I recently read a news quote that said; “Indian National Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda says India can help create jobs in the US by providing alternative training. Everyone's focus in US is on job creation. To create jobs you need to provide alternative training to the people. I think India can help US in retraining people," adds Pitroda.
When I read this the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I felt a bit insulted to think that suppliers now feel they are in a position to educate the West. While most of us would acknowledge our education systems can be improved, why is it that our students (who are outsourcers) now not feel they are prepared to advance our education sector for the unemployed?
Knowing Sam Pitroda, his comments are well intentioned and highly respected. But my fear is there is an undertone of superiority that is starting to rise. If not already it certainly might be sparked by remarks such as these. The West and America in particular, has struggled with reorientation of displaced work forces. This has been on the agenda since the introduction of computerization. Some of you might even remember the fear of many Americans losing their work due to computer automation. Now the fear isn’t just about computers. It’s about countries that have service jobs that were in the US.
The hard fact is that changing professions is not always possible. Not every truck driver can become a programmer and not every factory worker can be a business leader. This is a fact that is not limited to just those that are unemployed but is relevant to every job… accountants, marketers, business owners and even educators. To my knowledge there has been absolutely no studies that have taken a specific set of jobs and established a correlation as to what similar work these positions would be equipped to do. I suspect the reason is that you cannot simply look at a position’s attributes - it must involve a critical evaluation of the individuals.
If my job was correlated to that of a plumber, I’m not sure that it would be a successful retraining exercise since I have not been very proficient in this area. My mental attitude has taken over any possible aptitude that I might have. In the long term I might be successful but then I must face the reality that this new found profession will also face challenges as life goes on.
What this news represents to me (and hopefully others) is that training needs to be a part of the recovery agenda. But training without comprehensive skills, abilities and interest assessment may result in a fruitless investment. More so the resulting graduates must have opportunities to become engaged with and this requires business development. At present, the unsettled state of global economies is hindering business from creating jobs. Unless these jobs can be converted to business it will remain training for the sake of training and not for the sake of prosperity.
Until next time feel free to contribute your thoughts or send me an email at jdurant@Int-IOM.org.
