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PR Practitioners in Indo: A Sad Case?
An article published yesterday in Bisnis Indonesia stated the urgency for PR practitioners in Indonesia to increase their competencies. As somebody who’s making a living from being a PR hack, this article without doubt caught my attention.
Ex-PR of Pertamina Ridwan Nyak Baik, as quoted in Bisnis, said that in Indonesia “there has got to be a strong effort to increase the competency and professionalism of PR practitioners to counter the attack of foreign workersâ€.
Fair enough, but please tell me something new. With the increasingly open job markets, practically everybody face similar obstacles.
What I found quite disturbing in the article was when Ridwan quoted a report from the National Profession Certification Body (Badan Nasional Sertifikasi Profesi) which basically was saying that currently there were 1,000 PR practitioners in Indonesia, in which four of them were categorized as experts, 39 possessed mid-level skills, and 957 had no skills at all.
Questions were popping out of the confused tiny little brain of mine:
1. I know that some Indon PR practitioners hold international certifications, but as far as I know (and please correct me if I’m wrong), there is no certification system available for PR practitioners in Indonesia. Where did the numbers in the report come from?
2. How did the report define experts, mid-level practitioners, and zero skills practitioners (why even bother calling someone a practitioner if he/she possesses no skills whatsoever)?
3. When did the national body issue the report? It amazed me how Bisnis Indonesia could bluntly quoted Ridwan without even bother to include the year and title of the report. So much for being a “trusted business referenceâ€â€¦
I have a strong interest in the development of PR practice in Indonesia. And shall the report is accurate, it is definitely a sad case for all PR practitioners in this country. Anybody out there know the answer to my questions? I’d also be interested to hear from you on how PR practitioners could advance themselves.
6 Responses to “PR Practitioners in Indo: A Sad Case?”
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An interesting point of view on professional certification can be found here: http://www.cprstoronto.com/resources/item.aspx?id=85
The writer, Leslie Hetherington, is a freelance writer and a PR practitioner working with clients from HR sector. She started out her article with a headline: “Professional certification: All those letters really do mean something?”
As for the quote: “there were 1,000 PR practitioners in Indonesia, in which four of them were categorized as experts, 39 possessed mid-level skills, and 957 had no skills at all…”
My apology, but the statement reminds me so much of Tengku Adnan’s statement about bloggers.
/h
I was in a PRSI event where the head of the certification body made an introductory presentation on certification. That was only a month ago. So, I too doubt the validity of the survey, the person quoted for the survey, and the journalist that quoted the person. Perhaps, it just looks good, and educated, to talk statistics. Numbers.
Having said that, we often do have problems in finding the right people to fill in vacant communications position. Any in house HR department or communications consultancy can second this opinion. There is a lack of quality professionals in the field.
Unfortunately, it is not a problem unique to just communications. It is a problem in human resource in Indonesia. That’s why education is the key, be it formal education degree or practical skill. An education system that not only build knowledge and skill, but also shape one’s common sense and way of working.
As the partners in Maverick once said: There are only two characteristics that we look for in every candidate: brain and attitude. The rest we can always develop when he/she is on board.
Hmmm….maaf yah, tapi banyak sekali orang indonesia lebih “melihat” sertifikat, ijazah, and whatsover..daripada mencoba searching within the person’s quality…….! Saya pribadi sih, punya byk temen2 PR yang saya nilai kualitasnya hebat, dan kayaknya mrk ga butuh sertifikat internasional utk bs dpt penilaian spt itu!
Hmmm…looks like certification is a good business nowadays. Somebody’ s trying to sell something.
–> Hanny: Thanks for the link, but what do you think about certification itself?
–> Eva: Care to share PRSI’s argument on certification?
–> Ira: Agree with your first sentence. Also agree that there are lots of PR practitioners out there with amazing capabilities, but based on my experiences I think there are also a great number of practitioners with a limited expertise and capabilities in the market (I’d rather not quote any figure cos I couldn’t find one that I think is valid
The question is then, how do you think the latter could advance themselves?
–> Deriz: Hmmm… who is that you’re referring, I wonder?
I did not stay until the end of the presentation, but I think that the session was just a start of the process to understand what certification entails. Only after that they (meaning PRSI) can see how it applies to public relations and how to go about establishing and implementing this certification.
In the mean time, life (and work) goes on for us the uncertified PR practitioners.