With unemployment high many good people turn to government programs as a survival strategy. Social programs, coupled with training and medial work, intended to prepare participants to build a career. Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) soft loan programs designed to fund or guarantee funds with employment creation as its main objective. Higher education programs designed to expand participants’ job marketability. These are all noble programs, unfortunately calculated to meet internationally set public statistical objectives rather than individual needs.Emphasis is misplaced on the executing agency to produce quantity instead of quality. On-the-job-training or apprenticeship was always meant to be part of a wider mentoring program, taking individual assessment throughout, exposing the individual to many career paths, recording work accomplished and monitoring aptitude. In other words, giving hope, some financial support and working experience to an individual.
SME loans were always intended to help individuals, who decided to pursue a career in business, access funds at lower than existing market rates to grow their business with job creation as a resulting benefit. Agencies offering such soft loans normally combine with business training agencies to support the individual and monitor preset targets and of course, loan repayments. Encouraging high education was not meant to meet international lending agencies’ economic criteria but to afford the individual the best life opportunity. Helping a single discipline graduate become multi-discipline, a technically skilled worker become a proficient manager or an employee make the jump to become an employer, can only improve the individual’s standard of living.
Many of these programs require access to international funding and therefore, are subject to separate reporting. It may seem like common sense by now to house or access these programs under one agency but because of grant funding agreements, this is impossible. So the individual that seeks on-the-job-training cannot seamlessly gain access to SME funds or further education, it presently requires different registrations at different locations and without that ‘glue’ an individual is more likely not to attain their full potential. What is needed today, is a comprehensive approach to career guidance, where the unemployed or under-employed can get individual help from one umbrella agency with well trained and motivated staff.
Case workers are ready and willing to assist the individual from an initial phone call registration or upon leaving formal school to constantly monitoring living conditions, case by case. Guiding the individual through a career plan, that takes into consideration the present status of the individual, their abilities, their financial needs and future aspirations, recommending on-the-job-training in a desired area or field, soft business loans with professional support or further education to enhance the plan. So that the individual can concentrate on developing and producing with ongoing support from an agency that is not designed to address unemployment statistics but is driven by individual requirements.
Rationale
T.A.J & Associates Company Limited uses this occasion to comment on topics that have been covered, both academically and by the mainstream media, to add its opinion and point out investment opportunity, not to invoke any social action.
