What the Business World Want?

All of us who work in Korea know how strong the desire for education is on the part of parents.
I can recall when the family would raise a bull for the future education of the child. The times have changed but the sacrifice made on the part of the parents for the child is as strong as ever.
They strive to send them to the best schools and take the means to do this. The cost at times is very high.

Over the years the Country has made some big changes in their education policy. Many thought that the system was too rigid and the system did not produce flexible, creative people with the human touch. This has improved a great deal. However, I was surprised to see an article in the Chosun Ilbo ( 3/30/2009) that had many in the the business world saying that the students come out of college standardized . They were all too similar according to one manager. Another mentioned that a person loses his individuality. Another mentioned that they have the language ability and the technical expertise but they lack the creativity for the job. The statement that surprised me the most was a personnel manager who said that companies are looking for candidates who do not just have high scores on the Toeic and generally high marks in their studies but "they are looking first for people who can sacrifice for others but they are difficult to find."

Even if this was a statement of a very rare type of personnel manager it was rather surprising to see. It is a good sign that our Korean world of business is still influenced by the traits that we have come to see as important for a good life. And there are those who are not embarrassed to make it known publicly.