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| Whats New> Choosing your Career | |||
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Speech Delivered by the Director of Planning, Mr. Otto O'Neal at
As
simple and painless as this exercise tonight appears to be, it is going to
set the foundation of the most important set of decisions in the life of
your children. But let me
just suggest to you that the outcome of this process has been taking shape
long before. What it will be
doing is shaping the possibilities and the options.
Parents
and children you are now beginning to put a more definite focus and
direction to your future, particularly your career as a professional, an
independent producer, business person or an employee.
In helping to place your child on a more clearly determined career
path, it is your responsibility to have the best possible information and
the widest possible information from the sources that you trust.
With this type and volume of information you are more likely to
make a better choice, if not the right choice.
So it is not only information, but good judgement and
decision-making.
Although
this is not a final decision about your future it is important that you
understand the world of work and the realities that you understand the
world of work and the realities of the jobs market and the business
environment of the British Virgin Islands.
But, by no means do you limit yourself to the borders of the
British Virgin Islands. You
must remember that you are competing world-wide for jobs because skills
move around. Prepare yourself
to work anywhere in the world. Those
of you that have British Passports will be able to work anywhere in the
European Union and its territories. And
those that may end up working for international enterprises or
organizations, especially in tourism and financial services.
Current
trends and past experience suggests that the BVI cannot grow forever.
There will soon come a time when this country will not be able to
employ all its citizens and residents.
Your aim therefore it to give yourself the edge that will prevail
in competition with students, employees and persons the world over. Not have a competitive edge in your skills set will guarantee
failure behind your name.
In
carrying out this exercise today you must have an idea of the world that
will exist 5 to 10 years from now when most of you will have hit the job
market. The jobs market is
going to be very competitive and the minimum skill set required to
function is expanding. When I
was growing up, one could generally get a job without a high school
diploma. Today, the good
paying starts with a 2-year college degree – and I am talking about in
Government.
Employers
and business persons in the world of work will have to be knowledge
workers. Knowledge workers
will have to be knowledgeable across a broad range of subjects.
This means more than having information, but be able to process it
in an intelligent way adding value to you or your organization.
Next decade workforce persons must be able to communicate across
the world in several languages – not just slang English and ghetto
Spanish because more than half the world population probably could not
understand you.
Next
decade workforce persons must be able to use information technology in a
most productive way to expand knowledge, to bridge communication gaps, to
understand culture around the world, to understand the significance of
history and possibility or application of science in life.
Next
decade workforce persons must be able to work across fields that are
related because career changes and job changes are going to become a part
of life as globalization impacts more and more on local economies.
In
addition to being versatile, having the ability to multi-task and having
core competences, the next decade persons must have advance life coping
skills. Why, because you will
most likely leave the BVI to further your education, acquire professional
skills and broaden your horizons. For living, visiting and shopping abroad, please do not
underestimate the importance of subjects such as Home Management and Food
and Nutrition. Right now there are BVIslanders working in Hong Kong and
they must be able to live in a culture that is completely foreign.
Foods are definitely not like BVI, the Caribbean or the western
world.
Making
a choice of subjects is not about locking in, but locking you on to the
possibility of a particular field. This exercise opens up a field and
affords you the options of choosing within or across fields in the
eventuality that becomes necessary. And
based on the work environment in which you will find yourself in the next
decade, it is going to be necessary to be versatile and flexible enough
that you could work in several fields.
Industries and jobs will disappear and new ones will appear.
Therefore you must be ready and equipped to make that change or you
will not survive. Planning
the financing of your career is just as critical as planning your area of
profession. Parents and guardians, the saying that goes, “Those who do
not plan, plan to fail” is very true.
Please take it from a person who has been in planning for the last
quarter of a century. The
areas and value of financial assistance, including scholarships, loans and
grants being offered by which organization are important pieces of
information you students and parents need to make the best choice about
the future. You must find out
what are government priorities for scholarship for students and permanent
employees. It is also
important that you start thinking about your budget for higher education
because three years is a very short time and if you have not begun saving
already, it is probably too late unless you get really lucky somewhere,
somehow. As I recall it you
need to get this information from the Department of Education and form the
Deputy Governor’s Office if you are going to be a permanent civil
servant. Closer
to home, now let us talk about the area of growth in the job market and
business opportunity in the British Virgin Islands.
Everyone knows that our job market is broken down broadly into
tourism and related, 20.6%, financial services and related, 8.7%,
government, 32.2%, construction, 8.2%, distribution of goods, 9.2% and
other areas, 21.1%. The
above data suggests that anyone of you will most likely work in tourism,
financial services or government. You
will mostly need to possess the core skills and competencies needed to
work outside the BVI. When we
say government, it means working across health, education, welfare,
courts, police, border control, administration and management. Based
on a number of factors we used to predict he future, it is my conclusion
that job growth in the BVI will be in maritime and marine activities,
health care, financial services, legal services, tourism and
construction/engineering services. In
choosing the broad subjects for your career path, you must ask yourself
how marketable will the skills you have chosen to develop when you enter
the job market or temporarily during your tenure at HLSCC and after you
have obtained your first degree. Your
best source of temporary employment is with the Government.
As well, it is also the most secure and one of the best paying
areas of employment in the country. Choosing
a career that requires a field of study or a particular set of
competencies that no one in the country will finance or could finance,
including your family, is a pointless act.
My point here is that you need to know who or which organizations
are giving scholarships and for what.
At this point you should not only be planning your career, but also
how are you going to get your college education financed. If it is only a few things you take away tonight, they should be that knowledge, versatility and flexible are going to give you the competitive edge. You must prepare to live, work and compete outside the BVI.
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Webmaster: Jerinice Stoutt
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