Posted on 09/12/2009 5:38:18 PM PDT by george76
Within the past year Sarah Schupp has hired five new employees with freshly minted college degrees. She fired one on his first day for inappropriate sexual comments to a co-worker. Another lasted a week before getting a pink slip.
..." you can't call in sick at 7:45 a.m. just because you don't want to come to work at 8 a.m."
Jeanne Achille also was disappointed with the hiring of a recent college hire, promoted by a university professor as a "superstar" and fired after three weeks when it was discovered she spent hours online at work visiting a dating site. She also tweeted about a night of partying -- then e-mailed in sick the next day.
"Just who is supposed to be preparing these kids for the workplace?"
"Employers have always complained about a lack of hard and soft skills. The problem is that now employers don't have the luxury of letting employees learn on the job."
With only 15 employees, Achille says that "we don't go into a hiring decision lightly in this economy," and says no company can afford to put money into training new workers -- those dollars are reserved for "top talent," she says.
"We've decided to just not offer this position to an entry-level person anymore," Achille says. "We've had some good college students come and work here in the past, but we just can't afford to lose the productivity. It costs us money."
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
Some advice for Ms. Schupp. Instead of hiring a young skull-full-of-mush directly from the halls of academia, consider a young man or woman who earned their degree during their time in the military, or after being honorably discharged from the service. Instead of slackers, she’ll have new hires who understand discipline, time management and attention to detail.
As a retired Air Force officer (and current university recruiter) I’ll still amazed at the number of employers who devalue (or simply don’t understand) the value of military training and experience. Those signs and messages to “hire a vet” are just as relevant today as they were 65 years ago.
I disagree. I’ve had a job since I was 13 and by the time I got out of college I was already well aware of how to work. Now I don’t think that a college degree usually prepares you for the exact needs a new employer will have. The employer should expect a learning curve. But you should have the fundamentals so you can learn and you should know how to work.
This article was about people who don’t know how to work in a professional environment — inappropriate sexual comments to co-workers, partying and then calling/emailing in sick, being lazy, etc.
Part of the poor work ethic can be attributed to an employer’s work environment.
The hard worker who gives honest effort for honest pay may transform into one of these “slugs.” A hard worker sees his coworkers who show up late, leave early, chat on the cell phone, play on the internet, etc. are not disciplined and are paid the same as he. And if he continues to be the star worker, his reward may not be a promotion or positive recognition, but rather he is rewarded with additional work and still at the same pay as his lazy coworkers.
This does not even include promotions based on minority status instead of merit. The hard worker needs to ultimately leave that job and find one that does reward his efforts, but those type of employers are becoming as rare as the hard working recent college grad.
Yeah we run a social service for your brat. Nothing wrong with rednecks. My house is about 35 years old and it was built by “rednecks.” It has been through probably 10 hurricanes without a scratch. It is built like a bomb shelter. O have owned it for 15 years and nothing ever breaks. Do normal maintenance, painting and that is about it.
The crap built by illegal aliens falls apart on it's own with storms or even a breeze.,
Ethnic studies requirements makes any degree even more worth less.
Getting a basic business letter done is often too much to ask.
I remember a pre-med roommate in college who was a star student..straight A’s..got accepted to 3 ivy league schools. Handsome, hard worker, but the guy was the biggest pain the ass around. Dropped the F bomb like no one’s business..in public. Was arrogant, bigoted (hated blacks), and conflicts would arise out of thin air around him.
Hard-work doesn’t mean $hit if you don’t have a soul.
That is the sad truth in many cases. However, some employers know the value of an older more mature and disiplined worker (if he/she is up on the current technology).
Hard-work doesn’t mean $hit if you don’t have a soul.
Sounds like he was good, and he knew it, and it went to his head. He just wasn't taught (or never learned) manners / respect for other people.
When I graduated with my bachelor’s (in 89, after my last child started school) I didn’t feel particularly prepared to do much with my major, however I had worked in the field, so I had some practical experience. When I went back later (1998) to get my teaching cert, I didn’t think that there was much in the classes they required that were more than busy work. I did learn something in the curriculum class about putting lesson plans together, but I suspect I could have learned that in a few weeks on the job with the help of other teachers.
It’s not that I think everything you learn is useless, I just think that college doesn’t really prepare you for particular jobs (for the most part). I’m a big proponent of vocational training—teaching kids to do meaningful work. I think they could graduate from high school with real job skills. But, then again, that would kill much of the industry that is the University Industrial Complex! ;)
Melville Dewey created the decimal system, not John Dewey.
As with most marginal companies, the kind of people they need to make the company great would never work there.
22K for a college degreed “starter job”?
Gee, whoever wrote this has/must have a “liberal education” ... because they must have paid 10,000 - 25,000.00 per year to get that “liberal education”
I think he was referring to experienced people who have already worked in the field for some time, perhaps won some awards or other industry acknowledgment, have some additional certifications beyond the recent graduates, have a following with customers and suppliers, and already know how to do most of the tasks they will be asked to do. These people are in a position to positively affect the bottom line and more than make back their salary within a few months, then start adding profit to the company. There is no reason for a company to "bust them to private" simply because they are a new hire -- it's an enormous waste of opportunity and resources.
I agree.
Agreed. Sadly alot of people look down on good honest work. I’m a college grad and am doing some odd jobs until I get my active duty orders in a month.
I have a civil engineering degree, but there just aren’t any entry level positions now.
Money for small home repairs is quite good actually. I’m getting around 5-7 hundred a week plust I have a part time job.
Sounds like the problem is more maturity and judgement than having to ‘learn on the job.’ I’ve learned on the job for alot of my jobs and they were all happy with me.
My solution would be for businesses to stop recruiting at schools that send them unprepared graduates.
When the businesses stop coming, the students will stop enrolling. Eventually, the colleges will have to fix their problem or go out of business.
-PJ
The best managers I ever worked with at the plant started out as production workers who maybe also earned college degress in management or whatever along the way. But the information they learned in pursuit of their degrees was absolutely worthless when it came down to real world stuff in the plant............
I'll take a seasoned grunt over a college grad any day............
That was why I said “experienced.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.