When Banks Absorb the Best Minds — It Drains Talent from Productive Sectors

Banks thrive, but our technology is all imported.

Photy by Ed Us from Unpslash

Young people with big dreams and high hopes

Back when I was in high school, all of my friends were excited about choosing their majors and universities, mapping their futures based on what they wanted to study. I still remember their reasons.

One friend said, “I chose English literature because I want to work at the British embassy or live in the UK.” Another chose history because they were fascinated by Javanese history and wanted to become a cultural scholar. Someone picked architecture because they loved drawing and dreamed of designing a magnificent tower in our city. Another chose economics because they wanted to become the next finance minister, inspired by Sri Mulyani at the time. One chose geological engineering because Indonesia is prone to earthquakes, and they wanted to become an expert in that field.

I even remember one of my brightest friends choosing elementary education, with a very simple reason: teachers go home early. By 10 a.m., they said, you’re already done for the day, just like elementary school kids.

From archaeology, criminology, biology, political science, and mathematics to literature, all branches of engineering, and even the arts, every field felt fascinating. Our futures seemed aligned with what we planned to study in college. Back then, it was rare to hear friends say they chose a major simply because it promised a high salary.

Reality has hit hard

Photo by Getty Images from Unsplash

And now, as we’ve grown into adulthood and started our careers, reality has hit hard. Things didn’t turn out as smoothly as we once imagined. What we studied in college doesn’t automatically become what we do for the rest of our lives.

In many cases, the professions that align with our education offer low pay, long and exhausting career paths, and limited social prestige. Faced with that reality, many of us end up taking whatever jobs are available, especially those that promise higher salaries, even if they have little to do with what we originally studied.

In Indonesia, at least based on what I’ve seen among my friends, banking careers seem to be a dominant choice. One reason is that banks offer many roles that are open to graduates from almost any major.

It would make sense if people had aimed for banking from the start, but often that isn’t the case. The reasons are usually practical: clear career paths and the promise of relatively high salaries.

Two of my friends graduated from education, a major meant for future teachers. Instead, one now works as a customer service officer at a local bank branch, while the other is in a lending-related role. Another friend from the same university, who majored in communication studies, is currently in a management trainee program at one of the major banks. I even have a briliant friend from computer science who ended up as a credit analyst at a fintech startup, with a digital bank’s products

These are just a few examples I can easily recall, but there are many more cases like this. Many people work in roles that don’t match what they studied, or match partially but still remain within the banking sector.

The monster devouring the best minds

Photo by Museums Victoria from Unsplash

It does feel like banks are constantly hiring for new roles every year. That raises a question: is the demand really that high, or is employee turnover simply very high?

And why are banks able to recruit graduates from any major? What do these roles actually do? Are there too few economics and finance graduates?

After some research, I found that the dominant roles in banks are mostly operational, so they basically do not require a strong background in economics to enter. Major banks with thousands of branches need large numbers of operational staff, such as customer service officers, tellers, sales and marketing staff, operations and back-office staff, and relationship officers.

These roles can be filled by graduates from any major because banks mainly need people with high discipline, strong compliance with SOPs, and the ability to handle targets and stress. Some roles only require good negotiation skills and the ability to handle rejection, such as sales officers offering credit products.

Meanwhile, people with strong economics and finance knowledge are needed for higher-level positions, but in much smaller numbers. These roles are usually based at headquarters and focus on strategic thinking and making major decisions.

Yeah, maybe it’s me being naive for worrying about this. Not only in Indonesia, even among Harvard graduates, from one of the most prestigious universities in the world where very bright minds gather, around 45% of graduates go into consultancy and finance. Surely, this means that not all of that 45% majored in economics, finance, or other business-related fields. People ultimately prioritize money and prestige above everything else.

The reality of the two ministers’ fate as engineering graduates

Photo from CNBCIndonesia.com

I actually have a very clear example of how banks absorb the best minds, and how this contributes to shortages of workers in productive sectors.

In the current government, Indonesia has a Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, who graduated in Engineering Physics from ITB and ended up having a long career in banking, eventually pursuing further education up to a PhD in economics. Another example is Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, our Minister of Finance, who graduated in Electrical Engineering from ITB and also ended up in a banking and economics career.

Both held prominent positions before joining the government, which means they truly mastered their jobs. But they studied engineering. They were bright graduates who, in theory, could have innovated and produced technology. Instead, all of them entered the banking industry, attracted by a promising future, and left Indonesia dependent on imported technology.

When innovators disappear, productive sectors shrink

Maybe this was more true in the past, shaped by boomers and Gen X, when the banking industry not only promised a stable future but also carried strong social prestige. Today, engineers should have wider opportunities to pursue their dreams. But from my observations, the future may not be as bright as it is imagined.

I once attended a geothermal exhibition and met someone who graduated from the same university as me. We ended up chatting while he was guarding his company’s booth. He told me that he graduated from geological engineering, and in the geothermal field, someone with that background should ideally become a field engineer.

But do you know what his job actually was? He worked at a contractor company that rents out drilling equipment imported from other countries, typically in a B2B arrangement with mining companies. His role was essentially in the marketing team. His knowledge of geological engineering was mainly used to explain to clients the advantages of those imported drilling tools.

It seems there are two possible destinies: having an engineering background but working in roles that are not aligned with it, such as marketing or, again, the banking sector like our two ministers; or having a very strong commitment to one’s dreams but choosing to leave Indonesia.

I still remember meeting a friend from the same university through a student organization. He dropped out of medical school to study materials engineering, driven by a single dream: to produce medical technologies and utilities in Indonesia that could drastically reduce medical costs. He started building his startup, but it was not well-funded here. After pursuing a master’s degree in Japan, he found a research partner and funding that required him to move to Tel Aviv University in Israel, which is well known for its advanced medical technology research.

Photo from Suara.com

There is only one role model who truly stands out for engineers in Indonesia, and that is B.J. Habibie, our third president.He graduated from Aeronautical Engineering at ITB and pursued his education and career in Germany. He studied at RWTH Aachen, where he developed an important theory in aeronautical engineering, and worked there on aircraft development.

Later, he returned to Indonesia with the ambition to produce domestically made aircraft. In the end, Indonesia’s political and economic climate prevented that dream from fully materializing. Still, his courage to take that path and attempt something so ambitious is something that deserves to be admired and emulated.

More than employment numbers

This is what the Indonesian government needs to pay attention to. The issue is not only how to reduce unemployment numbers, but how to create productive jobs that are aligned with graduates’ fields of study. What is the point of having many large and profitable banks if the country lacks teachers, nurses, innovators, and thinkers who are truly experts in their fields?

It is time to provide support and economic incentives that give people the courage to pursue their ambitions. Engineers should be encouraged to continue innovating and to produce domestically patented industrial products, which could significantly boost economic growth and make it more resilient to shocks.

Teachers should be offered promising salaries so they can produce high-quality human capital, not only transferring knowledge but also inspiring future generations.

And as a disaster-prone country facing the challenges of climate change, Indonesia must provide incentives for workers in environmental sectors who initiate green industries, create environmentally friendly products, and develop expertise that helps society become more prepared and informed about future natural disasters.

I want to end this article with a real story from Rutger Bregman’s book Moral Ambition. There was once a strike by bank workers in Ireland that lasted for several days, yet nothing significant happened. Daily life continued, and society was barely affected. Not long after that, sanitation workers in the same city went on strike. The result was immediate public outrage, with people demanding that the government meet their demands because garbage piled up, the streets became filthy, and the city started to smell.

Rutger also questions why so many bright graduates end up in jobs with little social benefit, what he calls the “Bermuda Triangle”: careers in finance, consultancy, and corporate law. Essentially, they serve large businesses rather than working to make the world better or contributing to sectors with real social impact.