|
There has been a long war raging between the types of graduates that employer’s want versus what colleges think employers want. For over 20 years employers have said that college graduates are good in their individual studies such as: accounting, hi tech, chemistry, biology, etc. But employers continue to complain about the lack of soft skills from graduates. Why? In this two part article we are going to evaluate this battle and try to understand where it is going. In a recent study by New York based McKinsey, 75 per cent of education providers said graduates were adequately prepared for entry-level positions in their career field. A view shared by only 42 per cent of employers. In another survey findings from Economic Research commissioned by McDonald’s in 2015 revealed that 97 per cent of employers said they believed that soft skills were important to their current business success but only 20 per cent of the graduates said they would not feel confident describing their soft skills to an employer. And finally, the most telling survey of them all was from the Lumina Foundation and their Inside Higher Ed Poll. They discovered 96 per cent of academic officers believed that colleges were preparing their students for workplace success, but only 11 per cent of business leaders strongly agree that graduates have the skills to succeed at work! So what are the areas of weakness that employers continually complain about? 1- Having Clear and Concise Communications – The magic of a good leader is in how they communicate. The same can be said for ANY worker. New grads must know how to properly communicate with all levels of management. They must learn when to speak and when not to. They must know the difference from rumors and facts. IT does not take much to get a good (or bad) reputation based on you communications capabilities. Both written and oral communications are needed in the workplace today. 2- Being Dependable – Organizations have such a problem with graduates not coming to work on time, leaving early and not completing projects, dependability is fast becoming the number one reason for dismissal. “You cannot run a company if workers do not show up or cannot do the work on time”, lamented one hiring manager from a large manufacturing plant. Having a work ethic that matches the corporate culture will help the graduate integrate into the company quickly. 3- Having a Positive Attitude – Having a positive attitude is very important in business today. People who do not have a “can do” attitude bring other employees down. Nobody wants to work with people who are always down and negative. That kind of behavior ends up bringing down all the “positive” people and creates tension that should not be in the business arena. In part two of this two part article we are going to discuss four additional soft skills needed by the new graduate. Jim Stedt is a partner at The Business SoftSkills Company (GetSoftSkillsNow.Com) located in Santa Ana, California. They provide job readiness and workforce success videos for education, business, prisons and individual use. Training is available online, on DVD, or through an affiliate program. These products are the most complete and concise soft skills training packages now available for the price of an average college textbook.
Related Articles -
Soft skills, graduates, employers,
|
