The fine print.
Terms of use, privacy commitments, cookies, and registered entity details. Plain English where possible. The legal language is below.
The terms of using this site.
By accessing graduateschoiceaward.com, you agree to the terms below. They are written to be readable, but they are still binding.
Acceptance
Use of this website constitutes acceptance of these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the site. We may amend these terms from time to time. Continued use after an amendment constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.
Use of content
All content on this site, including the Graduates' Choice Award name, the GCA insignia, the scroll trophy mark, the winner Seal, photography, copy, and category structure is the property of Talentbank Sdn Bhd and its operating affiliates, except where third-party copyright is acknowledged.
Winners may freely use the Seal and reference their award status in marketing for the cycle in which they were named, in accordance with the brand guidelines on the Toolkit page. Other use requires written permission.
Voter conduct
The voting platform is intended for genuine, unprompted student preference. The following are prohibited and will result in vote invalidation:
- Submitting votes on behalf of another person
- Using automated tools, scripts, or VPN-rotation to multiply submissions
- Coercing, incentivising, or paying others to vote in a particular direction
- Misrepresenting your eligibility to vote, for example voting when you are not enrolled at a Malaysian institution and did not graduate from one within the last 12 months
Talentbank, as the Secretariat, removes votes that break these rules. The Board of Audit Members then verifies the results in July each year.
Employer references
The candidate organisations referenced on this site are named for the purpose of student preference voting. Inclusion does not constitute endorsement, partnership, or any commercial relationship. Nothing on this site is or should be construed as an employment offer or recruitment solicitation.
Disclaimers of reliance
The Graduates' Choice Award is one signal among many. The disclaimers below clarify what the award is, what it is not, and what reliance is and is not reasonable.
For students, graduates, and jobseekers
The Graduates' Choice list reflects what other Malaysian university students said about employer preference at a specific point in time. It is one input into your career decisions, not a recommendation, not a hiring forecast, and not a guarantee of any outcome. Inclusion or exclusion of an employer says nothing about whether they will hire you, what they will pay, or whether the role will be a good fit. Your career choices are yours. Take the list as background, not as advice.
For employers and named organisations
Talentbank lists Malaysian graduate employers because they are matters of public interest, not because they sponsor the award or have any commercial relationship with us. Being named in a candidate list is not a recommendation. Being named as a Champion, Top 1%, or Hall of Fame entry reflects student vote totals at the time of audit, nothing more. A change in your tier from one cycle to the next is not a comment on your employer brand, your hiring practices, or your reputation, it is simply the maths of student vote distribution that year. We do not accept liability for inferences readers may draw from year-on-year movement, cycle-over-cycle comparison, or category re-classification.
Press, media, and onward syndication
Our press releases and Bernama syndication are licensed for accurate reproduction. If a third-party publication republishes our content with edits, additions, or out-of-context framing, we have no control over that downstream version and accept no responsibility for it.
Results, methodology, and finality
Voter eligibility is self-declared at the point of voting. After the voting window closes, the dataset is validated and audited: duplicate and repeated votes are removed, and coordinated or automated voting is detected and excluded, before the independent Board of Audit Members reviews the results for publication. Results are determined on this basis and are final. They are published at the sole discretion of Talentbank Sdn Bhd, and there is no appeal. Participation in, or engagement with, the award constitutes acceptance of this.
Talentbank reserves the right to amend the award's categories, tiers, methodology, eligibility rules, and schedule between cycles at its discretion. Such changes are not retrospective judgements on any organisation and do not give rise to any claim.
No warranty
The site, the audit, and the published results are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied. While Talentbank takes reasonable care to ensure accuracy, you should not rely on the site as the sole basis for any employment decision. The award is one signal among many.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by Malaysian law, Talentbank Sdn Bhd shall not be liable for any indirect, consequential, or incidental damages arising from your use of this site, including loss of opportunity, lost profits, or reputational claims.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of Malaysia. Any dispute shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Kuala Lumpur.
What we collect, and what we do not.
This award programme exists to surface honest student preference. To do that responsibly, we are conservative with personal data. The detail follows.
Compliance
We comply with the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA).
What we collect
From voters:
- University name and self-declared enrolment or graduation status (used to validate and audit votes after the voting window)
- Email or student ID (for one-vote-per-person enforcement)
- Voting selections across the award's industry categories
- Name and mobile number (WhatsApp), needed to enter the prize draw and to reach a winner
- Your consent, if you give it, to receive updates about the Graduates' Choice Award
From employer contacts:
- Name, role, organisation, work email, work phone (for secretariat correspondence)
From website visitors: we use analytics to understand how the site is used and to improve it. This includes page views, referrer, approximate region, and interaction analytics such as clicks and scrolling. We use Microsoft Clarity and Google Analytics for this purpose; these set cookies and process data under their own terms. Clarity may capture anonymised session recordings and heatmaps. Personal fields on the voting form, such as name, email and phone number, are masked and are not recorded. We do not use these tools to identify individual voters.
What we do not do
- We do not sell or share individual voter data with employers, recruiters, agencies, or third parties
- We do not match identities to votes in any communication with employers
- We do not retain voter contact details beyond the cycle in which they participated, except to administer the draw
- We do not use voter data to market unrelated products or services. Updates about the Graduates' Choice Award are sent only if you agree to them
What we do share
Aggregated, anonymised vote counts by category and by university are reported to the Board of Audit Members and partner universities. These reports never contain individual identities or contact details.
Your rights
Under the PDPA you have the right to access, correct, or request deletion of your personal data held by us. Email legal@talentbank.io to exercise any of these rights. We respond within seven working days.
Retention
Voter records are kept for the duration of the cycle plus twelve months for audit purposes, after which they are anonymised. Prize draw contact details are kept for two years for prize administration and tax compliance, after which they are deleted.
Light cookie footprint.
We use the smallest set of cookies the site can run on. No advertising cookies. No third-party trackers without your knowledge.
What we set
- Session cookies for the voting platform, required for one-vote-per-person enforcement during your active session. Expire when you close the browser.
- Promo dismissal stored in browser localStorage so the voting countdown banner stays dismissed for return visits
- Analytics cookies, where in use, for anonymised page-view tracking. Any analytics tool we deploy is privacy-respecting and does not fingerprint or cross-site track. The current provider, if any, is named in the secretariat's response to a privacy enquiry.
What we do not set
- No advertising cookies
- No social media re-targeting pixels
- No cross-site identity graphs
- No third-party data brokers
Managing cookies
You can clear cookies through your browser settings at any time. Doing so will sign you out of any active voting session and reset the promo banner. Disabling cookies entirely will prevent the voting platform from functioning, since vote uniqueness depends on session enforcement.
How referral entries work.
Voters can share a personal referral link with friends. These rules explain how entries are earned, what does not count, and how the prize draw is run.
Earning entries
- You earn 1 entry for submitting a valid vote.
- You can earn up to 11 more by completing the full survey, including the completion bonus.
- You earn 1 more for each friend who completes a valid vote through your personal referral link.
- Each person can hold a maximum of 25 entries in a cycle.
What counts as a referral
- Your friend must open your referral link and complete a vote. Telling someone your code is not enough: the entry is only credited through the link.
- Your friend must be eligible to vote and may vote only once. Votes through your own link from your own details do not count.
- If a referred vote is later removed, for example as a duplicate, fake or ineligible vote, the entry it earned is removed too.
Fair play
Share your link freely with friends, classmates and on social media. The following are not allowed and may lead to your votes and entries being removed and any prize being withdrawn:
- Creating fake or duplicate accounts, or voting on behalf of someone else
- Buying, selling or trading votes or referrals
- Using automated tools or scripts to generate votes
- Asking or rewarding anyone to vote for a particular employer
We have zero tolerance for fraud. Every voter is verified by email, and every vote, referral and entry is screened before the draw. Our checks detect duplicate and fake accounts, automated or coordinated voting, and people referring themselves. Anything that fails is removed, together with every entry it earned. Talentbank, as the Secretariat, decides whether a vote, referral or entry is valid, and its decision is final.
Your privacy
We do not tell you who voted through your link, and we never share how anyone voted. Referral emails tell you only how many entries you have.
Emails about your entries
After you vote, we email your confirmation and your referral link. When friends vote through your link, we send a short update, at most once a day.
The draw
- One prize is awarded to one winner, drawn from all valid entries after the prize draw closes. More entries mean a higher chance of winning.
- The draw is held live at Talentbank's office in Kuala Lumpur and streamed online, so anyone can watch it happen.
- The winner is contacted by WhatsApp and email using the details provided, and must respond within 14 days to claim the prize, or another winner is drawn.
Talentbank may amend or end the referral programme or the prize draw where reasonably necessary. Any change is published on this page.
Who is behind the award.
The award programme is operated by Talentbank Sdn Bhd, registered in Malaysia.
Talentbank Sdn Bhd
Secretariat of the Graduates' Choice Award. Voting platform, audit board liaison, gala production, and media coordination. Contracts with partner universities and government bodies sit here.
Data controller
For Malaysian voter data, the data controller for PDPA purposes is Talentbank Sdn Bhd. For correspondence relating to data, please use the privacy contact below.
Contact
All correspondence legal@talentbank.io