Saturday, May 28, 2011
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| (taken from http://www.sws.org.ph/pr20110525.htm) |
Today is exactly a month after graduation and majority of us, if not all, are now and still part of the 11.3M unemployed Filipinos in accordance with the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations, commissioned by the BusinessWorld. But first, what is an unemployment rate? According to Social Weather Stations, "the new official definition has included the concept of availability for work; it subtracts those not available for work, even though looking for work, and adds those available for work but not seeking work for the following reasons: tired/believe no work is available, awaiting results of a job application, temporarily ill/disabled, bad weather, and waiting for rehire/job recall." That is still high according to comments of economists in the country one of whom is UP economist Raul Fabella and was quoted as saying that the unemployment rate will rise in June as college students who graduated end of March normally do not immediately get work. And yes, he predicted that right.
Several people may have been giving out their inquiries on what are we doing as newly-graduates and what are the ways we ought to do as to not be part of the booming statistic of the unemployed here in the country. Several of my friends have been going to job fairs, submitting their resumé and patiently waiting for a possible interview and examination from the companies. It may be easy for someone who already has a work to say just keep on applying until one calls for a certain interview but with the competition out in the market, it would really mean competition. I would like to recommend a post by Sean Gregory of TIME.com with his article entitled New Rules For the Job Interview. It may give additional information on the already to-do list we already have when it comes to such concerns.
Going back to the competition, a study by Rutgers University showed that college graduates are having a hard time finding a suitable job and those who may have one are being paid less than what skill they can offer. The said study maybe of a foreign setting but considering that it is still correlated with college graduates trying to find a suitable job still has relevance with what we are experiencing now. According to a survey conducted by Manpower, they said that the problem is within the education system that is leading future job candidates into wrong professions that the industry nowadays really need and I quote, the global skills shortage is worsening, with more than one-third of companies reporting difficulties filling positions because of a lack of talent – the highest level in four years. . .
In the local setting, we can see that there are not enough jobs to fill-in the unemployed. If there were job openings, it usually leads to underemployment in the future due to lack of industry growth, few job openings and a bunch of people out in the competition for job availability. Fresh graduates like us can't be choosy with the work to apply for as long as it will compensate our daily financial costs, it would be a suitable job now that everyone is up for a competition. It's always up to you on how you'll sell yourselves during interviews.
ManpowerGroup president Jonas Prising says that for college graduates, the main problem isn't that they don't have skills; it's that they have the wrong ones. Furthermore, he also iterated that, "Liberal arts skills are in over-supply, and that's an education issue. Being a college graduate doesn't mean you're work-ready."
Whoever is to blame with the unemployment issue, we are the only ones who will be able to help ourselves in finding a job that will compensate as well with the skills we have to offer. To my friends who are still job hunters, ask yourselves what do you really want to get in a job. Is it the salary or the experience? In my opinion, you should go for the latter which is experience. When you have experience after six months or a year, you can start your demands and everything follows. Regarding the job offerings out there, do not be so choosy as the competition is high but the market offers few jobs that makes an offset for us fresh graduates. Just be yourself, be marketable and show them how you can be an asset to your preferred company.
Going back to the competition, a study by Rutgers University showed that college graduates are having a hard time finding a suitable job and those who may have one are being paid less than what skill they can offer. The said study maybe of a foreign setting but considering that it is still correlated with college graduates trying to find a suitable job still has relevance with what we are experiencing now. According to a survey conducted by Manpower, they said that the problem is within the education system that is leading future job candidates into wrong professions that the industry nowadays really need and I quote, the global skills shortage is worsening, with more than one-third of companies reporting difficulties filling positions because of a lack of talent – the highest level in four years. . .
In the local setting, we can see that there are not enough jobs to fill-in the unemployed. If there were job openings, it usually leads to underemployment in the future due to lack of industry growth, few job openings and a bunch of people out in the competition for job availability. Fresh graduates like us can't be choosy with the work to apply for as long as it will compensate our daily financial costs, it would be a suitable job now that everyone is up for a competition. It's always up to you on how you'll sell yourselves during interviews.
ManpowerGroup president Jonas Prising says that for college graduates, the main problem isn't that they don't have skills; it's that they have the wrong ones. Furthermore, he also iterated that, "Liberal arts skills are in over-supply, and that's an education issue. Being a college graduate doesn't mean you're work-ready."
Whoever is to blame with the unemployment issue, we are the only ones who will be able to help ourselves in finding a job that will compensate as well with the skills we have to offer. To my friends who are still job hunters, ask yourselves what do you really want to get in a job. Is it the salary or the experience? In my opinion, you should go for the latter which is experience. When you have experience after six months or a year, you can start your demands and everything follows. Regarding the job offerings out there, do not be so choosy as the competition is high but the market offers few jobs that makes an offset for us fresh graduates. Just be yourself, be marketable and show them how you can be an asset to your preferred company.
