Opting for apprenticeship, not law degree HARVARD VERITAS

BETWEEN pursuing a law degree at a local university and an apprenticeship program for non-graduates, most young people

But Daryl Ng did the opposite.

alumnus turned down an offer to read law at the Singapore Management University last year to join a one-year scheme for A-level and diploma holders at global commodi

- an example of someone with the skills that employers are looking out for — ability to adapt, be intellectually curious and resilient.

“He’s done very well and he’s about to progress to the graduate program,” he said. After a year of apprenticeship, employees will move on to the graduate scheme.

Tan was one of the four panelists at the recent The Straits Times & SkillsFuture Singapore Future of Work forum. They took questions

shared their thoughts on job trends, as well as values and skills that are increasingly sought after.

Panelist Viren Shetty, who dropped out of the traditional route of education, spoke about the importance of some skills that may be acquired outside of a class-

his applied mathematics course at Nanyang Technological University to focus on his start-up, which has raised $2.3 million to date.

His software company PlusMar-

behavioral psychology to help businesses predict how consumers behave on websites.

Despite his success, Shetty said dropping out of university is risky and not for everyone. He was able to take that leap of faith because he knew he had acquired the skills and networks to stay in the tech industry, even if PlusMargin fails.

Other panel speakers also agreed that it is possible to carve out a career path based on experiences in and out of school, and not feel constrained by one’s discipline of study.

Feon Ang, LinkedIn’s vice president of talent and learning solutions

how she encourages her 17-year-old daughter, a humanities student, to explore the sciences if she is keen. “You don’t see (your degree) as an end, as a destination,” she said. “If you today take a law degree and three years later feel that this law degree is not suitable for your passion, what’s stopping you from taking another degree?

“That law degree has not gone to waste as well. Everything you’ve learned is like Lego boxes that build up who you are as an individual.”

Besides hard skills, the panelists said that being open to learning and having soft skills such as communication and teamwork are also important.

Teo Lay Lim, senior managing director of Asean at Accenture, a professional services company, said this involves being aware of one’s strengths and knowing what one needs to improve.

“Sometimes technical people say that writing well or speaking well is not important,” she said.

“But if you can’t pitch, no matter how good you are, you can’t speak, your idea can’t speak for itself.”

Being able to operate in a “gray” world and make judgments when there is no right and wrong is another essential trait, said Teo.

“What do you have that accentuates the human being in you, that makes you different and irreplaceable? In an age where machines are coming into the workplace, you better be a solid human being.”

In the new world of work, one must adapt whether he or she likes it or not, said speakers at a forum on the future of jobs.

big data are all the rage now, they added, employers are also on the lookout for soft skills and workers who are open-minded.

PlusMargin’s Shetty said: “You don’t need to be a tech person, you don’t need to have a maths or physics or computer science background, you just need to be valuable and adaptable.”

The three other panelists at forum

said the world’s problems are not about technology.

“Usually it’s an operational problem, a human resource problem, it’s a human recruitment problem,” he said. “For many of the large corporates, yes, technology is disrupting, but it is an enabler.”

Participants at the forum raised a range of questions, including what sort of skills are in demand; how to demonstrate resilience to a potential employer; and how to start a company.

One essential attribute is to be “intellectually curious.” This includes asking the right questions, instead of just getting the right answers, said Tan, who sits on the boards of two institutions — the Nanyang Technological University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

From his experience, Shanghai students will read up on invited speakers and stay on after the talk to find out more.

But here, students go for such talks to have their attendance marked. And they leave the moment it ends because the sessions do not contain examinable content, he said.

It is a challenge to change the mindsets of young people so that they learn not for the sake of grades but are genuinely curious about issues, he added.

Another key trait is having resilience — whether it is in running a start-up and facing the possibility of failure, or being able to relearn skills or pick up new ones in a changing economy, said the speakers.

being able to articulate and present well in interviews, and networking skills, are also important in securing jobs, said Feon Ang. -

through referrals, she said.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The