The Company's Role in Enriching Future Professionals for the Industry

The competition for employment in Indonesia is getting tougher, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. Indelibly, companies are looking for professional candidates who are ready to enter the working field. We are currently entering the era of VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguity), where disturbances and changes often occur from the technology and customer. Companies must be able to adapt to anticipate VUCA conditions. Many changes must be made to deal with this condition. Based on experience, students need to prepare themselves to enter the industry.

Prospective workers must improve their quality so that they are ready to compete with school and university graduates, even experienced prospective workers. As a place to learn, schools should provide opportunities for students to take part in industrial visits so that students can receive the most recent information regarding the industry and be more confident in entering the working field.

The Initiative to Recognize Self-Competence

The most important thing that needs to be realized by prospective professionals is to know ourselves, especially regarding self-competence. Hard Competency must have been part of the curriculum that will be received from educational institutions, but the company emphasizes preparations for Soft Competency. This concerns one's self-maturity which is the basis for achieving optimal performance, starting from work attitude, motivation, to interest.

The Company’s Role: Industrial Visit

One of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) Sinar Mas' business units, PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper Tbk (PT IKPP) Tangerang Mill in collaboration with the Eka Tjipta Foundation (ETF), warmly welcomed an Industrial Visit from SMK Ananda Bekasi on Thursday, 3 November 2022. The company prepared this visit from planning to implementation, which included arranging rooms, food and drinks, as well as Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).

During this visit, students who will be future professionals were provided with knowledge about the pulp and paper industry, the basics of maintaining occupational safety and health, materials on corporate communication, as well as leadership activity sessions. The activity was opened with an introduction to the pulp and paper industry through sharing sessions on the flow of paper production and safety induction in preparation for field practice to see the process first-hand. Material on branding and communication was also presented to deepen the participants' knowledge followed by activities to train leadership skills to prepare the future professionals when entering the working field.

Aside from sharing valuable materials and experiences, PT IKPP Tangerang also provided souvenirs, such as Sticky Notes, Tissues, and Kokoru decorative paper which can be used to develop creativity. During the activity, participants were introduced to other products from APP Sinar Mas, such as Tissue products (Paseo) and environmentally-friendly packaging products (FooPak and Enza).

Collaboration & Positive Culture

Behind this visit, the Company has made thorough preparations. The highly upheld spirit of togetherness (teamwork) as part of the Corporate culture (APP Culture), namely Result Oriented, can be seen from the team in PT IKPP Tangerang. For this visit, the Human Resources Division specifically worked with various Divisions and Departments, including:

• Corporate Affairs & Communications Division to discuss plans throughout the visit and a series of activities to be carried out.
• Production Department to ensure visits to operational areas, starting from the Stock Preparation area, Paper Machine, ending with Finishing & Warehouse which are guided directly by representatives of PT IKPP Tangerang.
• Security Department to prepare materials for Safety Induction and PPEs, such as helmets which are one of the requirements for entering the factory area.

Through these collaborations, the Company prepares visits thoroughly for future professionals through materials and knowledge about the industry supported by practice in the field. Each of these efforts also reflects the team's effort to always provide the best as a form of behavior in carrying out the APP Culture Customer Focused, where every job must be done correctly and perfectly as a representation from the Company.

Industrial visits are supported and encouraged by the Mill Head so that all series of activities could be well coordinated. Thank you to all Divisions and Departments that have supported this activity.

Expectations from Industrial Visits

Industrial visits can encourage one of the competencies that must be possessed by future professionals, namely self-empowerment. In the working field, both members and leaders must have self-empowerment. It's not just members who have to learn, being a leader also has to continuously learn and have a lot of experience. Professional candidates are expected to have high initiative. Employees who take the initiative will be able to see and assess the situation in the work environment and be able to take steps without having to wait for directions from superiors or co-workers.

Industrial visits are expected to provide an opportunity for future professionals to get to know activities in the working field, witness processes at work, and learn the standard operating procedures that must be carried out by an employee. In addition, the Company also hopes that prospective professionals will know themselves and be able to learn about the necessary Hard Competency and Soft Competency skills so that they can be prepared to compete in the future.

On the other hand, the Human Resources Division sees this industrial visit as a medium for employer branding and a means of talent-sourcing. This activity opens the Company up to recognize schools/universities/institutions that have good quality and potential. The competition is getting tougher; future professionals will look for companies they think are good, while Human Resources is responsible to find and select the best talents to join the company.

The challenge going forward for us is to become an Employer of Choice. We hope that PT IKPP and APP Sinar Mas can become companies that attract job seekers to join and also stay at the company.