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FILIPINOS don’t have to be college graduates to be
employed by mostly multinational firms, but they must
have technical or vocational skills.
This was
made clear by foreign businessmen as they reiterated
their concern over the lack of technical and vocational
skills among applicants, skills they badly need more
than having a college education.
Henry
Schumacher, executive vice president of the European
Chamber of Commerce, said they would actually prefer
high-school graduates that are well-trained in their
line of work than those who finished their college
courses but are forced to do jobs they were not trained
to do.
He said
one major reason why there is a high turnover rate of
workers in some industries is the fact that college
graduates are getting the jobs that are not really fit
for their skills.
“If you
have high-school graduates that are technically trained,
they will stay with you more than college graduates that
do not have the right skills,” he said.
Rob
Sears of the American Chamber of Commerce said they want
the high-school graduates to concentrate more in
vocational courses and become welders, technicians,
mechanics, carpenters and electricians because these are
lacking nowadays.
He cited
the case of shipbuilder Hanjin, which is now in dire
need of welders for its manufacturing facility in
Subic and soon in
Mindanao.
Leslie
Stokes of the British Chamber of Commerce said
member-companies of the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC),
which count at more than 2,500 member-firms, are willing
to support the further training of high-school students
that they will employ.
He said
those with technical skills but have no college diploma
should not also worry about getting promoted because
council-member companies are willing to give them
positions as high as middle managers.
Schumacher said parents, students and academe should
realize this because if they go through the flow of the
current curriculum, the job-skills mismatch in the
country will continue to produce educated but
unemployable people.
The JFC
plans one more employment expo where thousands of jobs
will be offered at the TriNoma Activity Center on August
13 and 14. It just had a jobs expo at the Glorietta in
Makati on April 25 and 26.
Aside
from serving as conduit between the workers and its
member-companies, the JFC is also using the employment
expos in getting a sense of the actual problem on the
availability of skills that are required by different
industries in the country.
Schumacher said Filipinos should change their culture
and social beliefs based on the notion that it would be
easier to get good jobs if they have a college diploma.
“They do
not have to be college graduates. They can have a great
future if they are properly trained in technical and
vocational skills,” he said. |
