Many operators in the financial services industry often fail to understand how vocational education can help them adopt a more pragmatic recruitment policy. Vocational education is often associated with technical training for industrial work and has little to contribute to the training of students and workers in the services industry.
But vocational education is making an important comeback and shaking off its undeserved image of the Cinderella of our educational system.
The challenge of training the next generation of students and young workers will be met successfully if a healthy symbiosis is encouraged between the financial services industry and the education system that includes both the University, which provides graduate level academic qualifications, and Mcast that provides vocational qualifications.
One of the major challenges facing the successful financial services industry is the provision of sufficiently trained young people that are qualified in certain areas where, so far, the demand for qualified applicants is outstripping supply.
The accountancy field is one such area. In my recent discussions with seasoned professionals leading some of our financial services firms, I have learned that there are various reasons behind the current shortage of accountants. Let me mention some of these reasons.
Most operators are still determined to exclusively recruit university graduates in accountancy for their accountancy needs. Yet, some of the tasks performed by these young graduate employees could easily be carried out effectively and professionally by accounting technicians with an internationally recognised qualification, like that provided by the Association of Accounting Technicians, for which Mcast provides training in both day and evening courses.
The ‘earn and learn’ principle is not only a convenient way for most young people to improve their skills while helping businesses resolve some of their recruitment challenges. Rather than going to university, an apprenticeship gives some students the more viable option of entering the job market soon after leaving school, providing valuable experience, qualifications and a salary.
But this alternative approach to recruitment will only succeed if the financial services industry commits itself in a more effective way to provide apprenticeships to our young students. The industry needs to see itself more as a stakeholder in our educational system rather than a mere client and observer of the system.
Another issue that needs to be addressed is a cultural one. I was surprised that most of the accountancy students taking University and Mcast courses are women.
An experienced and successful female accountancy firm partner explained it is a fact that the accountancy profession is perceived to be a ‘female career option’ that does not appeal much to male students.
This would not be a problem in today’s society where gender equality is increasingly being accepted as the norm.
The reality, however, is that so far, our employers, including those in the financial services industry, are not providing sufficient support for female professional employees to cope with the responsibilities of motherhood and at the same time continue to progress in their career.
So, like other businesses, the financial services industry is suffering from a brain drain when young female professionals often drop out of the labour market for a few years to raise a family.
The demanding and often inflexible work practices in accountancy firms discourages most young mothers from contributing to their firm’s output, even if at a lower level than that of other professional workers with lighter family responsibilities.
Returning to the workforce after a few years of inactivity is often not practical for these young professionals as they find so much has changed in their profession that some of their skills have become insufficient or even obsolete.
Therefore, we need to conduct a communication campaign that shows that accountancy, like the pharmaceutical profession, provides excellent career opportunities for both male and female students. At the same time, we need to convince more employers that supporting young mothers is a business-friendly measure that reaps benefits in the long-term.
Encouraging more vocational education where careers are built in a more balanced way that combines working, study and training is a long-term and cost-effective method that takes into consideration the needs and aspirations of both employers and employees.
I have emphasised the application of this principle mainly for workers qualified in the accountancy field. But the same principle applies for other professional staff.
A more effective partnership between the banking industry and vocational training institutes like Mcast could ensure better use of the limited resources we have.
Many local banks are today opting for an almost exclusive recruitment of university graduates for even their most basic clerical vacancies. This often results in a situation of underemployment of ambitious graduates who find they have entered a dead end in the early stages of their career. Frustration and anger are invariably the result of such situations.
Many successful financial services operators are now adopting a two-tier system of recruitment where technical roles are filled in by applicants with a vocational education qualification, while academically qualified applicants are groomed for the more senior management roles.
If we close the doors of employment for young students with a vocational education qualification, we would not only be wasting valuable resources, but also excluding a good section of our young generation from the labour market.
Underpinning the role of vocational education in the financial services industry, as indeed in every other industry, is the importance that we should be giving to quality assurance in our educational system. The concept of what constitutes quality in education may be too, vague as are the ways by which we measure it.
Quality in education is commensurate with the degree of employability that it gives to our young people. While we should never ignore that the human development of every student is important, an unemployed, well educated young person is missing an essential element of self-fulfilment – economic independence.
jcassarwhite@yahoo.com
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