Asean Economic Community: Opportunity and Challenge for Fresh Graduates Cahaya Putri Lolly J.

J, 1206245765 If you think the competition in getting job is high, then you had better think again, because the competition is going to be higher than ever as there are going to be much less barriers in economic activities. ASEAN Economic Community 2015 (AEC) with One Vision One Identity One Community slogan has a goal to transform ASEAN, with its 600 million people, into a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development, and a region fully integrated into the global economy. By achieving free flow of goods, services, skilled labor, investment, and capital, the cost will be minimized, the gain will be maximized, regional economy prosperity and stability will be gained, and the development gaps between the members will be reduced. However, with these free trades, ASEAN Economic Community works both as opportunity and challenge for fresh graduates and in order to win the competition, improving competitive skill is a must. With free flow of skilled labor on seven professions (medical, dental, nursing, accountancy, engineering, and architectural services) fresh graduates and job seekers all over ASEAN are going to be able to apply for jobs freely in Indonesia. Not only that, graduates all over ASEAN coming from better education will no doubt win the jobs faster and easier. Consequently, those who plan on working for others inside the country have to compete harder to get jobs. Besides being a challenge, the free flows also actually make really big opportunities for fresh graduates in Indonesia to work outside the country. As a labor surplus country, Indonesias fresh graduates can make gain from this Asean Economic Community by getting much more job opportunities from all over ASEAN. Due to this future condition, we, as soon to be fresh graduates, need to improve our skills in order to win the competition between millions of people from all over ASEAN. Most important skill needed by fresh graduates to be able to work well in ASEAN is none other than skill of communicating in English, whether it is speaking, reading, or writing. Since we are going to meet different people from all over ASEAN with different culture and different point of views, being able to communicate well in English is a must for fresh graduates. Beside English skill, other important skills are computational skill, cooperation, human relations, and professionalism. These skills need to attach in every graduates in order for them to compete with increased job seekers, many of whom are our neighbors from other country in ASEAN. Many students still view learning in college as only the way to pursue a degree rather than a process to develop their potentials. It is getting worse with our countrys lack of quality education. Meanwhile, students from our neighbor countries, for example, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia, begin to focus on learning to meet the requirements of the market. Students need to focus on meeting their skills, knowledge, potential, and preparation with what ASEAN market demand require.

We have talked about the opportunity and challenge of free flow for job seekers, but actually, with free flow of goods, investment, and capital, there are going to be much job opportunity to work as an entrepreneur. Because being an entrepreneur means setting up a business by your own, graduates do not have to worry whether there is enough job vacancy for them. With free flow of capital, investment, goods, and services, entrepreneurs can easily build their business in Indonesia. The free flow of investment will open up greater opportunities for Indonesian capitals to expand their markets and customers in ASEAN. In addition, free flow of investment will promote greater entrepreneurship and innovation in products and services. Therefore, building entrepreneurial traits or characteristics will do good to both the company they work for and the business they decide to initiate by themselves. To conclude, Asean Economic Community, with its goal of creating ASEAN into a highly competitive single market and one production base, works both as opportunity and challenges for fresh graduates. With its free flow of goods, services, investment, capital, and skilled labor, there are going to be millions of people looking for jobs all over ASEAN and in order for Indonesian to win the competition, graduates must increase their skills and values, embrace their potentials, and get prepared to work in international work environment. Without well preparations, winning the high competition in job seeking may sound like dreaming. After all, what we can do is to get ready for the changes, prepare to absorb the benefits, and to face the challenges lying ahead.

References http://asianowblog.com/2013/05/06/asean-economic-community-opportunities-and-challenges/ http://www.business-in-asia.com/asia/asean_economic_community.html http://proceedings.bu.ac.th/?download=52:building-entrepreneurial-spi