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The lack of grammatical, writing and spelling skills is a real problem that the web has only exacerbated. A lot of younger people do not know how to use punctuation or even capital letters, and in business those skills are absolutely crucial for professional correspondence, email or otherwise.
The question is, if the lack of "soft skills" is a known problem, why aren't colleges and high schools making it a priority to have classes in these areas? Geez--you could even give private lessons to people if you have worked in a professional environment.
Yet foreign workers are not held to a high standard when it comes to these skills. I know numerous foreign workers in my industry, and through a friend (foreign born) in the IT industry, and their English skills vary, but in no way are comparable to a native speaker. But they are given a pass since their tech skills are what matter, not that their sentence structure is difficult, and sometimes impossible to read and have to call for clarification.
I think this is just kind of nit picking... at least, how I grew up saying things like no problem, not a problem, anytime, or my pleasure, all mean the same thing.
In Spanish "de nada" is their equivalent of "you're welcome." The literal translation of de nada is "of nothing." In Costa Rica people will say "con gusto" a lot of the times, and that translates to "with pleasure."
When someone helps you and you say thank you, and they say "you're welcome" it's like they're saying "you're welcome to have my help." If the person said to you "no problem" it's like they are saying "It was no problem for me to help you."
It's just a different way of saying the same thing.
Well I've said it here before, I work with hundreds of so-called college grads and would not hire but maybe a handful of those I've worked with. I scratch my head every day in wonder of what the major universities are producing. I recently spoke with a respectful 30-something co-worker who is African American. He said he went to a prestigious African American college cause he really truly wanted to learn and develop a strong work ethic. He was given some scholarships, and various grants to attend and plopped down the rest in the form of student loans. He soon quickly realized the system was not designed to teach him ANYTHING and was instead designed to teach you how to "pass." The professors were liberal to the point of disgust and padded everyone through the system. As he put it, I learned absolutely nothing in my four years there and had a giant student loan to show for it. But hey, I had a "degree"
I think this rings true in many, if not most universities today. These kids come out knowing how to party, cheat, use social media, be late, whine, cry, ***** and moan and not a grain of backbone, grit, or work ethic. Who wants to hire that? Piece of paper or not?
This makes me shake my head and wonder why, as an older person, there is so much discrimination in favor of "young" people. Not long ago, I had an interview with a "20 something" HR person who mumbled through the entire interview (and no, it's NOT my hearing, thank you). She spent most of the interview staring at her phone which was sitting in front of her on the table. As she was seeing me out, she had a long conversation with the receptionist about some party or event she had attended the night before and did not even say goodbye, shake my hand or make any acknowledgement that we had interviewed. I was very disappointed. Needless to say, I didn't receive a call back despite being highly qualified for the position.
Trying to get anything accomplished over the telephone is getting to be a frustrating joke. *IF* you can actually reach anyone on the phone besides voice mail, nobody knows anything about anything and usually gives you the wrong information. It has gotten to the point where I will call back a "customer service" department three or four times (or even more) and ask the same questions to be certain I have the right information. Usually, I get three or four DIFFERENT and unrelated answers.
I agree with Boxus for the most part that the biggest issue is the economy. The article did have a few good points as quite frankly I've been shocked at some of things I've seen exhibited by (mostly young) people interviewing for jobs. Crazy outfits, lack of social skills, lack of respect. One intern I worked with at a marketing agency actually asked me how to mail a letter.
Let that sink in a minute.
Mail. a. letter. I laughed when he asked me because I thought he was joking. He wasn't. He then told me, "My Mom always mailed all my letters." I had to explain, step by step how to mail a letter, starting at the point where he needed to go to get the "ya know, the thingy's that go on the envelope." This was someone in his senior year of school. I genuinely felt bad about laughing at him afterward because you don't know what you don't know and quite frankly, his mother holds the blame in that fail.
But still...
I'm at the transition period between Generation X and the Millennials. I don't recall learning how to mail a letter in school, but my mother taught me. I had to tell a younger person how to mail a letter, but it wasn't because her parents always mailed things for her, it was because she never had to mail anything. I do almost everything electronically now. The last time I mailed something was over 6 months ago and that's only because people born overseas can't apply online for concealed handgun licenses in Texas.
Yeah, I was pretty much agreeing with that point and just kind of adding that if employers would just realize that most people graduating from college these days can pick up a skill pretty quickly, then employers could spend more time finding someone with the right soft skills that match their "company culture" or whatever else they look for.
If a company gave me a job in.... let's say HR, I'm not familiar with HR skills at all but if the company let me borrow a book, computer, and two weeks of full time training, I'm pretty confident I could do it.
I agree with some of this; however, I do see an employer's point-of-view as well. I have seen a couple of candidates get fired because they said they knew something or could learn something that they couldn't. In fact, I feel like my field is one where everyone says, "Oh, just get a book and you'll learn it." A lot of people don't have the mind for it even when trained, though. (I code and am a crystal reports guru and have seen a stream of folks with a college degree come in saying they knew SQL because they thought they could learn it before the job began.... and many of them were let go in the probationary period).
I agree with some of this; however, I do see an employer's point-of-view as well. I have seen a couple of candidates get fired because they said they knew something or could learn something that they couldn't. In fact, I feel like my field is one where everyone says, "Oh, just get a book and you'll learn it." A lot of people don't have the mind for it even when trained, though. (I code and am a crystal reports guru and have seen a stream of folks with a college degree come in saying they knew SQL because they thought they could learn it before the job began.... and many of them were let go in the probationary period).
I'd never say I knew something that I didn't! But I understand why other people would do that out of desperation for a job in this economy.
I had a college professor (it was a stat programming class) who would always talk about this generation. He would say that we weren't the smartest but we were the most intuitive problem solving generation of students he's ever taught/worked with.
If someone is a sh*itty person, then they're going to be a sh*itty person regardless of what generation they were born into.
Yet foreign workers are not held to a high standard when it comes to these skills. I know numerous foreign workers in my industry, and through a friend (foreign born) in the IT industry, and their English skills vary, but in no way are comparable to a native speaker. But they are given a pass since their tech skills are what matter, not that their sentence structure is difficult, and sometimes impossible to read and have to call for clarification.
We foreign workers are just plugging roles americans cant or wouldnt fill. or fill long and productive enough to be worth the hiring process and training
plus math is the universal language, not english (i kid)
I still have a hard time believing that a significant portion of people have a hard time with stuff as easy as dressing in a professional manner, being punctual, following orders from your boss, acting with professional level social skills ie not being a total rude jerk and making others dislike you.
It is not like as if all of a sudden all these applicants had perfect soft skills, the job market will open up and there will be positions for everyone.
Yet foreign workers are not held to a high standard when it comes to these skills. I know numerous foreign workers in my industry, and through a friend (foreign born) in the IT industry, and their English skills vary, but in no way are comparable to a native speaker. But they are given a pass since their tech skills are what matter, not that their sentence structure is difficult, and sometimes impossible to read and have to call for clarification.
I've wondered -- is the need for foreign workers in IT due to the fact that there are really not enough people with those skills here, or is there another reason? If there is a shortage of Americans with those skills, why aren't more grads taking courses in order to work in that field?
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