Employment Emergency: What Should Youth Do?

                Saturday, May 20, 2023, AIESEC University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) held a national webinar Impact Circle 6.0 with the theme "Create A Prosperous Life: The Art of Planning and Entrepreneurship to Rocket Your Finance" through  the Zoom Meeting platform  . Impact Circle 6.0 focuses on SDG no 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), where the goal is to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, productive and comprehensive employment opportunities, and decent work for all. In other words, this webinar discusses financial independence, which is relevant to today's life.   Financial independence itself is a condition when we can have stable and reliable finances to survive and not worry about all expenses, even sudden ones. In line with this, AIESEC at UMM held a webinar with the theme of financial freedom, with the hope that young people can be more financially  literate.

        IMPACT CIRCLE 6.0 invited 4 professional speakers in their fields. Attended by more than 100 participants, the event was presented by moderator Firdaus Faraj Ba-Gharib who is a financial manager and awardee of  Erasmus + SGH Warsaw School of Economics. As an opening, Devanto Shasta Pratomo, as Professor of Labour Economics and Secretary of Presidential Advisory Council Member, or often called Mr. Devan raised the topic "Youth Employment: Challenges, Hopes, and Strategy  " which discussed the current condition of the Indonesian workforce along with the challenges faced, future expectations, and also strategies in overcoming gaps in the world of work.  

        In the webinar, Mr. Devan revealed that Indonesia has long been a country with the highest youth unemployment rate.  Young unemployment averages 3 times that of national unemployment with a relatively stable trend in the past 4 years. Thus, there is a need for a strategy to break the gap chain. It is stated that there needs to be encouragement for the younger generation to have adequate fluid intelligence  (problem solving) rather than crystalized intelligence. This can be achieved through the approach of interpersonal, analytical, and digital skills into the curriculum.

        Next for the second speaker, namely Dina Rahmi S.Psi, CFP. He is the founder of Babega Finance and a Financial Planner who can provide financial planning education and consulting. In her session at the Impact Circle 6.0 webinar, Dina Rahmi raised the topic  "Make Your Own Money Plan" which discussed how to start financial planning and determine financial goals, especially for students. Awareness of the importance of managing finances in the younger generation is one of the important things to know. Starting with having goals and dreams in life where obviously to achieve these dreams definitely requires money, then a plan is needed to make money and manage it. Without a plan, we plan to fail. Learn how to invest, manage money by setting it aside with an emergency fund, protection, and investment sequence. 

       The next session with the theme "Turning Creative Ideas into Rupiah"  was presented by Hendi Suryo Leksono who is the Creative Director of VOSCO Group and Secretary General of HIPMI Malang City. He explained that if a lot has changed from all aspects in these 10 years, we as a modern generation must have high creativity and innovative ideas to keep up with the times. This is certainly related to turning creative ideas into money. The first way is to be more aggressive in communicating and promoting on various social media, learning and honing public speaking skills, especially elevator pitches that  are persuasive and can make people who hear them have an interest, monetize the channels we use, focus on collaboration because today is the age of collaboration and we must take advantage of this, and of course also   Scale up  with profitable financial schemes.

        In the final session, it was closed with Iestri Kusumah, S.Psi., CBC or Iestri, founder & CEO of Psytalk Indonesia. In his session discussed finance from a psychological point of view. When someone wants to start making money, there must be their own fears that make them stuck or stop because of their own fears, therefore sister Iestri brought a session with the theme  "Forget Your Fears and Get Started!".   We are taught how someone behaves towards money which is related to managing thoughts, emotions, and behavior when facing money, because no matter how much money is collected will be if the financial management is bad. There are 5 points that can be applied to how to manage finances. First make financial decisions based on personal experience, second distinguish happiness from greed, third know and prioritize priorities, fourth consistency in managing finances, and the last point wealth is what is invisible. 

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      About AIESEC at UMM

        AIESEC is an international youth organization that is present in 120 countries, In Indonesia alone, AIESEC has been established for more than 30 years and has spread across 26 universities. AIESEC at UMM itself is a Local Committee whose members include students of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

        Every semester, AIESEC at UMM conducts social projects based on SDGs points by the United Nations. Activities that anyone can participate in are not only from foreign students. This social project was attended by dozens of foreign students from various countries and also students from the University of Muhammadiyah Malang. Each social project lasts 6 weeks. The purpose of holding this social project itself is to develop member leadership and also participate in the development of Malang City.

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