What will keep you in a job in the Great Depression of 2020?
Keeping oneself in employment is difficult even in the best of times, let alone when the ranks of unemployed is doubling all over the world. Malta is no different. The JobsPlus unemployment register in March showed an increase of 28% newly laid off workers over the previous month of February 2020, and in April the unemployed registering for work shot up by a staggering 87%. These alarming figures are after discounting the thousands of expatriates who opted to be repatriated.
The NSO statistics for the first three months of 2020 show an increase in unemployed especially in the 15–24 year old segment of the working population. The largest share of men (20%) and women (39%) on the unemployment register sought occupations as clerical support workers.
What can you do to avoid becoming an unemployment statistic?
5 steps to carry out an employability self assessment
by Saint Martin’s Institute of Higher Education
Step 1. Are you proud of your CV?
Your curriculum vitae (originating from Latin — ‘course of life’) portrays what you have achieved throughout your life after you left full time education. Review your CV with the eye of your employer, and ask an academic to give a critical look. Have you achieved anything of value in your career, anything that makes you stand out and be uniquely valuable to your current or prospective employer? If you had to be given notice of redundancy, will your CV stand out with another employer, in a diverse industry — or is your specialisation making you a prisoner in an industry, maybe even the particular firm that you work with today.
Step 2. Can you work independently?
Do you have a reputation of getting things done on time, whatever the circumstances or are you the joke at work, that you need to be given an advanced deadline for your contribution to arrive on time? The new norm entails flexible working hours and working from home — have you built the reputation that you can be trusted to self supervise, or will an employer think twice before allowing you to work away from direct visual contact?
Step 3. Can you be classified as a Key Performance Member?
Every employee should know that key performance indicators (KPIs) need to be measurable values that demonstrate how effectively a company is faring in achieving key business objectives. Think of your own input to the company employing you. Is your employment deemed to be that of a knowledge worker hired for the knowledge that you are able to submit to your team at work? What is your contribution to the workplace, and is this easily identified? Are you a net contributor to the KPIs of your firm, or are you simply an adjunct — an individual floating around helping in doing this or that, but really have no particularly critical function for the business objectives of the firm?
Your expertise may be anything. You need not be a rocket design engineer or a financial guru (although both would qualify as a knowledge worker). For example showing that you can manage the cash flow of your company in good stead by managing a sound relationship with your firm’s creditors and debtors makes you an expert in a crucial area for the company employing you, and is a tangible and measurable function within the accounts department.
Step 4. Are YOU adequately qualified?
Do you have the necessary skills and competences that are fundamental to the work place of this century? Are you versatile in your use of technology? Not the basic go by skills attained when you sat for your ECDL type of skills — but rather are you able to use commonly available software to be effective and efficient in your work? Have you gained your expertise throughout your work experience — have you ever bothered in transcribing that as a formal qualification? If you had to seek new employment, no amount of work experience will count, because with rising unemployment the employment sector has suddenly shifted to a buyers’ market unlike the past decade where anyone could secure a job through a phone call. Employers will start receiving hundreds if not thousands of applications, and they will sift through and start off from what on paper seem to be the very best!
Step 5. Are you adequately networked?
Networking is everything in life, and you build your career on the contacts that you make during your University years. your own peers, reading for the same degree in your year, as well as those in the different years of studies. These are the people that you may need in the future, to give you a heads up for an opening in a company that you have been eyeing. Moving straight to the work place right after secondary school will leave a big gap in your potential to grow your career.
So, are you a clerical support worker, who answered NO for all or most of the above?
Andrea was in such a position some years back, and took the plunge and bearing the fruit of his decision.
Interested in finding out how you can develop yourself? Contact Us
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Ignite your career
For these past 35 years, we at Saint Martin’s Institute of Higher Education have assisted thousands of individuals to find their path towards a productive career. The vast majority never knew their capabilities until they embarked on reviving their career by registering to one of the qualifications at the Institute, reading for a Diploma that then led them to read for a Degree conferred by the world renowned University of London, attending classes at Saint Martin’s Institute as evening students! Practically every student came in employed as a clerk, and successfully exited as a graduate into a middle management position.
What about you? What are you going to do about it?
Take this unique opportunity — ACT now!
You are able to study for an MQF level 5 Diploma and an MQF level 6 BSc at Saint Martin’s Institute, without paying any fees throughout your studies. Once you successfully graduate, you will only pay 30% of the total expenses (net tuition costs for your degree will depend on whether you are a full time or an evening student) since the other 70 % paid through your income tax via rebates.
Admissions Criteria
You may embark on your studies with ordinary level qualifications in Mathematics, English and any other two subjects.
Face to face & On-Line learning
Covid-19 or not, classes have continued unabated at Saint Martin’s Institute of Higher Education. We were not caught unawares, and over a weekend all our lectures and tutorials were transferred online without a hitch!
You may choose from a wide variety of fields of study. Check our prospectus for Commerce or Computing to join some of the most highly demanded career fields in Malta and overseas!
If you wish to have a one to one chat with regard to your choice of qualification, you may complete this contact form or call us on +356 2123 5451 for an appointment, or communicate with us through our website or Facebook or email us on infodesk@stmartins.edu
If you are already convinced that you want to join us for the upcoming academic year, then just complete this Application Form and email it to us on infodesk@stmartins.edu
