"Mic Drop" — Malaysian Recruiter Shares Why SPM Grads Shouldn't Glorify Bad Results

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Last Thursday, 16 June 2022, all SPM candidates for the 2021 examination session received their final results after completing the long and arduous process.

While many celebrated their successes, others took to social media to somewhat "boast" about their results, that weren't anything to scream about — not in the good way at least.

From sharing a straight "G" (meaning "Gagal", or a fail grade) slip, to one student posting how they did not attend any of their examinations, receiving a string of "T" marks (meaning "Tidak Hadir", or not in attendance), some candidates are seemingly proud of the fact that their poor results differentiated them from the crowd.

Travel and beauty blogger, Reina Lum, recently shared a TikTok video addressing the trend that has young SPM grads proudly posting their failures on social media. 

Working as a recruiter and running her own luxe hair studio business, Reina briefly discussed the reality for those who carelessly take their SPM examination for granted, and quite literally, toss their future prospects away.

In the two-minute video, she shares each point, and details them one-by-one, with pointers as to what recruiters take from such a display.

"[If you're racking up failures, it shows that you didn't even try]. It's a serious red flag for recruiters", she said in the video.

Continuing on, she noted that producing bad grades would automatically limit your future opportunities in the workforce, and in furthering ones tertiary education, "Off the bat, I can say that you're limiting your job opportunities. Even if you have the [money to pay for it, you still wouldn't qualify for it]."

Embellishing on the very true reality of college admissions all around the world, almost every university seeking to enrol students for their courses require a minimum grade point average, or more commonly known as GPA. A string of failures, probably wouldn't garner acceptance anywhere.

Speaking on the common proclamation by the public, regarding how 'studying isn't for everyone, some people prefer to work', Reina dropped some truth bombs over how failing almost every subject, can't always be justified to employers.

"I cannot justify this [in the] corporate world. [Even if we wanted to give you a job, we couldn't]."

Proceeding to confront the ideology that those who insist on their success regardless of their SPM results, Reina agreed with the sentiment, though the saying doesn't always align itself with reality.

"When you work in companies, and you want to get that promotion, they will definitely look at your qualifications. There's always a limit to what you can get without your tertiary education. Like it or not, that is how the system works."

Closing the discussion by orating about those who insist on starting personal businesses as a means to their success, Reina stated, as a business owner herself, that people should stop romanticising and underestimating the pursuit of carrying out their own line of work.

"It is so hard to make your business a success, [don't assume that everything is easy]."

Encapsulated within the caption on the video, Reina wrote that saving to begin a venture is a difficult feat, and that the average number of business owners that lead to carrying out successful businesses are just a small percentile of those who begin it.

Urging, especially, the younger generation to start hitting the books to ensure they do not fall victim to the potential outcome of bad results, Reina's message was simple when acknowledging this bizarre trend, "Stop it". 

Reina's TikTok video has been viewed almost 300,000 times, and has racked up over 38,600 likes since she shared it five days ago.