Global knowledge part 2
Yesterday, I met Alex Young a senior executive of a large financial company in New York. He said: "There is a perception among students that there are no jobs anymore, and that is wrong. There are many jobs, but graduates do not realize what skills are needed to get hired. Technical skills are not enough. In this fast changing world, many jobs have changed and new skills are required."
I asked: “How do they change? What are the new skills?”
He explained: “Today one of the most sought-after jobs skills is "global competence," or the familiarity with how business works internationally. Large companies are opening offices in every corner of the world now, and they need workers so if you can show that you have knowledge of global issues or speak a foreign language then you have significant advantage. Last week, I was in China talking with graduates who want to work for my financial company. Most of them have technical skills but have no idea about what is happening outside their country. It is an issue with many Asian students today, they study hard, they work hard but they lack knowledge of the world around them. Even something as simple as globalization trend, the flat world, the financial crisis, or European economic meltdown etc. Many do not know anything about them and they told me that they want to work for an international company and travel the world."
I was surprised: “It is difficult to think that today college students do not know about such thing.”
He laughed: “When I asked a candidate: “What do you think about the flat world?” She thought that I asked her a trick question, so she answered: “The world is round not flat.” I told her that what I meant is the Thomas Friedman 's definition of “The world is flat” and I want to know how do globalization impacts banking?” She said: “I never heard of Thomas Friedman, and do not know anything about flat world because it is not taught in our school.”
He shook his head: “This is a financial student graduates from a top school. If she does not know anything outside the training program than we have issue with the education system there. What we need today is people with good technical skills and global knowledge so they can take a more strategic perspective in their jobs. We do not just hire people to fill today needs, but also about the needs in the next five to ten years. Even for entry-level jobs, we need people who can look further into the future. We want self-motivated people who have knowledge with financial reporting, accounting, and profit-and-loss statements but they must understand how the world operates too because we are living in a globalized world. What happen in one country does impact the rest of the world. One common mistake that students make is to put all of their emphasis on technical training and nothing else. While it is true those technical skills are important but you should not ignore other areas. As more local companies are moving global, we need workers that have a global view. Most global companies these days are hiring people who have a mixture of technical skills, soft-skills as well as global view skills. This is where U.S and European students are doing well, their trainings are more balanced. The training in Asia is too strict and too narrow. Students are taught so much academic knowledge but not practical. They are loaded with so many theories so they cannot think outside of the ordinary. The world is changing fast; if they do not change quickly they will be left behind.”
I asked: “But do you think companies have set unrealistic expectations about how many things one employee can handle?”
He said: “In some ways they may aim a little too high, but it is necessary. If you look at the job descriptions today there are about twenty to thirty different requirements that must be met. Most companies will accept that students can only know some but not all. But it will change soon because with globalization, many job descriptions will change. It is up to the school or the students to be prepared for it. Today companies in developed countries are facing a major dilemma that most of their workers are retiring and they need replacement. Right now, about 65 percent of worker cannot retire because they are afraid of leaving in this current economy, but it will change soon. There is going to be huge needs when the economy pick up and people start retiring. I anticipated that there will be several million jobs opening all over the world and not enough skilled people to fill. As a large global company, we cannot stay idle. We have plans to open offices in seventy five countries in the next few years and we could hire over several hundred thousands of people. To make sure that our people understand how a global company operates, we have plans to relocate our workers every two years. A majority of our workers will move to work in different country to learn how things work and that is why we add more requirements to our job descriptions and requirements.”
To meet the needs of a globalized market, it is important for students to know that many of the job skills will change and they need to broaden their knowledge by learning new things, maybe more than what your school is teaching you today. However some knowledge can be learned without formal training. There are so many online courses, websites and tutorials these days, if you need, you can learn them quickly.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
