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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?
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.
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.
I honestly feel like social skills have been greatly deteriorating since the advent of online forms of communication (IM, forums, social media, text messaging, etc.).
Where I see it the most is understanding how to read someoe's body language, understanding what is appropriate or not given the audience, things like that.
I don't think it's as bad as being rude or a jerk, just not understanding the divide between work life and outside of work life. For example, a buddy of mine was at a client site last week and he said he overheard 2 late 20's females discussing their sex life (when they lost their viriginity, what a "slutty" dress they wore to prom, etc.) at work. I don't know why that would even come up at work, but they had no problem having a full blown discussion about it.
That is simple as well. I never talk about anything not PG rated and don't reveal anything that is not completely benign like I am doing a treadmill exercise program or I am working on insulating the attic at home. Are there really that many people out there talking about their sexual relationships or sharing X-rated pictures via cell phones (other than Anthony Weiner).
It is insanely hard finding a good company to work for in my profession. I sure as heck would not do anything at all that could mess it up and end up working for S_t heads again for another 3 years.
This article seems to indicate a significant portion of grads are just completely senseless. I have a hard time buying that.
Last edited by MSchemist80; 11-11-2013 at 07:34 AM..
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.
Having worked with Summer interns over the past 10 years I can tell you firsthand that these are real problems they struggle with (or are oblivious to). The college interns never fail to amaze me with their various levels of inappropriateness. From walking around barefoot to lecturing a Director in a team meeting, I have seen some pretty incredible levels of inappropriateness.
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.
Many people don't have these skills.
I have an employee who doesn't understand how to act in meetings. Absolutely doesn't get it. We have a periodic organizational meeting for this department. The idea is to review current tasks, balance the workload because people are on vacation, that type of thing. One employee thinks that this is the time to complain bitterly about whatever vaguely job related thing occurs to them.
Not the time or place, but this guy doesn't have the skills to understand that.
I have had women show up to work with the most amazing cleavage. I had to send them home because I simply could not look away.
Others don't understand the boundary between home and work. I don't pay you to take personal calls every 15 minutes. If you cannot manage it, turn the cell phone off.
I had an employee who would show up as much as two hours late for a shift and didn't see anything wrong with it, as long as he got his hours in.
I could go on, but the fact is that many people do not possess basic work skills.
In that case my only suggestion to such people would be the armed services. A few months of the Gunnery Sergent Hartman treatment will straighten them out.
What I'm gathering from the comments so far is that people have experience with hiring uncouth new grads. The problem is that they were hired, and now employers want to put the blame on a whole group of people by stereotyping them instead of looking at their invalid hiring practices. I wonder how many reserved applicants were passed over because they seemed too introverted. I bet these people wouldn't be loud mouthing, back talking, and on the phone and Facebook every 15 minutes. I wonder how many creative liberal arts majors with excellent interpersonal skills were passed over because the employer didn't want to train them.
What I'm gathering from the comments so far is that people have experience with hiring uncouth new grads. The problem is that they were hired, and now employers want to put the blame on a whole group of people by stereotyping them instead of looking at their invalid hiring practices. I wonder how many reserved applicants were passed over because they seemed too introverted. I bet these people wouldn't be loud mouthing, back talking, and on the phone and Facebook every 15 minutes. I wonder how many creative liberal arts majors with excellent interpersonal skills were passed over because the employer didn't want to train them.
It could be a hiring issue, but part of the article discusses this as a reason they can't fill positions. So maybe they are already interviewing/assessing for these competencies and they aren't succeeding at this stage.
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