Verbal Diarrhoea : Knowledge Work in an Oblivious World

Ever looked at a candidate's resume and see that he has 10 years experience and only one job to boot and think hmmm this guy has got the right balance of experience and loyalty to the company. And then upon interviewing him, you find that his technical knowledge is a little rusty but you think; he can be developed. So you hire the guy only to find that actually the reason why this person was in that job for 10 years was nothing to do with loyalty. It was due to the fact that he was comfortable where he was and never chose to develop himself any further because the company just wanted to him to maintain status quo. So what went wrong here?

Another scenario, another Joe comes for interview, great resume as well. 10 years experience but 5 jobs. Hmmm..you raise an eyebrow, and are concerned that this guy could be a job hopper. So you decide not to invest in him, because you postulate that he may leave in yes you guessed it - 2years. So what went wrong here?

At this point you are probably wondering what the heck has what I have just said got to do with the title. Well the like hood is that the guy with 5 jobs will most likely bring more to the table than the guy with the one job. Of course it really depends on the industry in question. Are you in a knowledge industry or are you in an industry where throughput and turnaround time is the key.

Like our brothers in manufacturing, throughput and turnaround time is the key to being successful. However, banking on this type of industry might be the wrong way to go. Let’s take a page from the great American manufacturing industry. In the land where manufacturing began.....but ooohh wait there is China. A study was done and it concluded that no matter what the US manufacturing industry did to improve throughput and turnaround, no matter how many initiatives where put in place to bring "value" to the diminishing value chain, the manufacturing industry in the US has and will permanently migrate itself to China and it will not return.

So what do we in Singapore have to look forward to? We are sort of in between the tightrope where one end in the good old and reliable manufacturing industry where repeatability, turnaround and throughput are king. And then there is the other side where the knowledge industry beckons. Well we are most or less almost 3/4 of the way to the knowledge side as we abandon the quest of manufacturing supremacy. Even the government knows this, as can be seen in the change in education policy. No more technical classes or manual trade education in the top or mediocre schools. Those subjects are reserved for the non auditory or visual learners who end up in ITE. And the trend is to be more academically focused rather than creative focused.

So where do we go then? What comes of us, who have had the traditional education? Do we go find a company where you can get lost in your own oblivion within the company and become part of the furniture in the office? So the question of the two earlier scenarios comes back, two guys both 1o years of experience but one has got 5 jobs and the other 1 job, what do you do?

Well ask them the question about where we are heading and their opinion about Knowledge industry as opposed as to Manufacturing base....and the answer will show you the way...

Disclaimer: Whatever has been said here should not be taken against the author as this is a rant, a rave and a non-violent means for venting of human emotion. If the thoughts and the flow of the above verbage are erratic this too shouldn’t be taken against the author as the word “diarrhoea” implies a lack of control.