Technical/Vocational grad in Demand

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[SIZE=3]Foreign bizmen prefer hiring workers [/SIZE][SIZE=3]with technical, vocational skills [/SIZE]

By Max V. de Leon
Reporter
Business Mirror,
Monday April 28, 2008

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.

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.

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.

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.