Powering up Indonesian youth through soft skills enhancement

As a response to the increasing demand for youth empowerment and soft-skills training, the ILO pilot tested its new and innovative learning programme called In Business in Jakarta from 25-26 June 2018. The programme is aimed to support the development, growth and enhancement of enterprises and individuals through peer-learning networks.

This pilot test was conducted in collaboration with the Alliance of Indonesian Youth (ARI) in Jakarta and the International Business Management of Binus University in Alam Sutera, Tangerang. A total of 50 youth (18 young people from ARI and 32 students from Binus) as well as four lecturers from Binus actively participated in these pilot trainings.

The 2016 ILO survey showed that soft skills are among the most important skills that the employers consider the potential employees should have. The employers revealed that they look for workers that are skilled with three important skills: Technical knowledge, teamwork and communication. They also stated that the most difficult skills to find are strategic thinking and problem solving, foreign language, innovation and creativity"

These pilot trainings are in line with the current condition of Indonesia which is now facing a demographic dividend. “The demographic dividend is expected to peak in mid 2020s. Which also means that potentially more people can be productive and contribute to the growth of economy, leading to unprecedented economic growth,” said Tendy Gunawan, the ILO’s Programme Officer for Youth Employment who was also the facilitator of these pilot trainings.

Tendy added that while demographic dividend should resulted in unprecedented economic growth, it could actually be a threat should the economy is not able to generate enough decent jobs for the people or the workforce are not ready and skilled enough to take the employment opportunities. “This challenge is exacerbated by the rapid changes of technological advancement which have also changed how people work and relate to each other,” he stated.

The soft skills programme has also complemented the efforts taken by the government to reduce the skills mismatch through technical and vocational education and training (TVET). The 2016 ILO survey showed that soft skills are among the most important skills that the employers consider the potential employees should have.

Based on this survey, we learn that soft skills are as important as technical skills. In fact the most sought after and hardest to find skills in the market today are soft skills."

Tendy Gunawan, the ILO’s Programme Officer for Youth Employment who was also the facilitator of these pilot trainings

In the survey, employers revealed that they look for workers that are skilled with three important skills: Technical knowledge, teamwork and communication. Furthermore, employers also stated that the most difficult skills to find are strategic thinking and problem solving, foreign language, innovation and creativity.

“Based on this survey, we learn that soft skills are as important as technical skills. In fact the most sought after and hardest to find skills in the market today are soft skills,” said Tendy, adding that these soft skills pilot trainings were part of the ILO’s efforts to enhance youth employment.

Designed by the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, the In Business soft skills learning programme consists of 14 modules as follows:

1. Vision setting and professional development
2. Problem solving
3. Starting to manage
4. Negotiation and persuasion
5. Creative thinking
6. Teamwork
7. Critical thinking and reasoning
8. Interpersonal communication
9. Managing upwards
10. Time management and self-organization
11. Personal awareness
12. Working in a cross-cultural environment
13. Leadership
14. Public speaking

Out of these 14 modules, the ILO pilot trainings had focused on three modules on vision setting, problem solving and leadership. Each module sets out techniques, methods and worksheets to guide participants through practical steps. Working in small groups, participants reviewed business examples, completed activities and engaged in discussions by themselves without the need of an external trainer or specialist.

“By reflecting on local examples and sharing existing knowledge as well as experience, the programme becomes self-tailored to the needs and interests of each group. Although the participants found the modules useful, they have provided feedbacks to make these modules more interesting and fit to the local context,” said Tendy.

Considering the usefulness of the In Business learning programme, Binus University is planning to continue delivering the modules to their students. They would further try out some other modules in their learning programme.