Ask Richard: How does experience stack up against education, and how do we address ageism?

Thank you, as ever, to everyone who shared such great questions for my Ask Richard Newsletter this month. I chose this question from Karen Morgan, as I have a lot of thoughts on the matter. I also paraphrased her question a little bit to fit into a headline, but I wanted to share it in full:

How do you feel about hiring someone without a degree, but with 20+ years of experience? Do you think that someone straight out of school with a degree is more suited to a position than someone with years of experience and a desire to continue learning and growing? I have encountered ‘ageism’ more than ever recently, but in my mind I’m still in my thirties and I know several others who are experiencing similar things!I feel very strongly about hiring based on character, life experiences, unique skills, passion, and values. This likely stems back to my own experience with education where I left school at 15 and learnt everything I knew from real-world experience. It required a whole lot of learning on the job, teamwork, mentorship, learning from mistakes, and trusting my instinct but I wouldn’t have done it any other way. It’s also why I stress the need to teach kids skills for life. 

In saying that, I also admire anyone who follows a higher education and excels academically. It requires a great deal of focus, determination, and mental strength, and it develop wonderful skills in research, writing, analysing, articulating, expanding ideas, and so on. There are also certain careers where a higher education is necessary such as medicine and engineering. In most cases though, it’s important to acknowledge academic endeavours, but not require them. When you’re hiring, you should really avoid requiring minimum education levels and even minimum years of experience. Instead, you should focus on a skill and character based process. Recruitment should emphasise character traits, values, life experience, transferable skills, and values that make a person unique and a good fit for your company. Virgin Management’s Inclusive Recruitment Guidelines sums it up well in saying: 

For most people, it’s the experience gained once we leave formal education that matters most. And being less specific about university degrees or qualifications encourages a broader candidate pool.

The same absolutely applies for age (and many other areas) too! With age comes wisdom, confidence, perception and experience, and businesses need to remember this. I turned 70 a few years ago and I feel more energetic and engaged than ever. There’s an unconscious bias about age that needs to be addressed. Removing the age box (and reference to specific years) in an application form is a good way to start.

Karen I really hope this was the encouragement you needed, and it sounds like any business would be lucky to have you. Here’s hoping ageism and exclusive recruitment processes soon become a thing of the part.

Full List of Bank Shares That Halted Trading as Panic Spreads

Fallout Of Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Explained

On Monday morning, trading in the shares of a number of banks was halted as panic spread following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

The Nasdaq Trader website published a list of bank shares that were placed under a temporary regulatory halt. Newsweek has listed them below.

Each bank share had been hit with a volatility trading pause, a kind of circuit-breaker that automatically halts trading for a short time when a share's price swings too rapidly. At the time of writing, some of these shares had plunged by more than 60%.

The New York Stock Exchange on March 13, 2023 in New York City. A number of bank shares this morning have been placed under temporary trading halts following the shutdown of the Silicon Valley Bank last week. 

• Western Alliance Bancorporation Common Stock

• PacWest Bancorp

• First Republic Bank Common Stock

• Zions Bancorporation N.A.

• OceanFirst Fnl Dp Sh Pfd A

• Customers Bancorp, Inc - Common Stock

• East West Bancorp, Inc.

• Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. Common Stock

• First Horizon Corporation Common Stock

• Regions Financial Corporation Common Stock

• Comerica Incorporated Common Stock

• Bank of Hawaii Corporation Common Stock

• KeyCorp Common Stock

• Customers Bancorp, Inc 5.375% Subordinated Notes Due 2034

• Macatawa Bank Corporation

• Texas Capital Bnc

• United Community Bk Dep

• The Charles Schwab Corporation - Common Stock

• Coastal Financial Corp Cm St

• Huntington Banc Dep Shs J

• Magyar Bancorp Inc

• Macatawa Bank Corporation

Some of the bank shares listed above had trading halted several times.

A spokesman for First Republic Bank, whose shares as of 1:08 pm EST had fallen 64%, said: "We're continuing to fully serve the needs of our clients by opening accounts, making loans, executing transactions and delivering exceptional service at our offices and online."

A spokesperson for Charles Schwab directed Newsweek to a monthly activity report published today from Chief Financial Officer, Peter Crawford.

"Schwab's business continues to perform exceptionally well," the activity report said in part. "We have access to significant liquidity, including an estimated $100 billion of cash flow from cash on hand, portfolio-related cash flows, and net new assets we anticipate realizing over the next 12 months. We believe we have upwards of $8 billion in potential retail CD issuances per month, plus over $300 billion of incremental capacity with the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) and other short-term facilities – including the recently announced Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP)."

As of 1:22 p.m. EST, shares of Charles Schwab bank had fallen by 10.61 percent.

Newsweek reached out to Western Alliance, Zions Bancorp. and East West Bank for comment via email.

The news on Monday comes shortly after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week.

In a statement, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said: "Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect insured depositors, the FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara (DINB). At the time of closing, the FDIC as receiver immediately transferred to the DINB all insured deposits of Silicon Valley Bank."

According to Investopedia, trading halts are short stoppages across numerous exchanges. "Trading halts are typically applied ahead of a news announcement, to correct an order imbalance, or as a result of a large and abrupt change in the share price," Investopedia states.

On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Treasury, the FDIC and the Federal Reserve issued a joint statement addressing the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank.

"Today we are taking decisive actions to protect the U.S. economy by strengthening public confidence in our banking system. This step will ensure that the U.S. banking system continues to perform its vital roles of protecting deposits and providing access to credit to households and businesses in a manner that promotes strong and sustainable economic growth," the statement said. "We are also announcing a similar systemic risk exception for Signature Bank, New York, New York, which was closed today by its state chartering authority. All depositors of this institution will be made whole. As with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer."

"The U.S. banking system remains resilient and on a solid foundation, in large part due to reforms that were made after the financial crisis that ensured better safeguards for the banking industry. Those reforms combined with today's actions demonstrate our commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that depositors' savings remain safe," the statement added.

www.samigration.com

Market depends on skilled labour with universal exposure. 

Along with the many other issues hampering foreign investment and development in South Africa, the country is facing a visa crisis. 

Visa chaos at Home Affairs

Skilled labour, students and visitors on business, as well as tourists, are being held up by a failing administration and bureaucracy. 

Businesses are struggling and losing out on not only critical skills injections, but also on broader interactions with overseas partners in terms of internships, mentorships and short-term exchanges of staff. 

This is acutely felt across all sectors of society, and no more so than in higher education and at our universities as the academic year gets underway. 

Amidst the challenges of student protests over finances and debts, universities’ internationalisation projects are being jeopardised. Universities continue to lose students who would otherwise add to the diversity and broader internationalisation project of the country. 

Universities’ quotas of international students are low, compared to bigger and more developed economies. 

Some might say this makes sense in the bigger ecosystem of fierce competition for study spaces in SA. However, it is not the percentage of international nor local students that presents a problem to the economy, it is the lack of study spaces. 

We cannot afford to lose international students and staff for several reasons.

A university degree and higher education experience are dependent on a diversity of viewpoints from scholarships, peers and teachers and the curriculum itself. 

From an education and organisational perspective, diversity feeds excellence. With the increased importance of university rankings, international students, staff, research collaborations and citations and partnerships have gained substantial importance and form the backbone of the rankings system.

Facilitation of international students 

We cannot rely on other nations and universities to reciprocate if we do not facilitate for international students to study in SA.

Our own labour market depends on skilled labour with international experience and exposure. International students add to the economy in several ways and in the immediate to the finances of the institution where they are registered through paying international student levies and fees. 

Even though internationalisation and attracting African students and staff for SA universities remains mainly an exercise in equity and diversity, there is no reason we should not compete for students from the continent with bigger economies. 

In the long-term, the international students are highly educated, often the top students in their home countries and after graduation become part of our international alumni. 

International alumni are our brand ambassadors and with tight budgets for marketing and recruitment, engaging alumni has become more important than ever. In particular, our African alumni will help build future partnerships and coalitions on the continent. We cannot afford not to leverage off our African alumni. 

This is recognised through the Policy Framework for Internationalisation of Higher Education, developed to support the enrolment of international students at the country’s universities and institutions of higher education, particularly from the rest of Africa. 

This is a “means of contributing to [the continent’s] human resource development and giving expression to our commitment to African development and the African renaissance”. 

Inbound and outbound access for international scholars

The policy states government is to facilitate inbound and outbound access for international scholars and students, yet nothing is said as to how this will be implemented. 

And as SA universities are completing their main registration cycle, assistance has not been forthcoming, and administration staff at our universities is having to answer to government failures with understandable little understanding from students and colleagues frustrated by the processes and lack of support. 

Colleagues within the administration are concerned about what happens to students and staff and the broader internationalisation project of our universities when we cannot facilitate the basics for our international students and staff. Increasingly, staff is asking “what is it going to take for government to wake up”.

And while staff is strained and under pressure, the impact this has on our students and staff caught in limbo is massive and has consequences for people’s futures, livelihoods and families, and the toll taken on mental health. 

Despite some mitigation measures, such as blanket extensions for pending visa applications including pending waiver applications this is simply not enough. 

The country needs and depends on being able to process all applications quickly and with outmost professionalism. 

We need the support from government to streamline and increase transparency in visa processes. Without it, our internationalisation efforts and the broader global engagement project of our universities is jeopardised

www.samigration.com

Home Affairs Department said it is reviewing their options relating to the 22 Afghan nationals seeking asylum

The Home Affairs Department said it has asked for a legal opinion regarding the matter involving 22 Afghan nationals who were dumped in the country without being vetted.

`We are reviewing our options and have asked for a legal opinion in this regard,` said Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s spokesperson, Siya Qoza.

South Africans expressed concern over a security rush associated with the 22 Afghan nationals who are in the country; some even suspected that they might attack citizens.

Last week, the Pretoria High Court ruled in favour of the 22 Afghan nationals who are believed to be running from the `Taliban` and who wanted asylum in the country.

This was after the US NGO Lifeline Foundation took the department to court after the applicants were refused entry.

According to the website, the Lifeline Foundation is an expeditionary-focused, 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation providing humanitarian support, security, and logistics to rebuild communities around the world. It was established in 2021.

Last month, Motsoaledi said the department was challenging the court order because the asylum seekers could pose a risk to the country.

The department said on February 15, 2023, they received a letter from a firm of attorneys representing unnamed Afghan nationals demanding that asylum transit visas be issued to those unnamed individuals at Beitbridge Port of Entry.

When asked if he will challenge the ruling, Motsoaledi said they are going to hear what the lawyers tell them.

`By the way we have challenged it, they were supposed to arrive here on February 17 because we received that letter on the 15th and we challenged it in court. And after that, when it went to court for the second time, the judge said that you must allow them in to apply. So we will look into which areas, depending on what the lawyers advise us to do,` Motsoaledi said.

Motsoaledi said he was disappointed with the ruling, citing that no one goes to court not hoping to win.

After the ruling, the department said it would abide by the ruling, but Motsoaledi, in an interview with one of the broadcasters, said they are reviewing the decision because a number of colleagues in government are not convinced that the country should take it. He said they also looked at the implications to see whether this was going to open floodgates.

`So we are looking into an issue, including asking for legal advice from outside the department, outside the government,` he said.

He said they will abide because the court said they must allow the 22 individuals to come to the country to apply for asylum.

When asked about the whereabouts of the 22 individuals, Motsoaledi said the last time he checked, they were in Zambia.

`The last time we learned, they were in Zambia, and we believe that they are still there. Remember that in Zimbabwe, they entered as visitors who said they were on vacation. That`s what the Zimbabwean government informs us. We were given 30 days, and they were expiring. That is why they had to leave Zimbabwe, but we understand that they applied for the same visitor`s visa to Zambia, and they`re still there. I don`t know how long I heard the rumour that it was going to be for 25 days. I don`t know when it will expire. But they are still there,` Motsoaledi said.

Explaining the asylum process, Motsoaledi said the system says once one goes through the borders having been given the Section 23 permit, that means, in terms of Section 23 of the Immigration Act, you are given five days to represent yourself at the nearest refugee reception centre,

He said the country has five centres, one in Limpopo, two in Tshwane, Gauteng, one in Cape Town, one in the Eastern Cape, and one in KwaZulu-Natal.

He said they will find a kiosk at a refugee reception centre where people can just go and do renewals.

`Then during that process, a person called a refugee status determination officer will be interviewing you to see whether you qualify for refugee status in terms of the United Nations Convention 1951 and the United Nations Protocol of 1967 and the EU, now called the European Convention of 1969, and the domestication of all those laws, the domestication into the Refugee Act of South Africa of 1998,` said Motsoaledi.

ATM President Vuyo Zungula said the issue is our Constitution.

`People drafted the Constitution in the mid-1990s because they wanted to be the complete opposite of what happened during apartheid. Then this is abused by foreign nationals and other foreign bodies that want to achieve certain objectives in South Africa,` Zungula said.

According to media reports, these 22 individuals were willing to provide medical assistance at the Cape Flats in the Western Cape, a place known for violent crimes and gang-related incidents.

Motsoaledi said that is an insult to the medical fraternity.

`How does a person say, I’m coming to apply for asylum, and you must give it to me; after all, I’m going to help you, and I even know the area where I’m going to help you. Surely if we have a shortage of medical personnel, we are the ones, as a sovereign state, who must say so and even show you the area where you must go. They did not even mention what kind of medical qualifications they have,` Motsoaledi said.

He revealed that they have the passengers` manifest.

`But what we know about them is that the Americans themselves say these are the people who were helping the Americans during the time when Americans were in Afghanistan,` he said.

He said they are suspicious of the individuals and what is going on.

`We are still very suspicious about what is going on. In court, the explanation was that the people moved from Afghanistan to Pakistan and the Taliban followed them there. And then they went to Qatar. And they claim that Qatar sent them away. Then they went to Zimbabwe and never said they were being sent away; we are asking for asylum or protection. They said they were on vacation. Now they are in Zambia for a vacation. Why is it that out of all those countries, only South Africa has been targeted for this?` said Motsoaledi.

An activist known as `Sentletse` on Twitter asked DIRCO spokesperson, Clayson Monyela, if the country had any security background information on the 22 Afghan nationals.

`Nothing! They`re not vetted (their background and agenda are unknown). They arrived at Beitbridge, accompanied by some American citizens. Lawyers had already written to Home Affairs (reportedly briefed by an American-based NGO). We need to urgently review and tighten our immigration laws,` replied Monyela.

www.samigration.com

Govt probes Shein amid concerns over its rapid gains in SA

As parts of business and labour in SA sound the alarm that Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein could be exploiting tax loopholes to undercut local retailers and manufacturers, the government has confirmed an investigation is underway.

Shein meanwhile says it is committed to ethical business and wage practices as well as abiding by the laws and regulations, but there are mounting concerns in some quarters about the rapid gains it is making the South African market.

Founded in 2008, Shein is a Chinese online retailer that ships to more than 150 countries. It markets its clothes primarily via social media, and has gained a fast-growing market in South Africa - as was evidenced by long queues outside its local logistics partner`s premises during the past festive season.

The retailer`s clothing sells at super-cheap prices, with dresses on offer from far below R100.

The company has been accused of violating worker rights, with reports of 75-hour working weeks. Being a seller of cheap fast fashion, it has also been criticised for adding to waste and environmental problems.

But central to the concerns of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) and the National Clothing Retail Federation (NCRF), is a belief that Shein may be exploiting tax loopholes to bring in goods far more cheaply than other international players and local companies.

They also believe the Chinese retailer could be undermining both the manufacturing and retail aspects of the Retail-Clothing, Textile, Footwear, Leather Master Plan (R-CTFL), which the government and local clothing sector agreed on in 2019 to try and encourage more local content and jobs. 

Sactwu`s national industrial policy officer, Etienne Vlok, says the union has concerns about Shein`s growing impact in SA. 

`We think it is bad news for workers, it`s bad news for the economy and it`s bad news for the environment.`

He said the union and the NCRF, which represents top retailers such as Foschini owner TFG, Truworths, Woolworths, Mr Price, Pick n Pay Clothing, Queenspark, Cape Union Mart, the LA Group, Cotton On and Retailability, had raised their concerns with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC).

They are hoping for a probe of whether there are any loopholes that could be helping Shein.

The DTIC confirmed to News24 that its investigation on Shein is progressing in partnership with organised business and labour.

Model concerns

Vlok said that the model Shein used appeared to be based on avoiding or paying reduced import duties, `exploiting the ecommerce loopholes`. 

`In terms of customs legislation if you bring in small packages, you don’t pay duties, that is because the duties are reserved for larger consignments. And so, what Shein seems to be doing is exploiting that loophole by exporting in very small quantities often directly to the customer or their local distribution warehouses. They also, we have been told, apportion the contents of packages so that they can be put in more than one smaller parcels, so they stay below the threshold for duties on small packages. This means they are paying much less import duty than they would otherwise do.`

SARS did not want to comment, saying it was not permitted to disclose the confidential tax affairs of any taxpayer.

Another issue for Vlok was that there did not seem to be any meaningful local investment in SA by Shein, adding that at best `there may be a couple of jobs in warehouses`.

As a result, there was no significant benefit to SA in terms of additional revenue, taxes or jobs being created and that the fiscus was also possibly losing out because import duties were `not being paid in the way that they were intended`.  

`Our concern is that this has a negative impact on the industry because those import duties are supposed to support local job creation and local investment. It has a negative impact on local clothing manufacturers and also on those businesses in SA who do comply with import duties. Now it means that suddenly, Shein is bringing in a garment for which they may be paying only a third or quarter of the duties payable, whereas its competitors, both local and international, may be paying the full duty.`

`This has an impact on the jobs of those businesses, but it could also mean that those local companies may start to use the same loopholes if they are legal and find other ways to ensure they are more competitive, which is a race to the bottom we should not be getting into.`

Questions over labour practices

Vlok said it was well-documented that Shein also used `sweatshop labour` to produce extremely cheap products.

`There have been reports done on the conditions in their factories and the conditions seem to be very bad with people working weeks on end with one day off a month, sometimes working 18-hour days. A kind of return to old sweatshop models, quite different from what we`ve been seeing recently in China where employment conditions have been improving.`

As for the environmental impact, he said Shein`s fast-fashion model resulted in products being made that were `not of a high quality` and `not supposed to last beyond a couple of months`.  

`The result is the consumer is winning in the short term because they are getting a very cheap product, but that product does not last. Then the products have to get disposed of and new products have to be bought.  The disposed of clothes then land up in landfills, damaging the environment.`

Michael Lawrence, who heads up the NCRF, said his organisation thought that Shein`s practices in SA `may not be fair` and was concerned about the legality of its business model. 

He said if Shein was bringing in large containers of goods, NCRF did not know if these were `being correctly cleared through customs`. 

`They are a market disruptor at price points we don`t understand and I think may suggest that things are not being done in a fully compliant manner in terms of a fair and competitive environment,` said Lawrence.

Seeking accountability

Of central concern to Lawrence as well was that offshore online clothing platform sales like Shein is not accountable to the same standards as local retailers.

`We have no way of protecting the consumer, we have no way of verifying the integrity of manufacture, we have no way of verifying the integrity of products at all. It`s one thing to say `let the buyer beware`, but we live in an environment where we have come to accept that in SA we are trying to build a confident consumer base off an accountable group of goods and service providers. That will include imported duties. We don`t have any opportunities for accountability mechanisms for offshore platforms like Shein.`

He said the federation had approached the government for help because the R-CTFL master plan was put in place to create `a community of accountability to achieve certain ambitions`. 

He said the federation was not trying to take away `the competitiveness` or remove opportunities for improving quality and price for consumers, but that it wanted everyone who operated in the South African environment to be commercially accountable.

`And we don`t know whether Shein are or are not. What we are seeing is incredibly well priced product coming in that does not line up with our understanding of what is available in the international commercial retail market.`

Shein responds

A Shein spokesperson told News24 that the company was committed to respecting human rights and adhering to local laws and regulations in all its markets.

`Our suppliers must adhere to a strict code of conduct that is aligned to the International Labour Organisation core conventions.`

As for the environmental concerns raised, it claims its model was especially good at reducing wastage, because it avoid overproduction due to its on-demand model.  `As a result, we only respond with larger production to meet demand if it`s warranted, reducing the unsold inventory percentage to single digits (versus an industry average of 30%).

Shein said it had also begun `on-shoring and near-shoring, opening new distribution centres around the world` such as its one in Whitestown, Indiana, that will help it reduce the fuel it uses for shipping.

It was also committed to sourcing only `forest-safe man-made cellulosic fibres and paper packaging products` by 2025 and had launched programmes such as Shein Exchange, where customers can resell their products. 

`When we surveyed customers last year, more than two-thirds shared that they give Shein products to family or friends when they are done wearing them

www.samigration.com