Measuring our Education System

We have one of the best education systems in the world if you ask any educator. Now if you ask the employers below is the result. Admittedly it is far worse in China and India.

So how should we measure ourselves? To be practical and realistic, we have ways to go isn't it? From first hand experience, hiring practice here doesn't help to solve the problem. A government that allows employers to bring in FTs at the drop of the hat does not reward employers for trying harder, much less incentivized to be creative in their approach. Big companies set up in-house universities. What does that tell you? In an email to my daughters I told them that their education continue even after finishing school, especially the first few years of graduation.

One of the GLC wifey was with for a while, the quality of management was so bad that they kept losing employees. Early in my career when I was with a GLC, it was the same experience. The problem could be internal instead of external.

Professional recruitment have become stupidly commoditized. My sister told me about clueless headhunters matching clients' requirements by ticking them off against job seekers resume. Even a computer can do that. What value added? I have also noticed that frequently the lowest IQ department in a company is the HR department. These are the places where you don't need productivity improvement, which would only serve to make a bad problem worse. You need a transformation.

As for policy makers and politicians who have led us down this path, they are conceptually brilliant but out of touch with reality and often simply lack common sense. Policies inevitably become honest mistakes but there are far too many to admit. Better borrow some of the insight from "swarm intelligence".

The article from AsiaOne this morning that had provoked me to write the above.

ALMOST half of employers in Singapore have problems filling vacancies in their companies, according to a survey conducted by a human resource firm.

Up to 44 per cent of employers have found it difficult to fill critical positions, said ManpowerGroup in a press release on Friday.

Jobs most in demand in 2011 in Singapore

1. Sales Representative
2. Engineers
3. Technicians
4. Drivers
5. Accounting & Finance Staff
6. IT Staff
7. Skilled Trades
8. Customer Service Representatives & Customer Support
9. Labourers
10. Management / Executive (Management / Corporate)

Jobs most in demand in 2010 in Singapore
1. Sales Representative
2. Engineers
3. Production Operators
4. Teachers
5. Customer Service representatives & Customer Support
6. Drivers
7. Management/Executive (Management/Corporate)
8. IT staff
9. Sales Manager
10. Skilled Trades