by Cut Nada
Nabila
(published on Warta Unsyiah February 2018 edition)
Lately, Y generation (after X
generation) or usually known as millennials is being trending topic
around the globe starting from their lifestyle, behavior, education, and not to
mention, technology. Millennial generation is the generation of people born between 80’s until
2000’s (15 to 35 years old today). Some people gave criticisms while some
others sent compliments at certain points.
Millennial generation lives in digitalized
era where technologies are more developed compared to what had been felt by
previous generations. Unquestionably, this generation is more tech-savvy. In
term of lifestyle, essentially, the dynamic of social condition that goes along
with the development of technology lead to the changes in behavior and needs.
That dynamism cannot be denied or even discarded. Generations after millennials will also transform depending
on the changes that occurred in their era.
Living in such digitalized and
globalized era is challenging for millennials.
Competition force becomes stronger and tighter, now, we no longer compete
regionally, or nationally, but globally. No more boundaries among countries
means wider spaces and choices for foreigners to enter and grab the opportunity
in Indonesia’s market. This phenomenon is a warning signal for Indonesian
youths who have population of more than 50% from the total population of
Indonesian citizens. What a huge potential. However, if the potential is not aware and ready to face the global competition, anxiously, the available opportunities will not sufficient to absorb a huge
number of human resources in Indonesia itself. Consequently, millennials must be able to compete
globally and take the opportunities in international market such as Singapore,
Europe, Japan, and other countries.
Global competition forces us to
have high standard and capability to succeed within the competition. This
standard is different with the standard in our parents’ era because the
challenge and threat are also different and more complex. Therefore, three required
criterias are needed to get us survived in the competition, namely; (1)
technical skill (e.g. accounting, law, agriculture, etc.), (2) personality
(attitude) and (3) tech-savvy. Knowledge obtained from formal education is not
enough. There should be additional factor to support it which makes us different
from other competitors and that is soft skills. Soft skills are skills that
contribute in improving and supporting the other three criteria. Soft skills
are not only about public speaking and time management but also how we behave
while working in team, meeting new people, and eager to learn new things such
as technology (e.g. software, devices, etc) because technology grows rapidly.
If we are not aware about the development of technology, we will be left behind
and replaced by the technology itself. With soft skills that we have enhanced
from teamwork or organizational experiences, internet and technology will
optimize our performance in implementing and showing our hard skill instead of
replace our function. For instance, someone who academically performs well, if
does not have ability to communicate effectively and avoid team working will
hardly to survive compared to someone with average knowledge background but can
make other colleagues comfortable to work with him/her, welcome to differences,
and accept criticisms for self-development. Another crucial point is that soft
skills also include good foreign language proficiency. The more languages we
master, the wider opportunities we can achieve.
In 1960, some scientists stated
that children with foreign language proficiency had slow reaction and indicated
disability. However, Mia Nacamulli, a communication specialist in New York
found that learning more than one foreign language can enhance the structure of
brain to be more active and can prevent Alzheimer and dementia until five
years. From career prospective, those who have that particular skill get more
attention from recruiters especially big companies who have branches operate in
some other countries. Previously, English speaking skill was seen as preference
and special competency, now, it is no longer an added-value skill but an
obligatory and required by recruiters. It means that mastering English is not
enough to convince the recruiters, thus, we have to master other languages to
boost our value. Additionally, Arab, China, Japan, and Europe are the leading
models in technology, economy, and education. If we can master the language of
at least one of them, it is possible that we can reach the opportunity in those
countries.
Millennials should hasten the preparation and expand the
comfort-zone. Patience and consistency are the best vitamins to support the
efforts. I believe, what we invest today, will bring many advantages that we
can harvest in the future.