Not just jobs but careers
Graduates have to prepare themselves for global mobility, continuous work hours and work shifts, as well as relocations in their career lives.
One of my students who is physically challenged graduated from his course this trimester. He had been in his wheelchair every time we had class. He demonstrated his strong determination to finish college despite his condition by studying seriously, being the first to volunteer to be class monitor, being the first to call for group meetings and being the first to finish academic outputs. This young guy prepared himself to fulfill his dreams and will soon transition to the real world of work. He will join millions of graduates who will compete for available jobs in the market.
Both industry and academe have recognized the continuing mismatch between the available jobs in the market and the demand for qualified human resources. Generally, graduates have employability and competency issues that make it difficult for them to land jobs. Feedback from employers among other factors led to the education reform of K-12 program in the basic education curriculum which was initially implemented in school year 2016- 2017. This implementation impacted not only the basic education department but also the higher education institutions across the country. School administrators, faculty, and staff had to redefine curricular program offerings, restructure institutional resources, retool the faculty, and provide meaningful development programs. The process required several town hall meetings, departmental workshops, and inter-disciplinary dialogues to identify the requirements of such change in the education system.
In the ASEAN region, a qualifications framework had been started and tabled for discussion for equivalency among countries with differences in levels and qualifications standards. The four cornerstones of the ASEAN economic community include facilitating mobility of practitioners within ASEAN; exchanging information and enhancing cooperation in respect of mutual recognition of practitioner; providing opportunities for capacity building and training of practitioners, and promoting and adopting best practices on standards and qualifications — the last challenges of the ASEAN member states to equalize the playing field.
These local curricular institutional initiatives and the international standardization call for competency at par with cohorts in other parts of the ASEAN region and the world. Quality instruction, institutional resources, government support, and qualified teaching and non-teaching staff are necessary to produce quality outputs. Do our universities and colleges prioritize career development by providing the tools and handles to students by proficient staff? How do students gauge their success after having earned their degrees? What is the general mind-set — finding a job, or planning a career path for personal growth and development?
Not just jobs but careers. This is the battle cry of those in the career and placement offices of universities and colleges. Our graduates should be able to get the information, formation, and services that help them make intelligent career choices. They
must be able to pass competency requirements that are relevant to their personal choice, entry, and progress in educational, vocational, and avocational pursuits (Sears, 1982). Their first and succeeding jobs must be able to pave the way to fulfil their career plans.
The Philippine job market reality is that graduates’ choices are limited, and most often, the available jobs are not aligned with the students’ college preparation. This daunting challenge to industry as well as to academe was echoed at the international conference of the Asia Pacific Career Development Association held in Quezon City last month. Private career practitioners have to come up with innovative and sustainable strategies to satisfy the career needs of the graduating students and the graduates. Academe should provide career services to their constituent-students though some of these services have already been available on campus: career coaching, counselling and mentoring; mock and exit interviews; onthe-job orientation, and personal development programs.
A small number of universities and colleges maintain a separate job and career placement office to organize job expos, conduct tracer studies, networking, job postings, and pre- employment exams. Moreover, would- be graduates have to prepare themselves for global mobility, continuous work hours and work shifts, as well as relocations in their career lives. More is expected from the graduates, but demands tremendous updating and upgrading on the part of academe. Obviously, the role of family in the formation of character, values and attitudes, and choices for career options is undeniable. It is in our homes that we all start to plan what we would like to become when we grow up.