Liberal arts vs technical courses in a mature job market

Gonaranao B. Musor

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Liberal arts vs technical courses in a mature job market
The Philippines needs to have a more mature job market that could accommodate almost every field and give a chance to every wide-eyed applicant eager to prove himself or herself in this dog-eat-dog world

Summer is almost over in the Philippines and I bet that thousands of fresh grads are scrambling to get the jobs available out there. It has been 15 years since I graduated from college and I could still remember how it was an eye-opening experience to be among the naive in a mad rush to get what’s available out there.

Maybe that’s why I find myself browsing the classified ads from time to time not because I’m on the lookout for another job. It is to remind myself of that difficult struggle I faced once upon a time, while remaining thankful and humble for having passed that stage.

It is also a way for me to gauge myself, particularly my experience, credentials and skills, against the current job market. One should never be too complacent and make sure that he/she is at par with current standards given the unpredictability of job security.

With all the ongoing economic developments in the Philippines, I can really say that we have truly made it if these developments translate to more jobs. And when I say jobs, I don’t mean not just the countless BPOs (with all due respect to them), but a more mature job market that provides a variety of opportunities to accommodate every job seeker regardless of the field and discipline.

This is the challenge that we face right now – the Philippines exports a lot of manpower not only because of lack of employment opportunities at home and insufficient salaries that could not keep up with a rising standard of living, but also due to an “immature” job market.

Images from Shutterstock

CNN host and writer Fareed Zakaria argues strongly for an education focusing on the liberal arts (i.e., social sciences, arts, literature, languages, etc) as opposed to what he perceives as an “obsession” (specifically by the US) on STEM (i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). His arguments are now consolidated in his book, In Defense of a Liberal Education.

Although I have yet to read his book, Zakaria has elaborated many times on his ideas in his CNN show, in his commencement speech at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and in his op-ed pieces.

Being a product of a liberal arts education myself (my undergraduate degree was psychology, while my master’s was communication), I could not agree more on the advantages of a liberal arts education that Zakaria espouses. But after graduating with honors from a premier academic institution, such as UP, I foolishly assumed that a job offer would be immediately handed to me on a silver platter.

Seven months after I graduated, I was beginning to wonder if that silver platter got lost along the way. Several questions popped in my head to make sense of this conundrum – Why could I not even nail an appointment for a single job interview? Was it because I’m a Muslim? Did I lack enough work experience (which was illogical given that I just got out of college)? Why oh why?!

Compared to friends and family who came from a “technical course” – specifically those that require a licensure exam (e.g., accountancy, engineering, etc) – it was just a matter of months, especially if you’re a board passer. It was a consistent pattern observed between the liberal arts camp versus the technical courses camp. I even remember my mother-in-law saying to my wife’s siblings to pursue a college degree that requires a board exam to ensure much faster employment.

Later on, I would read about a member of a prominent family in the Philippines graduating with a degree in Government or something from Harvard and then going on to work for Goldman Sachs. Having the right surname and the right school certainly helped a lot, but then I still get to read many people in the US or elsewhere with degrees in Art History, English, etc, regardless of the school, getting an entry level job at management consulting firms, finance houses and other Fortune 500 companies.

During my time, did I even merit a few minutes with a job interviewer from a high-profile company? The closest that I got to being considered for a job at Procter & Gamble was when I took their exam at their Makati office and learned that only those who were good at science and math could pass it and go on to the next stage.

So again, this reinforces my view that the job market in the Philippines is still more biased towards “technical” or STEM courses. We need to have a more mature job market that could accommodate almost every field and give a chance to every wide-eyed applicant eager to prove himself or herself in this dog-eat-dog world.

I have been posted here in Qatar for 7 months already, and how I wish the number of job possibilities here could be transplanted to our country for our job hunters. It was reported that there were 94,289 visas reserved for Filipino workers that Qatar is hoping to be deployed soon. These are mostly in the health sector and in the ongoing rail project, which is geared mostly to technical courses.

But then again, no matter what your degree is, there is always something for our kababayans in Qatar as long as you are determined to find it. And as the 2020 World Cup nears, more and more job opportunities await those who will continue to flock to this tiny nation.

In the meantime, I hope that as our economy in the Philippines continues to grow it will eventually lead to a more mature job market spurred by diverse investments. An economy can never really be progressive if it cannot provide enough economic opportunities for its citizens, especially jobs.

To the graduates, don’t ever stop searching, have faith, and be creative. A job may be waiting for you just around the corner. You just need to dig in a little deeper to find it. – Rappler.com

Gonaranao Musor has been based in Doha, Qatar since October working for the Philippine government. He is also a freelance writer.

Images of old books and technical drawings from Shutterstock

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