Education!=HR(BW misunderstanding)
Yesterday, I read an article from Business week named Reshaping Asia's Tech Talent Pool. in the article, MNCs complain they can't recruit perfect talents in China and India. so article suggests universities in these countries should build training room for MNCs(my words according to this article):
…A study by McKinsey in October 2005 on China's looming talent shortage stated that the country's pool of young engineers considered suitable for work in an MNC is about 160,000 - no larger than the United Kingdom's. This despite the fact that China produced about 600,000 engineering grads last year, compared to 70,000 in the US. The study blamed China's problems on a "bias toward theory" and neglect of practical training in universities….
It's hard for me to agree most of the points in this article except the soft skills they emphasized. if there are university staffs and government education department officials in my readers, I would like to tell you my thoughts on this article:
1) University is not a practical skill training center: university is reponsible to teach people study methode, right moral outlook and special discipline knowledge. if students would like to do research work, university provides further opportunities for them. university is not responsible for teaching detailed practical working skills. and university should not advocate to build such training center for any company. I don't think USA or other western universities are doing such things for industry. if company wants to do research collobaration, university welcomes.
2) Government education department should keep vigilance: more and more foreign articles are talking about talents shortage, but we should know what's the real shortage. the shortage is only for MNCs and the shortage is because MNCs only would like to recruit fresh undergraduates. in fact, many fresh undergraduates are not willing to working in local chinese companies which really need talents. education department and universities should clear the mistake thinking in students' mind and guide them to open their horizon on career choosing.
3) MNCs' HR strategy: what are the responsibilities for HR managers? one important function I think is training employee and arming them with company's culture and other professional skills. if a company can recruit perfect talents, that's great. but if can't, smart HR manager should figure out the strategy and the strategy can't depend on the support from universities. education is education, not HR!
Globalization bring developed economies' investment and technology into emerging markets. emerging markets should think about how to borrow advanced education experiences to catch up science and technology level of developed countries, not prepare talent pool for them. correspondingly, MNCs can't expect too much and need to make smarter HR strategy.
Written by Keanu Zhang - Visit WebsiteRelated posts: No Related Posts
