06.09.18
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LAST YEAR, TODAY: STARTING TO COLLECT MY #CHEVENINGMEMORIES

Last year, today, June 8th – I received an email from the Chevening Secretariat to confirm that I was selected to receive the Chevening Awards scholarship from the UK Government. The scholarship gave me a year of experiences to pursue my career interest in HR Management and People Development areas through a master study at the Manchester Business School majoring HR Management.

I arrived to Manchester in September 2017 and started #MyCheveningJourney. This Wednesday (June 6th), I just did the last exam of the term, which means that my study is almost finished with 1 thing left: master dissertation, that I will submit at the first week of September 2018 at the latest. I will attend the Manchester Business School Postgraduate Summer Ball this evening to mark the end of the master program as well as Chevening Farewell in London, Alexandra Palace. Time flies!

During #MyCheveningJourney, I am lucky enough to get a chance to be 1 of 10 Chevening Social Media Ambassadors and a Student Ambassador for HR Management course at the Manchester Business School. Those roles brought me opportunities to make the most of my time along the year. Through this blog post, I would try to start collecting some #CheveningMemories from September 2017 until this June 2018:

September 2017: I arrived to Manchester at September 13th. I rent a flat near the university with other 2 Chevening scholars from Indonesia. The orientation week from the program director of the Manchester Business School started at the week of September 18th. I had 5 days to set up everything I needed, such as student administration, bank account, water and electricity bill for the flat, etc. The study started at the week of September 25th. It’s a good experience to ‘start a new life’ in a new place and a new culture. I think I don’t have any significant problem in adapting myself, apart of few days of jetlag and be always ready with daily rain in Manchester (as some friends said: Rainchester).

October 2017: My first visit to London for attending a welcome reception from the Chevening Secretariat and the UK Government. It was a magnificent atmosphere to be with other scholarship recipients from around the world. In arrival to London, the very first place I visited was 221B Baker Street where the Sherlock Holmes, one of my favorite characters, ‘lived’. I also visited several places that previously I only could see at some pictures, read at some articles, or watch at some videos.

Chevening Orientation, London (October, 2017)

November 2017: I teamed up with 2 of my classmates to represent Manchester Business School in joining a debate competition held by the Industrial Society in Manchester. One of my professor convinced me to join the team, although I had almost zero experience in a debate competition, but quite used to involve in negotiation or convincing people (clients) through my previous career. I pushed myself to learn the techniques as well as understanding the UK context to be able to build relevant arguments related to the topic. Surprisingly our tem became the winner and received the first price. It was truly an honor as the year before, the team of Manchester Business School couldn’t make it to win.

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Manchester Business School Debate Team (November, 2018)

December 2017: I remember how busy it was as I had to do the first term exams as well as to do my role as the spotlight of Chevening Social Media Ambassador (each ambassador got 1-month spotlight where he/she needs to share in social media quite extensively). However, the month was so magical as in the Christmas break, started at the 3rd week of December, I possibly experienced the most memorable Christmas in my life so far. I travelled to London to meet some friends and to experience some ‘Christmas moments’ there: ice skating at the Natural History Museum, visited Winter Harry Potter’s studio, and enjoyed an evening at the Hyde Park. Few days after visiting London, I travelled to Northern Ireland to visit some Game of Thrones filming areas, continued to Glasgow, Stirling, Inverness, and ended with a white Christmas in Edinburgh. Some Indonesians also gathered at the university of Edinburgh to have a Christmas dinner.

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A Christmas Dinner with Indonesian Cheveners at Univ. of Edinburgh (December, 2017)

January 2018: A new year, new possibilities. Aside of academic studies and travelling around the UK, I also intended to expand my professional networks. Thus, I started to be more ambitious in connecting myself to HR professionals in Manchester and the UK. I attended several HR related events, one of them, to me, the most different kind of professional event, was ‘Connecting HR Manchester’ initiated by Coach Ian Pettigrew and some others. The event basically aimed to invite HR professionals in a pub, to connect, and to talk about anything with no theme or topic of discussion set up by the committee. However, I found it really fun and interesting as although I am a student, I felt welcomed by those professionals and they gave me various insights related to HR and People Development issues based on their expertise.

February 2018: I won another competition. This was a case-study based competition held by Manchester Business School within its annual HR Conference. My team and I received a case related to a grievance mechanism in Chinese manufactures. We presented some proposed solutions based on several perspectives and theories related to HRM and Industrial Relations issues. I was fortunate enough to have teammates who worked hard to find the best proposed solutions and able to work together, although we had different backgrounds and believes related to the issues.

March 2018: My first visit to the UK’s Foregin and Commonwealth Office in London to attend Partners Reception, an event held by the UK government to thank and to appreciate institutions and organization partners for the Chevening Scholarship. I met several representatives from global companies, from banking to oil and gas industries. I was then realized that not all companies who came were already partners, but still considering to be partner. That’s why they came to meet several scholars to understand their experiences. Hopefully they make a commitment to support the program soon!

Chevening Partnership Reception, FCO – London (March, 2018)

April 2018: If in December 2017 I travelled to the north, I travelled to the south in this month. I joined some other Cheveners to explore the Cornwall area in south-east of England. We visited Eden Project and the city of Falmouth, hosted by the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus. Before coming back to Manchester, I stopped by in the middle of the journey to visit the city of Bath and the infamous Stonehenge. I saw a photo of Stonehenge in my childhood and put it on a list to visit during my year in the UK.

May 2018: Several moments of ‘ending’ on this Month: ending the week of classroom studies, ending my participation at the Manchester Industrial Relations Society (MIRS), and ending my attendance to the Work and Equality Institute (WEI). I joined MIRS and WEI in the beginning of the academic year (around October) in attempt to learn beyond classroom and to connect with professionals and experts related to HRM and Industrial Relations. Although I usually the ‘only student’, I always enjoyed the sessions as they never failed to give me more understanding and insights related to the issues.

Manchester Industrial Relations Society & Work and Equality Institution Reception (May, 2018)

June 2018: Well, in the first week of June I received an email invitation for the Chevening Farewell in London next month (July 4th) and an instruction to book my flight ticket back to Indonesia. As I mentioned before, I also did the last exam in early June, which means that the term is ended. Marking the end of the master study, I will attend the Manchester Business School Postgraduate Summer Ball later this evening (June 9th). I will update this post with several photos from the event.

End of exam party with classmates (June, 2018)

Beyond those highlights, I indeed travelled to several other cities and regions in the UK, visited some iconic places, tried several iconic foods and beverages, and importantly, made significant numbers of friends and professional networks during the year. #MyCheveningJourney in the UK might soon to end, which also means that I will have several new beginnings with lots of opportunities and challenges ahead. These #CheveningMemories changed my life, and I hope I can amplify the positive impacts I gained this year to the people around me on the next journeys.

What are your #CheveningMemories? This a short video of mine:

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

@yosea_kurnianto

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06.04.18
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Wow, Beruntung Ada Program Magang Keren Ini di Indonesia!

Jadi kemarin sambil makan siang, aku nyimak cerita dari teman-teman di sini gimana susahnya mereka nyari kerjaan atau sekedar magang. Ada yang bahkan cerita kalau dia diminta untuk ‘bayar’ ke perusahaan kalau mau magang. Lah, aneh banget pikirku waktu itu. Setelah aku baca-baca lebih banyak, beberapa perusahaan ternyata menggunakan kesempatan ‘kompetensi’ ini buat ‘lelang’ slot magang, kamu bisa baca beberapa ulasannya di SINI, di SINI, atau di sini untuk ulasan serupa di Australia.

Kenapa bisa sampai ada ‘lelang’ magang? Salah satunya tentu karena kompetisi yang terus meningkat. Perusahaan atau agency tahu bahwa mahasiswa sekarang butuh ‘pengalaman kerja’ di CV mereka. Mungkin kalian familiar dengan meme di bawah, soal banyak perusahaan yang pasang iklan lowongan pekerjaan ke anak fresh graduate tapi menulis syarat soal pengalaman kerja.

Source: memedroid.com

Anyway, poin bahasan tulisan ini bukan soal gimana cara ‘lelang’ slot magang. Kalau mau sih, aku bisa kasih beberapa tips untuk praktisi HR atau yang mau bikin agency semacam ini (walau tidak disarankan diaplikasikan di Indonesia, hahaha). Tapi tulisan ini mau apresiasi beberapa perusahaan di Indonesia yang menyediakan program magang yang keren untuk mahasiswa.

Banyak perusahaan yang menyediakan program magang secara regular, maksudnya hanya membuka untuk posisi tertentu sesuai kebutuhan waktu tertentu, bersifat ‘membantu’ (kurang mengembangkan), dan kebanyakan bersifat administratif atau teknis/operasional. Tentu ini sudah bagus karena kasih kesempatan dan pengalaman untuk mahasiswa. Tapi untuk tulisan ini, aku sebut ‘program magang’ karena dibungkus dalam sebuah program yang sistematis dan komprehensif dengan kurikulum tertentu, baik lewat project based atau competition based; yang akhirnya bisa kasih value lebih baik buat mahasiswa dan perusahaan. Berikut ini bebera di antaranya (masih bisa nambah!):

1. Nutrifood Internship Program (NUTRIP)

Oke, ini paling awal dibahas karena aku paling tahu. Hahaha. Kenapa bisa? Karena beruntung sempat jadi salah seorang dari tim yang ikut urun rembug nyusun konsep dan implementasi programnya. Program ini biasanya dilakukan Juni-Agustus tiap tahun, jadi seleksinya pasti sebelum itu. Mahasiswa yang dipilih akan dapat project dan mentor. Projectnya bukan cuma individu tapi juga kolaborasi, jadi bakal nambah keseruan dan keakraban antar peserta magang dengan pegawai lainnya.

Di akhir program, peserta harus presentasi hasil dari projectnya dan apa yang perlu dilakukan perusahaan untuk lanjutin atau kembangin apa yang sudah dikerjain peserta. Seleksi peserta hampir sama dengan seleksi karyawan; walau uang sakunya belum selevel karyawan (tapi tetap oke buat transportasi dan menikmati kehidupan :p). Info lanjut ada di sini: https://www.nutrifood.co.id/internship/

2. Unilever Internship Program (ULIP)

Beberapa temen sempet ikut program ini. Cerita mereka cukup seru karena terlibat langsung ke project-project yang berlangsung di Unilever dan dapet masukan dari line manager di mana mereka ditempatkan. Temen gue cerita kalau projectnya bukan administratif semata dan lebih hands-on experience ngurusin project. Makanya walau magang, dia merasa kerjaannya meaningful dan bisa kenal banyak pegawai lain.

Beberapa tahun lalu tampaknya sempat ada semacam ‘jadwal’ di mana peserta magang mulai sama-sama (biasanya tengah tahun), tapi tampaknya sekarang sepanjang tahun sesuai kebutuhan perusahaan. Peserta magang akan dapat uang saku tiap bulan, rata-rata lama magang adalah 3-6 bulan. Info lengkap di sini: https://www.unilever.co.id/careers/graduates/internships/

3. Mandiri Young Leaders program

Program ini terdiri dari business case challenge, internship, leadership boothcamp, dan diakhiri dengan inagurasi. Kalau beruntung, akhirnya kamu bisa dapat tawaran kerja juga. Belum sempat ngobrol atau denger langsung dari yang bikin atau peserta. Ditelisik dari websitenya, tampaknya ini program dengan budget yang ga main-main. Selain tentu karena punya sumber daya, rasanya Bank Mandiri tahu bahwa investasi ini bakal bantu banget untuk bersaing di ‘war of talent’ di masa ini. Berikut tautannya: http://www.mandiricareer.net/mandiriyoungleaders

4. PwC Indonesia Internship Programme

Dari informasi yang aku dapet lewat koneksi Linkedin, dalam setahun PwC Indonesia bisa menerima hampir 400 peserta magang. Aku pribadi waktu gabung di PwC Consulting (People & Organization Consulting) sempet dibantu beberapa rekan magang dari berbagai kampus. Nah, kamu bisa magang di hampir 5 Line of Service-nya PwC Indonesia, yaitu Accounting, Tax & Legal Services, Advisory Deals, Consulting, dan Internal Firm Services. Dalam setahun kamu bisa ikut salah satu dari 5 periode internshipnya, ini bisa bantu kamu sesuaikan jadwal. Informasi lebih lengkap soal cara daftar dan prosesnya ada di sini:  https://www.pwc.com/id/en/careers/graduates/internship.html

5. The Inkompass Program dari Philip Moris International

Aku sempet familiar dengan Philip Moris International karena perusahaan ini sempat ramai dibincangkan setelah membeli sejumlah besar saham Sampoerna lebih dari satu dekade lalu. Ga heran aku familiar karena studi S1-ku dibiayai oleh Yayasan Putera Sampoerna. Anyway, Inkompass ini menjanjikan pengalaman untuk terlibat dalam proyek bisnis, belajar dari jaringan international, dan dapet coaching secara personal. Modelnya adalah 2-cycle internship, jadi kalau terpilih bakal magang saat libur kuliah tahun ini (Juni-Agustus) dan tahun depannya di bulan yang sama. Sila disimak informasi lengkapnya di sini: https://www.inkompass.global/indonesia-internship-program

6. High Flyer Internship dari L’Oreal Indonesia

Program magang 6 bulan dari L’Oreal Indonesia ini kasih kesempatan buat kamu magang di berbagai area kerja dari brand marketing, designer, market research, HR, supply chain, IT, sampai PR. Lewat program magang ini, kamu juga bisa langsung dievaluasi untuk melanjutkan ke program Management Trainee mereka yang bernama Young Enterpreneur Program. Informasi soal magang ini di sini: https://career.loreal.com/careers/JobDetail/High-Flyer-Internship-Batch-2-2018/52255 – meski ini informasi tahun 2018. Bisa follow twitternya L’Oreal ID Talent biar dapet update nanti kalau pas butuh.

7. Sampoerna Apprentice Program

Walaupun aku sangat familiar dengan nama Sampoerna, tapi jujur aku belum denger banyak soal program Apprentice ini. Informasi di laman web-nya pun belum begitu menggambarkan bagaimana program ini dijalankan, meskipun ada kata kunci ‘assist’ dan ‘coordinate’ di gambaran key responsibilities-nya. Kalau kamu pernah ikutan program magang 3 bulan ini, boleh ya berbagi cerita! Sementara ini, informasinya ada di sini: https://www.sampoernacareer.id/

8. P&G DREAM Internship

Ini sebenarnya aku baru denger. Kalau aku search di google, tampaknya baru mulai tahun 2018 ini. Tapi melihat beberapa program P&G sebelumnya, kayaknya ini bakal keren sih. Publikasinya terpisah sesuai divisi/department/direktorat-nya walau semuanya mulai bulan Juni. Untuk sementara informasinya ada di sini: HR, Sales, dan Product Supply. Kalau ada pembaca yang kebetulan kerja di P&G Indonesia atau tahu lebih banyak soal ini, bisa share ya!

9. DBS UNI.CORN

Ini juga program baru yang mulai dijalankan DBS Indonesia tahun ini, meski sudah dimulai di Singapore sejak tahun 2016. Sepengamatanku, di Indonesia programnya fokus ke teknologi terkait keuangan dan investasi (info: https://id.techinasia.com/dbs-unicorn-program). Kalau melihat website dari DBS-nya, program ini dikemas cukup komprehensif karena ada kurikulum yang disusun khusus untuk program ini. Aku rasa ini perlu dilanjutkan untuk di Indonesia, karena progam semacam ini unik dan berdampak positif buat peserta dan perusahaan. Monggo disimak: https://www.dbs.com/innovation/unicorn/index.html

10. Accenture Future Technology Leaders Program / Accenture Discovery Internship

Info ini dari temen, seorang manager di Accenture. Jadi di sana sempet ada Accenture Future Technology Leaders Program (AFTL) yang kemasannya lewat program dengan seleksi, mentoring, dll – video promonya di SINI. Entah apakah program ini akan dilanjutkan atau tidak. Tapi jangan sedih, karena ada Accenture Discovery Internship yang meski ga ‘se-njlimet’ AFTL kurikulumnya, mahasiswa tetep bisa belajar banyak di lini Strategy, Consulting, Digital, Techonology, Operations, dan Security. Monggo kalau mau digali lebih dalam: https://www.accenture.com/id-en/Careers/jobdetails?id=00424191_en

11. Toyota-Astra Motor University Leadership Internship Program (TULIP)

Ada temen nyaranin aku untuk masukin ini di list untuk mewakili industri manufaktur dan/atau otomotif. Walaupun aku belum nemu website dari TAM yang memuat informasi ini dan poster yang beredar menurutku bisa banget diimprove buat sekelas TAM. Website TAM soal TULIP cuma seperti INI. Tampaknya publikasi mereka melalui jalur universitas, makanya banyak dimuat di web kampus walau sangat minim gambaran kurikulum programnya, contohnya di web Karir IPB, ITB, dan UGM. Ada yang tahu lebih soal ini?

12. Bukalapak Internship

Informasi ini datang dari Mbak Belinda, Senior Recruiter di Bukalapak. Kabarnya tahun kemarin Bukalapak menerima sekitar 100 mahasiswa buat magang, kebanyakan di area engineering. Komen dari VP engineering Bukalapak soal ini ada di SINI. Video proses magang yang baru diluncurkan Maret 2018 bisa dilihat di SINI – Nah kalau kamu tertarik ngikutin informasi soal kesempatan magang di Bukalapak, bisa ikutin laman ini: https://careers.bukalapak.com/

13. Program Leadership dari organisasi dan perusahaan lainnya

Nah, sebenarnya ada acara lain juga buat mahasiswa nambah ‘value’ dan bikin CV makin keren selain magang, yakni ikutan program-program leadership dari perusahaan, yang kadang juga ada project-project rasa magang di dalamnya. Di sini aku masukkin beberapa program yang bukan cuma 1-2 hari, tapi ada proses dan kurikulum-nya dan sudah dilakukan beberapa tahun secara rutin. Beberapa di antaranya adalah:

  1. Young Leaders for Indonesia (YLI) – program ini awalnya diluncurkan oleh tim dari McKinsey and Company yang akhirnya sekarang dikolela sebuah yayasan, meski McKinsey & Company tetap menjadi Knowledge Partner. Program ini bakal bahas ‘Self Leadership, Team Leadership, dan Leading for Change’. Nah di bagian ‘team leadership’, kamu bakal dibagi kelompok dan dapet project dari organisasi dan perusahaan partner untuk dikerjain beberapa bulan. Kebetulan kalau pengalamanku, dulu dapet project dari McKinsey & Company untuk amplifikasi program Young Leaders Indonesia yang sekarang jadi regional program di area Jawa Barat, di ITB. Info lanjut ada di sini: http://yli.or.id/
  2. XL Future Leaders (XLFL) Program – sempet ngobrol sama konsultan yang bantu bikin desain program ini, menurutku ini investasi cukup besar dari XL Axiata. Selain rekrut cukup banyak mahasiswa, program ini juga menyediakan kurikulum menarik dan fasilitas yang mumpuni untuk ngerjai beberapa tantangan yang diberikan. Beberapa teman sekarang menjadi fasilitator program ini. Ngikutin timeline mereka, tampaknya asyik sih. Monggo disimak: http://www.xlfutureleaders.com/
  3. Nutrifood Leadership Program – yak balik lagi ke Nutrifood. Hahaha. Karena juga sempat jadi peserta dan terlibat dalam penyelenggaran, durasi program ini mungkin lebih pendek dari YLI dan XLFL di atas karena tujuannya lebih untuk mengapresiasi mahasiswa yang sudah menunjukkan potensi kepemimpinan lewat aktivitasnya selama kuliah. Meski lebih sebentar, topik-topik diskusi dan aktivitas di dalamnya selalu kekinian. Cuss mampir: http://www.nutrifood.co.id/our-events/nutrifood-leadership-award/ 
  4. #BukaPotensi: Beasiswa Bukalapak – Beberapa teman kerja di Bukalapak, jadi sempet banyak denger cerita program-program di dalamnya. Salah satunya beasiswa Bukalapak buat mahasiswa tahun terakhir jurusan Ilmu Komputer, Sistem Informasi, Teknik Elektro, atau bidang keilmuan sejenis. Benefit dari program ini antara lain biaya perkuliahan selama 2 semester, uang saku sebesar Rp2.000.000,- /bulan, program pelatihan dan pengembangan diri, dan berkesempatan berkarya bersama Bukalapak. Info lengkapnya di sini: https://scholarship.bukalapak.com/

Nah, kalau kamu tahu program magang atau leadership keren lainnya, termasuk dari start-up, bisik-bisik yah lewat komen atau email, nanti aku tambahkan di list ini. Banyak juga program bagus lain yang sempat aku dengar, tapi saat aku nulis ini ga nemu dedicated web-nya. Mungkin hanya muncul di periode-periode tertentu.

Kalau pembaca adalah praktisi HR, jangan mau kalah untuk bikin program magang keren atau leadership semacam ini. Beruntung kalau perusahaan tempat rekan-rekan ‘sudah keren dari sononya’, tapi jangan terlena karena sekarang semuanya cepat berubah. Bisa jadi tiba-tiba ada perusahaan yang transformasi, bikin program-program kerena, dan ahirnya talent-talent yang potensinya bagus lari ke sana. Bikin program semacam ini bukan cuma bikin employer branding terdengar bagus, tapi bisa diintegrasikan dengan strategi bisnis lainnya. Kalau perlu sharing soal ini lebih detil sambil ngopi, monggo bisa colek 😉

@yosea_kurnianto

05.28.18
by

(A Short Note) In Choosing Jobs (If You Could): Thanks, but It’s Not ‘My Game’

I sent an email to express my gratitude and to apologize as I would not be attending to an invitation from a giant consulting firm for a recruitment process in London (for a placement in South East Asia) earlier this month. Indeed, I felt grateful because they recognized my profile and considered that I would somehow ‘fit’ with the job and their organization. However, after thinking about it for few moments, I realized something and decided to send that email. In short, I thought that the business and the remuneration package if I joined them would be amazing, but it’s not the kind of ‘game’ I would like to ‘play’ for my next career journey.

Remember when we’re children (and in fact we still have some ‘childish’ behaviors), we might try many things and play everything. Yet in one moment, we would have some preferences of ‘games’ that we wanted to play and then ‘stayed’ on that. The ‘game’ we preferred to play might have several characteristics that the others don’t have. It could be as simple as the display (color, weight, etc.), to the difficulties (simplicity or complexity), or even the sources (who gave the toy / who provide the game), etc. Nevertheless, there are also moments that you might change your preferences, which is also fine. The point is, that consciously or unconsciously, you’ll have preferences and factors in determining what kind of ‘game’ you would like to play.

It’s similar with career and jobs. You might have different jobs in the same career track. You might also have different career tracks with various jobs within them. No matter what job it is, the question to be discussed here is: ‘Do you really enjoy this ‘game’? How mindful was I when choosing the jobs (if I were able to choose)?

Jobs, like games, have ‘rules’ that you need to ‘follow’. Some of the rules will require yourselves to sacrifice parts of your life; this then usually called as the ‘trade-off’ process. How much you would follow and deal with those rule of the games will determine your next step in your jobs and career journey.

I decided not to join the ‘games’ invited by that giant consulting firms because of several reasons, which I finally considered that it’s not ‘my game’. I would not share the reasons here anyway, but you could send me a private message if you want to know more about how I considered whether this is ‘my game or not’.

Again, to end this short note, it is really important that we keep ourselves as conscious as possible and as mindful as we can when making any decision whether to join ‘a game’ or not. Things might change, our preferences might also differ time by time, but we can focus on this moment by understanding what kind of rules we want to follow or how possible we can change the rules and create our own? By understanding that, we will be able to choose wisely to join the ‘best game’ (job or career) we want to ‘play’ or to say ‘Thanks, but it’s not my game’.

@yosea_kurnianto

05.15.18
by

Sorry, I’m Not a Believer on ‘You Can Be Anything You Want’, at Least When Talking About Career Journey

I almost finish my master degree. It feels so quick as now I need to rethink the next journey for my professional career. Although gratefully I received several job offers through my LinkedIn profile, I haven’t decided anything and will give time to myself to think carefully on several aspects.

The phrase ‘you can be anything you want’ is so attractive. You might hear this in many occasions, esp as an advice for your future in motivational sessions. In a career journey, it implies that career is ‘boundaryless’. By boundaryless, it means that career could become ‘a sequences of job opportunities that move beyond the boundaries of single employment settings’ (Arthur, 1994) or easily ‘move across the boundaries of separate employers’ (Guest, 2015). To me, this is not entirely true as career does have boundaries. In this blogpost, let me try to discuss several of them. Not to be such a pessimistic, but more on realistic context which might help us to determine our career wisely.

It’s worth to note what it means by boundaries, I would bring Ashforth’s, et al (2000) perspective on this; as he explained boundaries as limits around ‘physical, temporal, emotional, cognitive, and/or relational’. Those boundaries also have ‘textures’ as mentioned by Guest (2015). Some boundaries could be physical (e.g. location), social (e.g. discrimination), and even psychological (e.g. working preferences) which make it less visible. Those boundaries involve circumstances within person or surrounding environment (e.g. education background, difficulty in finding mentors, or lack of social capital); which somehow limits career mobility and development.

The concept of ‘you can do anything you want’ / boundaryless career emphasizes the freedom of individuals to decide their own career. However, regulation from government, education background, and social class take place in shaping an individual career. The believe that boundaryless career is driven by individuals and indeed sounds so attractive; but this thinking only benefits people with good education and high skills, but not for minorities, women, low skills and disabled people, as argued by Currie, et al (2006).

In reality, to get a job, you will need to cross such boundaries which usually involve such gate-keepers. The function of gate-keepers is to make sure that the employees who will enter the new role are suitable and most likely be successful in all the needed processes. These gate-keepers usually in form of as recruiters, examiners on chartered bodies, or managers and leaders of an organization/institution. To pass the gate-keepers, you will need to fulfill all the requirements from skills, education, previous experiences (or sometimes whether you know somebody from that particular organization/institution!).

Instead of keeping in mind that ‘you can be anything you want’; I prefer to look re-evaluate ourselves by understanding what might be such boundaries for our career journey. Once we evaluate our career boundaries, we will be able to re-arrange our situation by re-learn, re-train, re-skill, or equipping ourselves with possible new knowledge and skills to be able to cross several boundaries to obtain a ‘better career journey’. For instances, I never learned about data analytics; those are boundaries for me to pursue a career journey in tech-driven company as a social data analyst (e.g. people analytics). If only I strive to equip myself with the needed skill, I would then get a chance to cross that boundary.

Illustration: re-learn, re-train, re-skill yourself

Nevertheless, in some cases, we just need to embrace boundaries that we have. For example, I am aware that my mathematical intelligence is not as strong as my linguistic/verbal intelligence; thus I would not bother to pursue career that involves strong mathematical skills and focus to develop careers that would appreciate my other skills.

Telling ‘you can be anything you want’ for kids who’re still grow up would be fine, telling that phrase to young-adult who have more boundaries could be problematic. On some contexts, career boundaries could be less but also could be more complicated once an individual grew up. If it seems that you only have to embrace some of your boundaries, be explorative on what you have and design your best career aspirations from those. Don’t forget that you’re able to increase your value to cross more boundaries by re-learn, re-train, and re-skill yourself. You cannot be anything you want, but you might be able to be the best version of yourself.

@yosea_kurnianto

05.01.18
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#MayDay and The Dark Shades of Employment Relations in Gig Economy (in Indonesia)

The International Labours/Workers Day or May Day is ‘celebrated’ in many countries, including Indonesia. Various issues and demands were voiced by Indonesian trade unions in each year’s May Day ‘celebration’. Lately, the demands were predominantly around issues of outsourcing and (increased minimum) wages. The movement does indeed contain positive message in improving the condition of Indonesian working class. However, several riots and chaos situations happened during the May Day brought negative stigmas about trade unions.

Many companies started to find a way to avoid the establishment of trade unions in their company by making their own employee relations programs, to using certain employment models, such as outsourcing, zero hours’ contract, or even using term of ‘partner’ instead of employee as applied by some newly web/app-based companies.

Companies that design their own employment relations programs are tried to minimize the ‘noise’ of the employees by providing certain level of open internal communication, easily access management team, and such effort to involve employee representatives before deciding any policy. Using this way, the companies expect that employees would not feel any need to gain ‘power’ (through union) for negotiating or communicating their grievances to the management.

Companies that use the term ‘partner’ instead of employee indeed limits the ability of the workers to form a lawful union under the company, or to join any. This raising trend was marked by the development of online/web/app-based companies, which many literatures refer as gig economy.

Nevertheless, with the freedom of association as the right of Indonesian citizen and under the sense of ‘solidarity’, those ‘partners’ and/or online workers formed such ‘online workers’ association’ both in social media and even conducted such offline manifestations to voice their grievances.

Gig economy, however, is not something new and not merely in technology or digital based business. Friedman (2014) explains that ‘gig workers’ work to complete a particular task or for a defined time. This could be employed as a waiter in a restaurant, a cleaner of a building, a singer in a pub, etc. Nevertheless, Cockayine (2016) argues that gig economy is also usually referred as on-demand or ‘sharing’ economy. In his perspective, technology and digital platform strongly enhance the development of this model, which resonates the current situation in Indonesia: online ride-hailing (ojek online), online selling, etc.

Some companies who employ this ‘partnership’ model, save lots of money as they don’t need to provide any kind of employee benefits such as holiday/sick pay, parental supports, etc as ‘normal’ companies do. Yet, those companies most possibly do not have any clear strategy to manage the grievances of their ‘partners’, which might happen quite a lot as it’s believed that ‘partners’ under this employment model have weaker ‘psychological contract’ with the companies.

These kind of gig companies have been seen unable to manage the grievances in their business models, as we can observe that the disputes and grievances of ‘partners’ through ‘online workers’ associations’, were addressed to the government, instead of the companies.

It is worth noting that industrial relations involve at least 3 actors: company, employee representations (trade unions), and government. In the event where company and employee (or in this case, partner) representations failed to establish a good employment/partner relation, government would need to intervene.

In regards to that, government has significant role to both actively facilitate the growth of economy and identifying potential disputes by designing appropriate regulations and law. It’s hardly to say that Indonesian government is quick enough to properly response to any potential disputes related to employment so far. Take example on the online ride-hailing service. At the end of 2015, the Ministry of Transportation banned this service because it’s considered as ‘unlawfully established in the context of public transportation regulation’. The President, however, argued that the service is ‘needed by the society’, which then the service continues to operate. Yet, nothing to hear from the Ministry of Manpower or published comprehensive discussion from related stakeholders about the employment model caused by this service which now make lots of ‘noise’ in the employment/partner relations.

Aside from above case, it’s interesting to see that since June 17th 2016, the government, through the Minister of Information and Technology affairs, fully supported the launch of an initiative called ‘Gerakan Nasional 1000 Start-Up Digital’ (The National Movement of 1000 Digital Start-Up). Cited from a press release, more than 32.000 people registered themselves which 6500 of them joined the provided entrepreneurship training in 10 cities, resulted 123 start-ups so far. Observing from various newly digital start-ups that employ such ‘partnership’ employment model, it is important to note that those start-ups also need be equipped with the capability to manage employment/partner relations in the future.

To maintain a positive relations and its stability, (gig) companies have to understand the importance of providing a continuous communication with employee/partner representations and to act on it. For instances, an Indonesian e-commerce based in Jakarta establishes a community for its online sellers. The community is maintained through an online platform and several offline meetings across the country to develop ‘selling skills’, but also as a platform of grievances mechanism from the sellers to the platform provider (the management). This model is also possible to be adopted by (gig companies) in transportation and education services to better manage their ‘employment’ or ‘partner’ relations.

It is believed that 3 actors of industrial relations have to establish a harmony. Some argue that trade union might not be the best form of employment representation in the near future because of the transformation of employment model. Yet, whatever the form of employment representation: could be trade union, establishment of work council (e.g. in Germany), or even softly’ managed by the company; both government and companies shall carefully provide accessible communication mechanism with the workers in creating the best working condition that could be achieved, although there might be tension of interests from each actor.

@yosea_kurnianto

03.26.18
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The Partnership for You: an Investment or a Cost?

I attended the Chevening Partnership Reception on last Wednesday, March 21st 2018 at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). A diverse networks of corporate and university partners gathered to receive such appreciations from the FCO for their contributions to the Chevening Scholarship Programme. A number of Chevening Scholars (from the Partnerships) and alumni were also attended to this event. The reception was started at 6pm and finished at around 8pm. The Minister of State for Asia and The Pacific at the FCO, Mr Rt Hon Mark Field MP, delivered a speech to thank the organisation partners. Also giving speeches, Ananda Lakshmikumani, a Chevening HSBC Scholar, and an alumni representative.

It’s truly an honor for me to join the good crowd there, as in my Chevening ID card, I don’t have any specific support from a partner organisation, in regard to this context. I was invited as the part of the Chevening Social Media Ambassador for this year. So, yeah, I arrived in London at around 4pm by train from Manchester. Got a chance to have a coffee in LSE with a friend of mine, and headed to FCO to join the reception. During the reception, I met and talked with several organisation partners such as a global media company and a global oil and gas company.

Chevening Partnerships Reception (Photo: Personal Collection)

It is interesting that not all organisation representatives who came to the event were already became partners. The global media company has been a partner since years. However, this global oil and gas company, for instance, told me that they’re willing to be part of the networks and currently exploring the best way to partner with the Chevening Scholarships. As this company representative is part of the Government Affairs department, she told me that after the event, she would need to discuss several aspects with their HR team as well as the PR/Marketing team to follow this up. Well, I hope their discussion will be fruitful and soon become one of the Chevening partner 🙂

Anyway, I was then recalled my short experience in helping my previous employer to reshape its partnership strategy. Well true that partnership does need strategy; or in other words as partnership strategic plan. Partnership, however, will need such amount of resources, or frankly, money. This money spent for establishing partnership could be a good investment or ended as a cost (liability). As a company, we might really think how to make this money for making a beneficial partnership. The benefits could be in several forms: employer branding (corporate reputation), attracting high quality talents, market positioning, business development, strategic networking, etc. Therefore, it’s important to align the partnership strategic plan with the business goals (short term & long term) as well as organization philosophy and values, etc.

In the other hand, I was also reflected to myself, as how can I be a responsible partner. It’s important to note that in this context, the partnership is not only between the FCO and the organisation partners; but also with the scholars. I believe that the selection process, which resulted to select this year’s scholars, intend to ‘produce’ such a fruitful investment; not to spend a cost (or liability).

So, I came back to Manchester right after the Reception finished by a train from Euston at 9pm. During the journey back, I used the time to contemplate about how far I have tried to ‘produce my best’ from that ‘good investment’. Not only from this Chevening Partnerships, but also ‘investments’ from anyone that I met and spent time (or money) with. Well, indeed sometimes cost is needed and inevitable; yet it’s always good to bear in mind that we live so far by any kind of ‘investments’ from others. Thus, it’s important to always try our best in proving that what they give to us is a ‘good investment’ not a cost (liability).

You can see my short video about this event here:

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

To know more about Chevening Partnership, click here: http://www.chevening.org/partners

@yosea_kurnianto

03.16.18
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Would Indonesian State (Government) be a ‘Model Employer’?

In the previous term, I was asked to discuss about whether the state (in the UK) can be a model-employer or not. As I had no classes due to lecturers’ strike, I then tried to apply the same question to Indonesian context, but focused on civil service institution:

In employment relations context, the state is not as a single actor but is an ‘open system’, as it consists of various powerful actors with different function and purposes to carry out the government’s planning (Dundon and Rollionson, 2011: 168). The way the state becomes an important actor in employment relations is because the state produces laws which shape how employers and employees (with its associations) as the ‘rule of the game’ (Dundon and Rollinson, 2011: 168). Aside of a rule-maker and legislator, Dundon and Rollinson (2011: 170) further describe some other roles of the state in employment relations including a regulator of incomes and prices, an economic manager, promoter of social citizenship guidelines, a protector of standards, and an employer of its own right. This writing will focus on the role of the state as an employer in its own right. By saying that, Dundon and Rollinson (2011:170) emphasize that ‘as an employer, the state can set the standards of employment practice’.

My discussion focus here is more on civil service rather than state-owned enterprise. They’re both different in nature, as the state-owned enterprise would also focus in gaining profit; which then, most probably applying more contemporary HR management/new-public management/private-like management.

The role of states as a regulator and at the same time an implementer (as employer or work contractor) of employment law pushes it to keep some balances between their law products and their own reaction towards it. As such, some political agenda, the ideology, and believes of the leaders would influence the employment laws produced by the ruling government which somehow makes degree of uncertainty or instability in employment.

Anyway, various surveys resulted a list of organizations as best or model employers in Indonesia have been released by some institutions. Although private sector was dominating, it is interesting to see that some public sectors in Indonesia were also listed. A Sweden based global employer branding research firm, Universum, listed some state institutions, such as Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Tourism as big 10 of the most attractive employers in the Indonesia. It’s interesting that Ministry of Manpower, which has the ‘biggest responsibility’ on the ‘working regulation/policy’ was not listed.

Some characteristics of good, best, or model employers were designed by some firms (e.g. Universum, Glassdoor, Bloomberg, etc.) in making the list based on various concerns. As I am studying in the UK, it might be interesting to see what happened here as well. The British government was aspired to be a ‘model employer’ with some characteristics: aside of offering the best pay rates, to become a model employer, the state is also aspired to be able to ensure job security and its stability, and to employ a fair employee representation for consultation of remuneration and work conditions of its employees (The Priestley Commission, 1953-5 in Carter and Fairbrother, 1999). In 1995, the concept aforementioned was expanded to address gender pay gap.

In short, in the UK, many literatures show some working conditions in public sector (civil servants) that seems better than private sector. Some conditions such as better pay than the private sector and its pension scheme, still become a significant consideration which makes civil service/public sector institutions became one of ‘attractive employers’ in the market, despite of speculations that private sector might be able to offer better pay rates in the near future. Seeing the historical journey, especially after the Margaret Thatcher’s era, which privatization and ‘economic reform’ happened, Carter and Fairbrother (1999) argue that the previous concept of state as a ‘model-employer’ was ended. Further, it has been said that ‘model employer’ concept was gradually replaced to follow conditions in market, which recently named ‘economy, efficiency, and effectiveness’ concept, and lately as ‘best value’ as well as ‘best practice (Carter and Fairbrother, 1999).

Thus, as mentioned earlier that some conditions of wages, stability and job security, gender pay gap, and industrial relations needs to be improved to certain standards, it is unlikely to say that state in the UK has been acting as a model-employer so far.

Illustration: State Buildings (Personal Collection)

Now, let’s try to take a look in Indonesia’s situation using the previous characteristics of ‘model-employer’ that UK used: offering the best pay rates (and pension), ensure job security and its stability, employ a fair employee representation for consultation of remuneration and work conditions of its employees, and lastly gender pay gap.

Offering the Best Pay Rates (and Pension)

Looking at the salary structure of Indonesian civil servants (the version that I accessed HERE – please advise if you find the newest one), it seems that some private sectors entrance level in Jakarta would have better number than some of these layers. Yet, these numbers are only the base salary in which the civil servants have also some other statutory allowances. The base salary of a high level national/multi-national private sectors employee might be higher than a high level civil servants; yet with the allowances that the civil servants receive, the story might be different in some cases.

I am not sure how the civil service institutions do their salary survey or detail conciliation process to determine salary increase (aside of states’ financial condition and its projection), yet it’s reported that the base salary did not increase since 2 years ago (read HERE). Some news recently informed that the government plan to increase the salary and change its structure, which some degree of ‘performance management’ will be included (see HERE). Also, it’s just being reported that the pension scheme fee will be increased by 10-15% (see HERE); which means that the amount of pension for civil servants will increase as well. For private sectors employee, however, the government provides a welfare system and pension scheme under ‘BPJS’ with 5-6% monthly fee/contribution since 2016, and apparently will increase to 8% later (read HERE).

Ensure Job Security and Its Stability

I personally have never heard such a massive lay-off/redundancy of the Indonesian civil service. Yet, in 2016, the Minister of National Apparatus Empowerment and Reformation of Bureaucracy informed that the ideal amount of civil servants is 1.5% from the population. He explained that current Indonesian population is about 250 million, it means that the ideal amount of civil servants shall be around 3.5 million. In fact, in 2016, he said that Indonesia has 4.5 million civil servants. The 1 million surplus created rumors of lay-off/redundancy (see HERE).

Nevertheless, the handbook of Indonesia civil service management ensures that when it needs to be structured, the civil servants will firstly be transferred to another institution, if available (read page 108 HERE). It sounds like a pretty safe situation, doesn’t it? Yet, various circumstances might cause a civil servant being transferred to another institution without proper notifications and preparations. Thus a common jargon among civil servants would be “ready to serve (the country) anywhere”. The most heard problem in this circle of employment might be that many civil servants are in a short-term contract (that most probably continuously renewed) which positioned them to receive monthly fee, lower than the average civil servants’ wages; or named as “honorer” civil servants.

Employ a Fair Employee Representation for Consultation of Remuneration and Work Conditions of Its Employee

I saw some grievance manifestations through mass demonstration and picket lines from civil servants on some cases; one of the issues was about aforementioned “honorer” case. However, the only union for civil servants that I have ever heard is KORPRI (Korps Pegawai Negeri Republik Indonesia) / Indonesian Civil Servants Coop which firstly founded in 1971. Based on its mission statements, KORPRI also aims to provide prosperity for its members (statement number 3 – read page 8 HERE).

In regards to KORPRI’s programs and its relation to consultation of remuneration and work conditions of its employee, most of the programs are focusing of external orientation program (such as building a hospital etc.); and only 1 consultation to the government, which is about religious holiday allowance (see page 9-12 HERE). The wages numbers were also given by the government, I suppose, designed by a chosen team without any fair consultation with civil servants. Well, it actually happens as well in lots of private companies in Indonesia where employee representation is not well valued. However, in order to be a good model, I guess civil service institutions shall be giving examples on how this fair employee representation and consultation being done.

Gender Pay Gap

In general employment, the gender pay gap in Indonesia reported by ILO was narrowed from 40% in decades ago to 19% in 2016 (see HERE). One factor of this ‘good news’ might be the increase of minimum wages in manufacturing industries lately, as reported by World Bank (read full HERE). However, it is interesting to see the report of gender pay gap from the Asian Development Bank in 2014 that public administration has 33% gender pay gap between male and female (see page 31 HERE).

Seeing those data, it somehow implies that female workers most probably are yet to get opportunities to be in higher level/layers in organizations, which allow them to earn more money. Gender pay gap data is only a glimpse, a top of an iceberg, which contains lots of challenges from equality (towards opportunity), women empowerment, stereotyping, etc. Thus, seeing the fact of 33% gender pay gap in public administration, shows that the government has lots of ‘homework’ to do in terms of this issue.

Other Aspects and Conclusion

I believe there are some other aspects we can see further to define a ‘model-employer’ these days. In this particular context, some indicators like, whether civil servants receive equal opportunities to learning and development process (or in contrast, experiencing ‘de-skilling’), whether civil servants well-being in working are well-managed, etc. However, in this writing, looking at 4 categories above: offering best pay rates, ensure job security and stability, employ fair employee representation, and gender pay gap; as well as putting those aspects in political tensions as part of the government which produces employment law and needs to implement it; the Indonesian state would be hard to be an ideal model employer.

Wait, but why the admission number for being part of civil servants were so high? I guess you have the answer for this?

@yosea_kurnianto