Changing our mindset
Students, parents throng careers fair PARENTS were especially anxious to help their children find employment at the the Careers & Higher Education Expo 2007 at the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Complex yesterday. At a section of the fair Royal Brunei Airlines personal assistant, Adib, remarked that some of the parents "registered for their children" as recruits for traffic assistants and cabin crew. (Quoted from Brunei Times)
More info about Brunei's state of economy can be found at this link: BruneiResources
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I can't really say if the statement above is just news or has a little bit of "read between the lines" criticisms. In my opinion, young bruneians should stand up n change! Ok, maybe change is not easy. IF I were an employer, I would prefer my candidates to have full confidence of themselves. Could this be one of the reasons why there is still a high rate of unemployment in the country? Now now, please do not put the entire blame on foreigners (ok maybe up to a certain extent, since their salaries are lower, so blame the private sector too lol. If only minimum wage level is introduced in Brunei.)
This reminds me of Saudi Arabia (SA) which also has a high percentage of foreign workers in the country. In the early 1970s, a SA diplomat showed photos of goats rummaging among piles of refuse to John Perkins, an american economist who was put incharge to construct a development plan for SA. Mr Perkins asked "Why goats?" and the diplomat argued "No self-respecting Saudi would ever collect trash," he said. The goats were later replaced by american garbage disposal companies to clean up the waste (included in the development plan).
His statement somehow made me reflect back at our Bruneian community, whom many years ago would have preferred not to do any "low standard" jobs. Some still do but alhamdulillah, this has changed a bit. Unemployment is a serious economic disease. Government's involvement is therefore crucial to make those unemployed to acquire the skills needed in a specific industry (for e.g. in construction). You won't get a manager position with a PMB qualification straight away. So change your mindset and think.
More info about Brunei's state of economy can be found at this link: BruneiResources
_________________________________________________________________
I can't really say if the statement above is just news or has a little bit of "read between the lines" criticisms. In my opinion, young bruneians should stand up n change! Ok, maybe change is not easy. IF I were an employer, I would prefer my candidates to have full confidence of themselves. Could this be one of the reasons why there is still a high rate of unemployment in the country? Now now, please do not put the entire blame on foreigners (ok maybe up to a certain extent, since their salaries are lower, so blame the private sector too lol. If only minimum wage level is introduced in Brunei.)
Let me digress a bit.
This reminds me of Saudi Arabia (SA) which also has a high percentage of foreign workers in the country. In the early 1970s, a SA diplomat showed photos of goats rummaging among piles of refuse to John Perkins, an american economist who was put incharge to construct a development plan for SA. Mr Perkins asked "Why goats?" and the diplomat argued "No self-respecting Saudi would ever collect trash," he said. The goats were later replaced by american garbage disposal companies to clean up the waste (included in the development plan).
His statement somehow made me reflect back at our Bruneian community, whom many years ago would have preferred not to do any "low standard" jobs. Some still do but alhamdulillah, this has changed a bit. Unemployment is a serious economic disease. Government's involvement is therefore crucial to make those unemployed to acquire the skills needed in a specific industry (for e.g. in construction). You won't get a manager position with a PMB qualification straight away. So change your mindset and think.
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