College grads lack soft skills to get, keep a job
By Martha C. White, Time
It’s because college kids today can’t do math, one line of reasoning goes. Or they don’t know science. Or they’re clueless about technology, aside from their myriad social-media profiles.
These are all good theories, but the problem with the unemployability of these young adults goes way beyond a lack of STEM skills. As it turns out, they can’t even show up on time in a button-down shirt and organize a team project.
The technical term for navigating a workplace effectively might be soft skills, but employers are facing some hard facts: the entry-level candidates who are on tap to join the ranks of full-time work are clueless about the fundamentals of office life.
A survey by the Workforce Solutions Group at St. Louis Community College finds that more than 60 percent of employers say applicants lack “communication and interpersonal skills” — a jump of about 10 percentage points in just two years. A wide margin of managers also say today’s applicants can’t think critically and creatively, solve problems or write well.
Another employer survey, this one by staffing company Adecco, turns up similar results. The company says in a statement, “44 percent of respondents cited soft skills, such as communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration, as the area with the biggest gap.” Only half as many say a lack of technical skills is the pain point.
I worked in restaurants for a lot of years. It always amazed me that folks would show up to apply for jobs dressed for the beach, and ask to borrow a pen to fill out the application.
Show up dressed to go to work. With your own pen. It’s so very basic. If you want to convince somebody you’re the person for the job, you’ve got to at least look like you’re ready to work. Now. Know something about the company. Dress appropriately. And don’t ask about how much vacation time you get.
Dogula, you obviously aren’t part of the “entitled” population.
I’d say show up however you like, this is a free country, don’t tell me how to dress….just get used to a lot of free time….with no money-
Atomic, this is a free country… ? Really? … not any more. Just try to buy health insurance.
Yesterday I was censored from this liberal paper and I find the editor offensive and extremely biased.
PART OF SLT problem is the biased news coming from this editor for 18 years now.
America’s most ignorant generations
http://youtu.be/7Now_fNPvAU
SLT is a cesspool of liberal failure and I encourage freedom loving people to STAY AWAY. If you must got the Tahoe, go to the North Shore. Don’t reward repressive governments.
I also sent an email to my politicians contact list telling them of the censorship and bias of this editor.
I would never buy anything from a company that advertised in a news org that censors freedom loving and truth seeking writers.
CJ,
If you are still allowed to post, you were not censored. What is your deal, bro?
LTN on occasion tells us all to “move on” when the rhetoric becomes so offensive and off target.
Take it easy.
Really,
My statements yesterday were removed. I was told to in effect ‘shut up’ because the editor didn’t like my opinion.
That is censorship, perhaps you need a new dictionary?
CJ,
Your comments were not removed by LTN staff.
If you used profanity, the automatic filter deletes comments.
Any more lies you want to tell people?
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
CJ, what exactly would you expect to achieve by writing to all the politicians on your contact list? No publication is required to print anything they see as unfit. You attack and spew hate more than anyone commenting on this forum, not to mention the fact that you’re posts are akin to a broken record skipping over and over again.
Here’s my advice to you:
Dial 1-800-WHAA
My statements were removed, they did not have profanity.
Who’s the lier?
CJ,
I have no reason to lie. Why not just re-post the comment?
It is not in our trash or spam so I can’t resurrect something that does not exist on our end.
And why all the anger?
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
Lossing the American dream to ignorant and progressive liberals should make everyone angry.
I’m beginning to get concerned about society losing mental health services. Not angry, though. I’m not admitting to that.
I love it!! Now these entitlement parents who taught their kids NOTHING are going to have them living at home and helpless…..and blame employers.
It IS amazing and pathetic that these uneducated kids show up at a job fair in shorts and some t-shirt and smelling of pot. Seriously???? They have NO CLUE about the real world. Kids in their twenties who can’t spell, can’t structure a basic sentence, and can’t type more than three words a minute. Gotta love the Libs.
CJ do you live in Tahoe? Why all the antiobamacare posts in unrelated articles?
Gaspen Aspen,
I’d like to know how, after 30+ years of a government run on reaganomics-based policies, do you possibly come to the accusatory conclusion: “gotta(not a word)love the Libs.”? What exactly are “entitlement parents”, and are they all liberals? I think this kind of knee-jerk reaction to everything that is wrong with our society comes only from the clueless, brain-scrubbed, ‘dittohead’ types that ignore the last several decades of American political history.
It is the inability of our younger generation to think for themselves that is most troubling. Our society is reflecting this in a very negative way. Followers, blindly following without questioning or investigating. Not good!
. . . ” after 30+ years of a government run on reaganomics-based policies. . .”
Let’s see, we had 4 years of GHW Bush, 8 years of Clinton, 8 years of GW Bush, and so far, 5 years of Obama. With several increments of Democrat control of the House and/or Senate. And the Federal Dept of Education (set up during the Carter regime) has been gaining stronger and stronger control over the education system all along. Now your side is wholly responsible for the breakdown of the medical insurance system.
Have you been living in a cave, or are you just not paying attention?
“This younger generation is out to lunch.”
A statement made by every older generation about the younger generation since the dawn of mankind. And I’m 100% positive that every person commenting here fell into the negative “younger generation” connotation as far as the older generation of your day was concerned. Even if it wasn’t necessarily describing you personally.
Dogula,
Presidents Clinton and Obama are GOP-lite, centrist corporatists according to every liberal/progressive voter in America. The insane trade policies(Nafta, Cafta,Shafta) and the stupid reaganesque deregulation of banks(repeal of Glass-Steagall)of the Clinton admin. are just two examples of sell-out to the conservatives crapola from that era. Pres. Obama filled his Cabinet with the same ‘ol, same ‘ol banksters and the changes most real progressives hoped for were never a reality.
As far as the Bushes and Reagan, the damage they have done to America’s middle class and our public school systems stares us in the face.
Have you always maintained the worldview of a termagant or were you just born that way?
My comments were obviously bait for the angry right. Sad how easy it is to get a rise out of that crew. FISH ON!
I believe the inability of the younger generation to communicate and have people skills may possibilty be because of texting. It seems the younger generation loves to text vs speack on the phone. Its the personnal touch they have lost. It is not unheard of for a family to sit down to eat and everyone is on the smart phone and not speaking, check this out next time you are at a restruant and a family with teenagers sits down. Maybe we should call these dumbing down phones.
I am sure Scott is right on the ability to think, he probably has seen it alot. Though I am sure not in his class as I have had 2 nephews take his class and they loved it.
Atomic, your right show up how you like, just dont expect to be hired, and also dont complain if you dont get hired. I have seen a bunch of kids around town say there is no jobs in town, but other kids that went into a store and get hired because they were prepared, when others had just went in not dressed for it or prepared. Then again when I was a restruant manager 25 years ago, I saw the same thing then.
Reloman, yes of course, that was my point entirely. Life is about choices, you want to dress like a slob and not be prepared you better get used to being broke. This generation will learn, some people want it and some people don’t. Some things never change-
“It seems the younger generation loves to text vs speack(speaking) on the phone.”
A)When was yakking on the phone considered a high level of communication, or “personal”?
B)Via text and other types of new age communication, people are communicating vastly larger amounts of information (whether anyone thinks it’s pertinent to anything or not) in a vastly more efficient manor.
biggerpicture the article stated (more than 60 percent of employers say applicants lack “communication and interpersonal skills” — a jump of about 10 percentage points in just two years). This is a huge increase in such a short period. The increase in texting in the last few years may very well explain this increase in such a short time frame. Unless you have another theory. If people get used to texting or twitting(since you can only use at most 160 letters in a text and less in a tweet) they will loose the experience of actually speeking with people and learning how to interelate personnally.
‘ Now your side is wholly responsible for the breakdown of the medical insurance system.
What?
The healthcare system was at 17% GDP and ranked at the bottom many years ago.
Care to have a fact based discussion. Ever?
CJ, it is liar, not lier.
CJ you are full of it and everyone who appreciates fact and analysis think you are a joke.
Your words are empty.
Unless you are part of an elaborate Kaufmanesque troll. Are you? It needs some work.
Lots of ‘get off of my lawn and turn down your hippity hop music’ in these comments from the old people.
You’re old. Your ways are old. I talked to someone last month who didn’t seem to think that GPS technology had become any more accurate, as if it stopped moving forward when they retired.
Most of todays managers are old. I bet if their subordinates were surveyed, they would get bad reviews.
We may be old, but we have jobs. And we don’t hire rude kids with no manners or skills. You can complain all you want, but customer service still matters.
“And we don’t hire rude kids with no manners or skills.”
Dog, your above comment is absolutely and unconditionally valid. But to infer that EVERY past generation didn’t have the same layabouts that you and others describe as a trait only attributed to this current younger generation in your comments is just nonsense, isn’t it?
Cosa Pescado, why so angry and confrontational?
Health Insurance History – Where we went wrong. Part One
I think the biggest government encroachment into the health insurance industry was the Health Maintenance Act of 1973. This is where the inflection point in our health management and insurance system occurred. From here began the decline. Government’s heavy hand caused a massive change in the healthcare industry in multiple ways. I think the most damaging is how it changed the “physiology” of the market itself.
Before that time the indemnity insurance products were the standard in insurance.
Anyone that says the health insurance industry was a largely unregulated market is wrong. They do not know what they are talking about.
The evidence is clear as the nose on your face, decades of increasing government intervention is what went wrong.
Right again, CJ. Schools just don’t teach the kind of history that would help people understand how the country got to this point, and unfortunately, most people won’t seek out the information for themselves.
Here again, all you lefties who want to start bashing the ‘right’, this isn’t a Republican vs. Democrat issue. The country has been moving toward far overreaching statism on BOTH sides for a long time. It’s the political class protecting their own interests by controlling all of yours while they murmur sweet nothings into your ears that they’re only doing it to help you. They have infantilized the general public into thinking they need government to survive.
Because liberty is too hard. . .
CJMcDogula-not that it isn’t a pleasure to start every single day by reading delusional teabble-but don’t y’all think Benghazi has more importance when it comes to why young people are not ready for the job market?
I am going to make all of the old people look silly and immature:
The response of ‘it is all their fault, not mine’ is the response of a poor communicator.
And terrible supervisor.
Dawg fills us with ironic zen, with statements like ‘most people won’t seek out the information for themselves. ‘
How old is the earth, lady?
Right.
‘Cosa Pescado, why so angry and confrontational?
Old, willfully ignorant people. What should I do, withdraw in disgust?
“I am going to make all of the old people look silly and immature”
Generalizations.
No bueno.
Old friend to young friend.