The right fit

MANILA, Philippines - It is becoming more and more apparent that in a corporation or company of any size today, there are two people who are absolutely critical to the running of the organization. Firstly, the accountant, as the financial regulatory aspects seem to change weekly, frequently with contradictory or conflicting guidelines, and secondly the Human Resource Manager, whose job it is to keep the company staffed with trained, skilled and motivated personnel who will be highly productive within the company. In this View from the Top, I am going to focus on the human resource side.

Companies that suffer from low productivity, poor quality service and poor quality product usually, upon analysis, will discover that they have their personnel holding positions that they don’t like, are unsuited for, and can’t do. These people don’t enjoy coming to work and usually took the job out of desperation. They said whatever they felt was necessary in the job interview to get the position. Let me illustrate what their day is like from a school analogy……

It’s Monday morning. As the pupils of 10D file into class, they are told that the Social Studies period, the first of the morning, has been replaced with Math. A few murmurs but nothing too difficult about that. However the second morning period has also been replaced by Math, and what is worse, they can’t take their morning break until they have finished all their exercises. Definitely a bad start to the school day, but after the break worse is to come. The rest of the morning’s classes have been replaced by Math. This is cruel and unnatural. The students spend the next two hours doodling, staring out of the window, going to the toilet, anything to break the tedium of a two hour Math lesson. At last lunch break arrives after the longest two hours in history, but, they cannot go for lunch until they have passed the test on the material covered over the last two hours. For some, there is no lunch.

The story gets worse. After lunch it is Math all the way through the afternoon. The lessons are hard, the teacher is demanding. Cell phones have been confiscated. A teaching assistant prowls the classroom checking to ensure that everyone is working and doing their tasks and assignments, and issues “sotto voce” threats to those falling behind. At last the day is over, the bell rings, but not before Math homework is set. As the students go home the only topic of conversation is what a ghastly day it has been, but that quickly turns to evening activities and how to forget the traumatic day. The cheery “How was school today dear” from the student’s mother is either greeted by a sullen stare, “terrible”, or a flood or tears.

Never mind, Tuesday is another day and things will be back to normal. But no; checking Math homework is the first thing on the agenda and the usual range of excuses is there. Whereas in the old days it was “the dog ate my homework”, it now is “my computer got virused and the disk is corrupted”. Sound familiar? So Tuesday becomes another all Math day. Students go home completely drained. School is not what is used to be. And Tuesday is followed by Wednesday (all Math), and Thursday and Friday. By the end of the week students are discussing burning down the school, running away, going sick or even jumping under the school bus; anything to escape the Math. And here’s the interesting detail, the amount of Math they have learned is no more than they learned on the regular school timetable as they have put up a mental resistance to learning as a form of silent protest.

Unfortunately, this is how many people view their jobs. They hate the job they are doing, hate the tasks they are assigned and are not good at it, resent being supervised and checked on levels of performance, and have no inclination to learn or get better as all they are waiting for is the break time and going home. No wonder productivity is low! And once they get home, escapism kicks in with computer games, alcohol, frenzied chatting or mind numbing television.

Where does this sorry state of affairs start? Usually at school. Only very recently has a concerted effort been made to place trained counselors into every high school to assist students in selecting college courses that match their abilities, interests, aptitudes and personalities. And laudable though these efforts are, it will take a long time before they start having any real impact on the massive job mismatch scenario that besets the country.

International Education Specialists makes its advocacy and contribution to help students with career alignment through its annual Career Counseling and Guidance Fair which this year (the 21st year) will be held at the SMX Mall of Asia on Sept. 17 & 18, 2009. Nearly 10,000 high school students, attending as official school field trips, converge on SMX to be counseling and assisted by 40 of the Philippines most popular and sought after colleges and universities. Each of these institutions has their admissions officers and subject specialists there to explain the subject offerings, and the careers those subjects lead to. Students discover what an HRM or Culinary career is all about, the skills and personality needed for accounting or Medicine, the academic background and aptitude needed for Engineering — and the career opportunities after graduation. In addition a range of overseas colleges and universities participate to assist those students who are contemplating launching their careers through overseas studies.

To complete the circle, let’s go back to the HRD manager whose job it is to put round pegs in round holes and square pegs in square holes. This manager needs to have a strong theoretical underpinning of the science of Human Resource Management to be effective in recruiting, developing, retaining personnel and maintaining a high level of job satisfaction company-wide. This manager also needs to be cognizant of what is happening at schools and colleges today, to have a deep understanding of the mindset of Generation Y school-leavers. Professional organizations such as Career Development Association of the Philippines (CDAP) bridge the gap between academe and industry and are working to equip guidance counselors and HRD managers to meet the challenges of 2010 - 2020. They will also be conducting seminars at the Career Counseling and Guidance Fair for Guidance counselors, Parents, Teachers and HRD managers. www.inter-ed.com or www.careerdevphil.com has all the details.

The view from the top sees encouraging signs that the tools are being put in place. Now is the time to use those tools and make a difference not just for the next generation, but also the current generation. After all, do you want to spend the rest of your life studying Math!? Math is not obviously for everyone. It is for those who love it and for those who will enjoy working on it.