Posted on 10/01/2012 8:32:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
It isn't just high tech positions in American manufacturing that aren't being filled. The consultant company Deloitte surveyed the industry and found 600,000 perfectly good jobs going unfilled because of a lack of "soft skills."
What are soft skills?
Wall Street Journal:
At a recent dinner in Washington, D.C., with representatives from major American manufacturing companies, I listened as the talk turned to how hard it is to find qualified applicants for jobs.
"What exactly are the skills you can't find?" I asked, imagining that openings for high-tech positions went begging because, as we hear so often, the training of the U.S. workforce doesn't match up well with current corporate needs.
One of the representatives looked sheepishly around the room and responded: "To be perfectly honest . . . we have a hard time finding people who can pass the drug test." Several other reps gave a knowing nod. Applicants were often so underqualified, they said, that simply finding someone who could properly answer the telephone was sometimes a challenge.
[...]
American manufacturing has become more advanced, we're told, and requires computer aptitude, intricate problem solving, and greater dexterity with complex tasks. Surely if Americans were getting STEM education, they would have the skills they need to get jobs in our modern, high-tech economy.
But considerable evidence suggests that many employers would be happy just to find job applicants who have the sort of "soft" skills that used to be almost taken for granted. In the Manpower Group's 2012 Talent Shortage Survey, nearly 20% of employers cited a lack of soft skills as a key reason they couldn't hire needed employees. "Interpersonal skills and enthusiasm/motivation" were among the most commonly identified soft skills that employers found lacking.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
LLS
They can’t find people who will work for wages below the welfare level.
If cheap illegals or h1b workers apply, I’m sure these shortcomings will be overlooked.
Not to worry .... the kids are all getting fruits, vegetables, and a minimum number of calories in school now ... everything will be fine.
These tasks are far easier than handling the complex machinery and assembly line tasks commonly associated with manufacturing in the past.
I saw my grandaughters paper on the wall in the hall...3rd grade...every damn paper had mispelled words and awful grammar...and there wasn't a red mark on any paper...just smile faces from the teacher.
I had to teach my grandchild how to make change, too and do multiplication tables.
Over qualified for anything below cabinet level position or a top adviser.
You mean texting, MP3 operations, video game high scoring and Facebook page design are not skills?...........
“..that simply finding someone who could properly answer the telephone was sometimes a challenge.”
And the teachers unions want more pay.
The full effect of throwing all values out the window is upon us. 40 years of being force fed a bunch of crap from media and popular culture about how your life's goal should be to "stick it to the Man" and "find yourself" is now playing itself out in our workforce. No need to be polite. No need to have a work ethic. No need to respect your boss. When you hear constructive criticism, your reaction should be to tell everyone why the criticism is illegitimate based on racism or sexism or some other persecution, not accept the criticism and change.
I can easily tell you what soft skills are missing.
1. They cannot show up on time.
2. They do not give a days work for a days pay.
3. They do not know that lunch hour is an hour.
4. They call in sick any time they don’t feel like working.
5. If they are hired to stock shelves they are insulted if you ask them to clean a toilet.
The grandfathers of this generation of managers felt they needed to pay a certain level of wages PLUS good benefits to find the workers they needed. For some reason this generation of managers feel entitled to have these workers provided to them on a platter at a discounted cost.
As long as the government schools keep turning out people stupid enough to vote Democrat, job skills are irrelevant.
By “soft skills” they mean:
- No “Union Shop” mentality (assign and promote based on seniority not merit, rigid inflexible work rules, constant yelping about every little change, etc.)
- No “Survivor” Contestants (people who like to play games to kneecap their coworkers and send them off the island while competing for raises, promotions, etc.
- Some basic level of Customer Service (don’t get irritated/blame the customer if they have an issue)
- A “Do What it Takes” mentality (be willing to come in early work late, do whatever to make the enterprise a success).
- Keep productivity a priority (i.e. force “how much paid vacation do I get?” and “how many paid sick days?” much further down in priority)
A lot of the current workforce does fall way, way short on all those measures.
And when they do find this golden unicorn who matches all their elevated expectations they don’t see it worth their while to do anything to keep that gem. They get tossed away along with the sweepings first chance they get.
Ain’t it the truth.
LLS
I wish it was just the teachers but parents should be aware that their kids are morons.
I was rotating the tires on the truck at 12 and out in the woods cutting firewood at 14.
Well, benefits have now become a government trap with an unlimited potential cost liability. The logical path is for companies to offer higher salaries in exchange for the employees seeking out group benefits from private providers - but the government doesn’t like that idea one bit because it shoves the camel’s nose back out of the tent. :)
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