CEBU, Philippines - I once turned down a scholarship offer for a vocational course, either in welding or automotive. My willing sponsors were a group of metallurgical engineers then working at Atlas Mining in Lutopan, Toledo City. They had earlier sponsored my high school education, which I finished with flying colors, and wanted to support me further on.
But their suggested courses did not match my future plans. Being in the honors roll of my high school graduating class and having scored high in the National College Entrance Examination, I wanted to earn a degree, of course. In my mind at the time, real education only meant a big college degree.
Today, as I look back, I regret having turned down the opportunity. I have come to realize that my sponsors were visionaries. If I took their offer, I would have ended on a job at the Atlas Mining, which is very near our home. If not, I'd be one of the pioneer lady welders at a shipbuilding facility in just the next town.
Both companies pay their workers well. And since their locations are close to home, the cost of going to work would have been much lower; no renting of living quarters, no big transportation expense, and I could just join the family at mealtimes. Life would have been much easier for me now.
Or, an automotive course could have prepared me for my own motoring-related business. Or, either automotive or welding could have landed me on a job in New Zealand, where there is reportedly a high demand for welders and automotive mechanics. There, I was told, the vacancies on these jobs are very hard to fill.
I shunned a technical-vocational course because of a wrong mindset. I lost an important opportunity. But I learned from my mistake.
When it was my younger brother's turn to go to college, we were already more realistic with goals. He chose a two-year course in electronics, after finishing which he was able to put up his own electronics repair shop. Then he took up practical electricity at TESDA-Toledo in order to get a national certification. Afterwards, when he was already working for a maintenance firm in Cebu City, he studied driving and is now into automotive.
As for me, I have bought a do-it-yourself clipper kit and studied its accompanying demo CD on haircutting. I am able to save money and time as I don't have to visit the barber anymore for my son's regular trim. Further, I have learned that in the personal-care industry, the positions of hairdressers, barbers and beauticians are at the top of the hard-to-fill list.
According to the March 2014 report of the Philippine Statistics Authority and the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, around a thousand jobs are available every year for hairdressers, barbers, beauticians and related workers. However, finding the right level of competencies is the biggest recruitment challenge. The problem is aggravated by several factors: too few trained individuals applying for the job (20.3%), lack of actual job experience (17.5%), and the applicants' expectation of high salary (15.2%).
Other reasons cited are lack of professional license or skills certification (3.8%), competition from overseas employment (3.2%), and issues on work location or work schedules (1.6%).
One woman, now in her 50s, took up hairdressing and beauty-care course while waiting for employment as nurse aide or midwife, courses she had finished earlier in the hope of getting better job opportunities. Opportunity came, yes, but not in the line of nursing aide or midwifery. With the skills she developed from her little cosmetology course, she started a business, which became her bread-and-butter.
She is now in Australia and making good in her employment as a professional salon attendant. During her extra hours she goes around doing home service for her own clients. She is presently earning an income much more than she would get as either a nurse aide or midwife.
This is a point for young people today to think about. Not everyone has the means to pursue a "big" degree, especially in the light of the skyrocketing tuition fees. Nursing or Engineering are not the only ways to make it in life, even if they're the more hip or popular courses of our time.
College education is certainly good to have - but it is not everything. There are alternatives. There are hard-to-fill vacancies in jobs that do not require a college degree. There is, for example, a high demand for sewing machine operators, chemical-filtering and separating equipment operators, ore and metal furnace operators, earth-moving and related plant operators; incinerator, water treatment and related plant operators, and like jobs. It's funny to think that we have thousands of college graduates complaining of the lack of job opportunities.
The Rose Institute, at the corner of the city's Osmeña Boulevard and Colon Street, is just one option to consider. It offers courses that easily translate to income. To become a professional barber, for example, takes only three weeks training and a very affordable tuition that includes all materials needed. As Rose Institute is a sister company of Rose Pharmacy, pharmacy service and associate are also part of their TESDA-accredited course offerings; graduates of these courses get a National Certification II and may end up getting employed at Rose Pharmacy stores.
These are hard times no doubt. But only for those who let their practicality and creativity sleep. Think of the many jobs nobody is taking. Grab one of those - and you need not be out of job for the rest of your life! (FREEMAN)