Despite having queued for hours from as early as 6am, many were forced to have their interview dates postponed because of the large number that showed up.

Applicants leaving the building estimated that more than 1,000 employers had queued up, with some placing the figure at over 2,000.

However, they told FMT that only 300 interview slots were available.

According to Razlan, who runs a cleaning company, employers nationwide, even in East Malaysia, had been given from Aug 22 to 30 to submit their applications at the ministry.

Razlan said part of the confusion was caused by the fact that some companies had been allocated specific dates for the interview while others were given an “open period” from Aug 22 to 30.

He said priority was given to those who had interviews scheduled today, while the other applicants were told they would have to line up once again to be given new interview slots, scheduled for another day.

“If the limit was 300 companies, then they should have specifically scheduled the interviews, instead of having thousands of people waiting in line but failing to get a number.

“Why couldn’t this be broken down state by state?” asked Razlan, who expressed sympathy for employers who had travelled from outstation only to be turned away.

Alex, a restaurant owner from Johor, was one of those forced to head back home empty-handed despite travelling all the way to Putrajaya.

“I started queuing at around 6am. I had expected many people to be waiting in line but I did not think it would be this many,” he said, adding that he estimated more than 1,000 people turned up.

He said the situation was worsened by poor crowd control that allowed some to jump queue.

“There was no system, they lost control and were not able to manage the queue or be fair to everybody,” Alex said.

“When I first lined up, there were about 200 people ahead of me but eventually, they swelled to 500 or 600 people.”

FMT has reached out to the human resources ministry for comment.