Looking for Advice on Responding to the World of Work through Social Media

Simple topics around the world of work are widely discussed on social media, such as making a "curriculum vitae" and communicating in a professional manner at work. Most of the fans are young.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI.

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

A number of job seekers are scanning barcodes at one of the hotel companies that opened vacancies in the job fair held in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Wednesday (7/6/2023). This job fair was held to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the Association of All Indonesian City Governments. The unemployment rate in Palembang is still high, reaching 9 percent, and the unavailability of job opportunities is the main obstacle.

Relationships in the world of work are increasingly complex and not easy to deal with. Social media has transformed into a public space that is open to tell anything about everyday crumbs in the world of work. Content creators also share suggestions and solutions to problems in the world of work.

Digital content creator for career field, Vina Andhiani Muliana Omar or better known as Vina Muliana, said, based on her experience, content around tips on making a CV (curriculum vitae), job interviews, work attitude and communication, and improving career is always sought. Content about changing jobs, finding out about a toxic workplace, and how to get a nice boss are also watched or read a lot.

“I receive a lot of content theme requests. I also receive a lot of direct messages (DM) which contain not only thematic requests, but also work relationship issues that my viewers/followers are facing. My DM has become like a complaint post,” said Vina when met at the Tiktok Southeast Asia Impact Forum, Thursday (15/6/2023), in Jakarta.

In terms of audience profile/followers, Vina mentioned that most of them are aged 18-24 years old. There are also some who come from junior high school to high school/vocational school background and workers who have been in their careers for five years.

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Vina said that one day, she created content about what to do during a walk in interview and was at a job fair exhibition. This content has proven to get very high views, including from viewers with a high school/vocational school age background.

”High school/vocational school graduates are a big contributor to the total workforce. However, departing from my experience while producing content, there are still many young people who don't know what to do (when they come to work). Although, in the end, information about the dynamics of the world of work can be understood along with the duration of one's work experience," said Vina.

Digital content creator in the field of public speaking, Teuku Daffa, also often shares communication tips in the world of work, especially regarding public speaking. He considers that communication is a very important skill in the world of work, starting from job interview sessions, working in teams, to promotions. He suspects that this is what many candidates are increasingly realizing or have already entered into the workforce.

"Among the content viewers or followers of my account are teenagers still in junior high and high school," said Daffa, who also works as a public speaking practitioner since nine years ago.

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At first, Daffa created public speaking content with the @daffaspeaks account on Tiktok for fun. This happened in 2021. A year later, due to routine and diligent content planning, viewers and followers from working backgrounds emerged. Themes around public speaking can involve intonation, tips for overcoming nervousness, and body postures.

"I also discussed tips for public speaking for presentation needs in front of superiors and during job interviews. I developed content with the theme of the public speaking challenge. The number of viewers (views) can reach up to 6-8 million per content," said Daffa.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Job seekers submitted job applications at one of the companies participating in the Indonesia Career Expo held at Smesco Building, Jakarta, on Friday (27/1/2023). The job fair, which lasted for two days, was attended by dozens of companies and was open to the public for free. In addition to submitting job applications, job seekers also had the opportunity to participate in direct interviews and consultations with human resource management teams from participating companies in the job fair.

Lack of supplies

Coordinator of the Advocacy and Legal Assistance Division of the Media and Creative Industry Workers' Union for Democracy (Syndication) Jabodetabek, Setyo A Saputro, when contacted on Sunday (18/6/2023), in Jakarta, argued that the education system in Indonesia is actually more oriented towards producing workers than thinkers. .

Nevertheless, educational institutions still often fail to teach technical matters that must be mastered by workers. Regarding making CVs and public speaking, for example. In fact, these two things are the basic abilities a worker should have when entering the labor market.

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"Similarly regarding the rights of workers. Campus or secondary school institutions never provide knowledge related to or touch on these matters," said Setyo.

This reality, added Setyo, is the trigger for the rise of digital content around employment, from tips on making a CV, public speaking in the workplace, to how to deal with the work culture in a company. Such content does not only appear in online mass media, but also social media. Most of the applicants are young workers.

Regional Secretary of the Federation of Commerce, Banks, Services and Insurance Confederation of All Indonesian Trade Unions (Niba KSPSI) Dedeh Farihah, when contacted separately, expressed a similar view. Because they are not equipped with knowledge, basic skills to survive in the world of work, and an understanding of workers' rights, the young workforce ends up having low self-confidence.

"By finding out independently on social media, for example about tips on making CVs, job interviews, and public speaking at work, they hope their self-confidence will increase. From the point of view of content creators and influencers in the field of human resources, they are taking advantage of this condition as a creative opportunity," said Dedeh.

According to Dedeh, trade unions actually have a role to bridge the needs of the young workforce. For example, giving classes or workshops involving students to new graduates by collaborating with the campus.

Meanwhile, a culture and digital communication observer from the University of Indonesia, Firman Kurniawan, believes that social media has evolved as a space to mediate various affairs, including employment. Social media has also grown as a space that fills opportunities that are not as prevalent in the offline world, such as creating professional resumes.

"The number of productive workforce in Indonesia is large. If there are content creators who produce employment-related content, they have a large market opportunity (business)," said Firman."

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