Tracking career aspirations and preferences of the future talent pool in Indonesia, Universum today launched findings from the Indonesia Top 100 IDEAL Employers student survey to recognize the most coveted employers based on responses collated from students and employers alike.
According to the findings, Indonesia shows steady downward trend in unemployment, and records the lowest unemployment rate since 2010. Students from either gender would like to work for companies that are global in scope, or at the very least companies that have offices and/or operations in multiple parts of the world.
“Indonesia is a very unique market in terms of the speed at which talent has embraced Millennial trends, that took years to catch upon in many other parts of the world. Just a couple of years ago, brand, rapid promotion and compensation were the main drivers of employer selection for Indonesian students. Today, they are completely aligned with their western counterparts: the work environment and the ability to strongly contribute to the organisation’s success are now the key drivers, while their biggest fear is that they will not find a job that matches their personality,” Rachele Focardi, Senior Vice President Talent Strategy, Universum said.
Typically in most markets, Information Technology (IT) students mostly do not fall under the ‘Internationalist’ career profile. But in Indonesia, this is different, as 9.44% are Internationalists. In Singapore, 5.9 percent of students are internationalists and in Malaysia, it stood at 4.41 percent IT students.
Most female students choosing a career in business, finance and commerce prefer the field, anticipating international travel and relocation opportunities, whereas male students look for room for innovation and competitive base salary when joining an employer.
While most students are categorised as ‘Internationalists’ (as shown in table above), they would still prefer to work for a state-owned or privately owned national company, which probably offers a closer cultural fit.
Gender gaps prevalent when choosing industries for a career
Fast moving consumer goods in general are significantly more attractive to business female students. This was surprisingly reflected in the ranking of British American Tobacco (BAT) as well. 7 of 10 FMCG employers remained consistent or improved on their rankings. Most significant climber was Coca Cola Amatil, from the 68th rank to 51st position in the list.
See: Indonesia has the Highest Senior Business Roles Held by Women in ASEAN at 46%
Widening gap in popularity: Top 5 Domestic Banks vs. the International Banks
The most important attribute graduates in Indonesia look for when choosing an employer is scope for professional training and development as the number one preference, followed by creative and dynamic, friendly working environment, besides the others that include competitive base salary, secure employment and performance recognition.
“Talent war is real. Not because Indonesia doesn’t have good talent, but because good talent are not necessarily making themselves visible. Therefore, it’s making harder for companies to identify such talent. Having a solid employer branding strategy helps companies to ensure, that we’re able to identify and attract the best talent in the market,” says Irma Erinda, Leadership Development Lead, Unilever Indonesia.
Business talent within Indonesia is far more interested in working for an Indonesian bank than any of the international banks that operate within Indonesia, which is normally seen as prestigious and associated with strong earning potential.
The gap between the two types of banks, domestic and international is widening. The data would suggests that this is, at least in part, due to the way international banks don’t have high positive associations with people and culture factors, such as important attributes like friendly, creative and dynamic working environment.
“It is a great pride that NET. has been recognised once again, for three years in a row since 2015, along with other prestigious companies and multinational enterprises in the nation. The result has been proven in our annual recruitment program this year, where more than sixty thousands of students and fresh graduates applied and more than twenty thousands of them were selected to join the first entrance test. NET. has been doing it’s best to produce valuable and inspirational contents through its programs since the beginning, that’s why we believe that our efforts will be embraced by the next generations who seek for values for their future career, especially by those who are interested in media industry,” says NET Mediatama CEO, Mr. Wishnutama Kusubandio.
Erinda also added, “Being acknowledged as amongst the top employers certainly energises us, knowing that we are heading in the right direction. It give us further motivation to stay true to our mission of earning love and respect from every Indonesian everyday. In Unilever, we continue to evolve with Indonesian workforce – as our workforce population grows younger, therefore we strive hard to maintain our relevance in the way we do business, the way we treat our employees, and creating best experience in the workplace to engage our employee and attract the best talent in the market.”
Focardi warned, “Employers who fail to move at their same speed, or who ignore that their future employees want work to be a part of who they are, not just a way to make a living, are bound to face significant challenges when it comes to securing their future talent pipeline. It is crucial that organisations in Indonesia – from HR, to senior leadership, to front line managers truly understand how to engage and communicate with the new generations: the ability to build a generation friendly harmonised workforce will no doubt represent the one source of competitive advantage going forward.”
Also read: Indonesian Government Plans to Certify 65,000 Tourism Workers in 2017
Feature image credit: freedigitalphotos.net
