Career opportunities in the ASEAN integration

In 1999 when I was President of the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP), there was a similar phenomenon that made a lot of people around the world anxious. If you recall, the most common question asked and debated about at that time was "Are we Y2K ready?" On January 1, 2000, we all woke up and saw that life went on as usual. We were worried to death about Y2K, all for nothing.

The ASEAN integration seeks to form among the ten ASEAN countries a common manufacturing base and market, called the ASEAN Economic Community. Full integration will not happen on January 1, 2016, or in my lifetime. This will happen slowly, as countries prepare to change existing policies and structures.

Many years ago, the United States, Germany and Japan were the leading economies of the world. One day, everybody woke up in surprise that the sleeping giant China was becoming the hub for worldwide economic activities. Then we realized that God has stopped Creation on the sixth day. On the seventh day, God rested … and everything else was made in China.

The ten ASEAN nations today have half of China's population. But if they will band together, they can have more than a fair chance of competing with giants like China. As we speak today, the good news is that Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) that recently went into the ASEAN countries have eclipsed those that went into China.

This is a good sign for countries like the Philippines. The reality, however, is that the Philippines does not get as much FDIs as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. But the Philippines is in a sweet spot today. Many manufacturers earlier went China because of low labor cost. China's labor is no longer cheap today. ThePhilippines, with a great English speaking population and work force, could become a haven for manufacturing that once was located in China.

This translates into great career opportunities for Filipinos, especially the youth. Since time immemorial, investments equal employment. That formula has not changed. When investors, both foreign and domestic, choose to put their money in the country, thePhilippines will benefit in terms of increased employment opportunities.

Investments make up the demand side of the equation. The supply side consists of the quantity and quality of the workforce that can turn investments into economic activities for profit.

If we look at the business activity in the country today in relation to available job seekers, we will realize that the absorptive capacity of industry is roughly at 17%. For every 100 job seekers, only 17 jobs are available at the formal sector (companies registered with the SEC or DTI).

Many of the jobs available today are in the informal sector (or underground economy) - the self-employed, ambulant vendor, the kasambahay, unpaid family helpers, etc. The young students don't go to college only to end up in the informal sector. After graduation, they troop to the asphalt jungle to seek decent jobs in large multinationals.

In an integrated ASEAN, there will be freer exchange of investments, goods, services, and people. Tariffs, taxes, visa requirements, and other barriers will be eliminated or relaxed to allow this free exchange.

When more investments come to the Philippines, there will be more job opportunities. That is the good news. The bad news is that other ASEAN nationals will be free to look for jobs in the Philippinesas well. In reality, the ASEAN integration is not just about cooperation to form a more competitive market block. It will also be about competition for investments, for trade and for jobs.

Whether or not ASEAN integration will be good for the Filipinos or not is yet to be seen. Initially, I think that the country needs to change many of its existing policies to attract more investments that can create more jobs. Despite having a high quality workforce, thePhilippines today attracts lesser FDIs than other ASEAN countries because of its problems in infrastructure, energy, perceived corruption, kidnapping and other crimes, seeming government instability, etc. As a result, we have the highest unemployment rate in the ASEAN.

When these problems are resolved, foreign investors and the elite Filipinos and the rich Fil-Ams, Fil-Chis, and Fil Spans, will have more faith in investing in the Philippines. When this happens, the Filipino workforce should be ready to compete with foreigners for jobs in thePhilippines.

What will make a truly competitive Filipino workforce? Here are a few suggestions:

• Competence. When you want a job, you must have the technical competence to do it. The academe must ensure that the curriculum must integrate actual training on the job that provides students with skills required for regular jobs - not the OJT where students are asked to simply mix coffee or duplicate documents for the boss. The college diploma must be a certification that the holder has the basic skills to do certain jobs. The students must be serious in acquiring skills needed for jobs and careers they wish to pursue. Once they get employed, they must continue to learn and master more specific skills. First, they must be adept at their present jobs. Second, they must prepare themselves to assume jobs of greater responsibility. Unless they demonstrate competencies required for higher positions, they will likely stay in their present jobs.
• Character. Education must, above all, be a process of developing the students' character. You may have great technical competence, but if your character, attitude and mindsets are counterproductive to the corporate culture, you'll not last long in the corporation. No one wants to work with a barbaric technocrat. Skills are easily learned, but character takes a long time to build. Worse, if you develop the wrong values when you were young, you carry them like a sack of bricks in your career journey. If along the way, you notice some faulty character traits, exert effort to change.
• Commitment. To get a job, competence may suffice. For long-term superior performance, you need to have commitment. The young workers today don't intend to stay with their first employer until retirement. That's all right. But in order to succeed over the long haul, you must show commitment in every task, assignment or project you are assigned to. When you are committed to a job or organization, it shows. When you aren't, it really shows.
• Credibility. In careers, and perhaps in other aspects of life, your credibility is important. Credibility does not happen due to long years of experience alone. You have to master your craft. If you are a janitor, be the damned best janitor there is. Make everything you touch clean, spick and span. If you are a manager, be the most inspiring manager you could be to your people. If you become a CEO, be the best CEO and bring your organization and your people to a brighter tomorrow. Beyond mastery of your craft, you have to be the epitome of the best of whatever you are, inside out. Do this whether people are watching you or not, without regard for accolades and honors, without expecting praises or extra compensation.
• Culture. If you want to succeed in your career, you must show that you share the culture of your organization. There is a culture of excellence, and a culture that tolerates shabbiness. Whenever you join an organization, look at its culture. Is the culture something you can be proud of? If not, ship out. In the ASEAN integration, understanding cultural differences and the ability to meld with differing cultures are a must if you aim for career success. If you work in Singapore, there is no room for laxity. The companies and the city state have a culture of efficiency. Learning and adapting to the culture is a prerequisite for career success.
• Choice. Life is about choices. You succeed or you fail depending on the choices you make. Whether young or old, you will always have a choice - your career, the company you keep, the organization you work for, to be an employee or go into business, etc. In fact, you can choose to be rich or poor, to be healthy or sick, to be beautiful or unremarkable. No one knows what he or she will become, except he or she who chooses what he or she wants to become. So, don't tell me you have no choice.

In the ASEAN integration, choose to compete, survive, and succeed!