Beating The Crunch : Get An Education

What is Beating the Crunch?

So the reality has finally set in for Malaysian workers. The economy crisis is in its full swing and there is talk of up to 300,000 Malaysians losing their jobs. There is really only two ways to look at this. One, to moan about it. And the other is to do something about it.  If you are a moaner, I would advise you to stop reading. You are doomed to fail because whining and whinging isn’t going to get you anywhere. If you’ve decided to stop whining and whinging and have stumbled upon this article because you’ve decided you want to do something about empowering yourself, read on. Beating the Crunch is  a series of articles that are designed to help the average Malaysian to Control the Uncontrollable. It will talk about strategies that you can leverage to beat the current financial crisis and empower you beat the crunch.

Why should I care about the Credit Crunch?

The first step to dealing with any problem is to understand it. The reality is that many Malaysians don’t understand the crisis. They know something bad is happening. They know businesses are closing. But they don’t understand it.

In its simplest terms, credit crunch means that there is simply not enough money in the financial system for companies to borrow. This happened because over the last few years banks in America and Europe were lending money to people who couldn’t back it up with any collateral. In some cases they were lending money to people who had no income, no jobs and no assets. These became known as NINJA  or Sub Prime loans. What’s interesting about this crisis is that banks then repackaged these loans as “Structured Products” and sold them off to investors. Investors, thinking they were buying investment products that had their risks spread out, were actually sold products that had no solid foundation. It was a crisis that was just waiting to happen. The chips have fallen and things are now collapsing. Nobody wants to lend money for fear that they will lose it all. If banks become hesistant to lend money, people and businesses will not be able to make purchases (like buying a house or funding a new business venture).  This means that money won’t change hands and if that doesn’t happen, the economy slows down. This is exactly what is happening today.

The new reality is that the economies of Europe and America are now in big trouble. America is the biggest Malaysian export partner. If Americans buy less because they are worried about the economy, it will impact Malaysian jobs. For example, the recent drop in Christmas computer sales has resulted in the inability of Malaysian manufacturers who sell to American clients to generate sales. As a result of this, Penang is suffering because it is the hub of electronics manufacturing in Malaysia. 

Get An Education.

The first strategy to Beating the Crunch is to invest in yourself and get an education. One of the great things about the economy crisis is that it makes the opportunity cost  as a result of taking a course extremely low. During good times, taking a course might entail foregoing an opportunity to do extra consulting or even taking a vacation to an exotic place. However, when times are bad the chances of these opportunities occuring are greatly reduced. Hence, it becomes extremely enticing for people to sign up for courses. The silver lining in all of this is that the crisis has suddenly made the cost of  upgrading yourself a whole lot cheaper.

Of course, one of the first things that I get whenever I suggest this to people in IT is that Bill Gates was a college drop out. What many of these same people fail to realise is that while Bill Gates dropped out of college, he dropped out of Harvard. That means he was a very smart man. And even if I accept that he dropped out of college and wasn’t too bright, the question I often pose back is how many college drop outs do you see leading multi-billion dollar empires from across the world? 

But shouldn’t the burden of investment in training lie on the employer?

Personally, the answer to this question is a resounding yes AND a resounding no. Yes, because training is a huge retention carrot. It is also advantegeous for a business to have highly skilled, trained talents. All this is well and good during good times, but this is probably the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. So, No, because most of the onus on developing oneself also lies upon yourself. One of the reasons I believe the idea that only employers are responsible for training is prevalent amongst Malaysian employees from Generation Y is that they grew up with parents who always provided incentives for studying. From young, they were trained to believe that it needs to be provided by somebody else and that when you complete the course, you need to be given a reward. The reality is that the real world doesn’t quite work like the average Malaysian parent. Training is a privilege. It is a reward. It is not a right. We must change in order to ensure that we be practical in difficult times and continue to enhance our own personal value. 

So what’s in it for me?

Firstly, upgrading yourself during an economy crisis makes you more marketable. People often think they won’t benefit unless they actually get a piece of paper certifying that they have completed the course. The reality is that a tertiary education teaches you how to think differently almost immediately. Getting an MBA might be a certificate that takes 1 to 2 years, but doing a marketing strategies module gets you important skills after just 4 months. Multiply the effect of doing multiple modules over an average 4 month semester and you’re suddenly learning new skills at a rate never before imagined. This also means that you will suddenly be that much more valuable when your management team decides to cut costs.  Furthermore, many universities are now making it easier for people to manage the work-study balance. Whether it is studying using Distance Education Programs, Weekend Programs or Executive Mode studying, most Malaysian universities have something that will cater to the busy executive.  This means that while you most probably have to have less time for yourself, it won’t be a complete loss of “me – time”.

Secondly, doing a degree or other tertiary courses in Malaysia can actually be a money making adventure. The Malaysian National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) allows people to take loans to do their Masters, Doctoral Degrees or Professional courses for interest rates as low as 1% (as of 2008) on an amortised basis if you study in a recognized education provider.  This means that the Malaysian government is technically paying you to study and upgrade yourself. Why? Our inflation rates today are far higher than interest rates that are charged by PTPTN. Furthermore, the duration in which you’re actually studying caries no interest and you only need to start paying 6 months after your loan disbursement period ends. Adding to all this is the fact that you can then stretch payments for up to 20 years (depending on your loan amount). All this of course is not counting the earnings you make because your management team decided to fire your colleague who wasn’t upgrading himself or if you did get fired, the earnings you will make beating the other candidates in the interviews you are attending.

Beating the Crunch

The global hunt for talent and creative workers needs to start with you. The financial crisis of 2008 has created a unique opportunity for Malaysians to upgrade themselves, ride out this economy and come out on tops in these tough times. The time to get an education, is now.

Beating the Crunch is a series of articles that is written by Suresh Gnasegarah. The objective of the series is to provide practical means for average Malaysian workers to beat the credit crunch. Get An Education is the first of these series. Suresh Gnasegarah is a young Malaysian manager bent on creating high potential Malaysian talents and controlling the uncontrollable.