One-word Messages To Employer

M’sian frustrated with student’s curt messages

It’s the beginning of a new year, which means many university students are busy hunting down job opportunities and internships to kickstart their careers.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good start for this engineering student. Their curt messages to a prospective employer on LinkedIn went viral on Facebook after the latter shared how he was left frustrated with the student, who had sent one-word messages including “Update” and “Nope” as responses.

One-word messages from student seeking internship

On 1st January 2021, netizen Mohamad Khaled Nordin took to Facebook to share his conversation with a civil engineering student who had approached him for internship opportunities via LinkedIn, a professional networking platform.

Texts from student seeking internship
Image credit: Mohamad Khaled Nordin

Khaled who also works as an engineer, wrote in the post that he had received a private message from a civil engineering student who enquired about an internship placement at his company.

About a week after the initial message was sent, the student approached Khaled again to confirm if there were any available positions at his company from March to May 2022. This was then followed by a more recent message where the student simply said “Update” – presumably to ask for an update on the application status, without any greetings.

M’sian advises students to be more specific and polite

Frustrated by the student’s attitude and style of communication, Khaled shared a long post highlighting the way the messages were written and advised other university students to be more specific and polite in their professional communication.

He also messaged the student back, demonstrating how the initial request should have been relayed.

Texts from student seeking internship

Image credit: Mohamad Khaled Nordin

He pointed out that the civil engineering student who texted him lacked basic manners and the know-how of job application as they replied with one-word messages.

“To all fresh graduates looking for internship opportunities, please, please be prepared. Your attitude, character, style of writing, and ability to state your goals matter,” Khaled wrote in the post which has amassed over 1,900 reactions and 1,500 shares.

He added, “Your CGPA alone is not enough is to secure a job. Many industry leaders are able to climb up the corporate ladder because of their attitude which determines their success and longevity.”

Many Malaysians shared in the comment section similar incidents they had with fresh graduates and students. They called for students to take note of this issue and improve on their basic communication manners when applying for jobs.

M’sian frustrated with student’s responses on LinkedIn

With growing competition in the Malaysian job market, it’s becoming more difficult for fresh graduates – especially those who lack soft skills – to secure a job.

So we hope that this incident will be a good reminder to university students to always be courteous and professional when making enquiries. After all, our personalities play a vital role in telling others who we are and what we are capable of.