Employers complain about communication skills

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Sunday, February 06, 2005 | Jim McKay

[Willie Green]

Bosses say biggest failing among college graduates, job applicants is inability to speak and write effectively

They have cell phones, BlackBerries and Palm Pilots and live by instant messaging and the Internet. Yet many graduating college students get bad grades from employers for their communications skills.

When Debra Vargulish recruits on college campuses for Kennametal Inc., for example, the students she meets are often inarticulate and shy.

"They seem to be way better at using technology than older people. It's actually the content that is missing," said Vargulish, a training administrator at the Latrobe-based global tooling company. "A lot of them don't know what to say at all, and that's not good."

[durasell]

He meant using the wrong tense. The correct tense for "I be walking out the door" is "I am walking out the door."

[Osage Orange]

Okay..I'll take you for your word.

Thanks...

I learn something nearly everyday..!!

[durasell]

Play for yourself! There is now an online version of Mad Libs!


http://www.madlibs.org/cgi-bin/madlib?hamlet.ml2

[Osage Orange]

Naw...I know enough mad libs. Don't think I can take any more of um.........

Thanks anyway..........

[durasell]

Pssst, there is really no hilarity in the game if you're older than 11.

[KfromMich]

I don't think you can blame this phenomenon entirely on schools. Part of what is described in aritcle- students who are inarticulate and shy during interviews- is probably mostly because they are young and inexperienced. It's natural to be nervous at a job interview, and it's natural to be especially nervous if it's the first one you've ever had. People who have been out in the business world for a while probably have a much better idea of what to expect in an interview than students do.

I would say that there is some hope that these students will improve their communication skills with practice.

[Osage Orange]

Well geesh I don't want Hillary..!! For crying out loud !!Why would you even think that?

[durasell]

Okay, that's funny! LOL!

I actually looked pretty carefully at that online game, it's not a bad learning tool. Wonder if there's a CD-ROM out with Mad Libs. At least the kid would be learning some grammar, rather than stealing cars.

[Osage Orange]

At least the kid would be learning some grammar, rather than stealing cars.

Well there you go...maybe you are on to something.

FRegards,

[Redleg Duke]

I respectfully disagree with you.

[Nataku X]

u r teh mean employir!!!111lol

[Fester Chugabrew]

When I ask students questions in class, I insist that they answer in a complete sentence . . .

Like, good. Grade? /s

[ihatemyalarmclock]

why are they getting out of college without the basic skills they should have developed around seventh grade?

I hate to raise the spectre of Watergate after all these years, but "follow the money."

When a student is dismissed for poor academic performance, his tuition checks go with him.

This also goes a long way toward explaining "grade inflation."

[CAluvdubya]

I have only one comment to make: be is not a verb as in..I be walkin out the door now.

I meant in the context that I used as an example. Please use the whole quote or else I be lookin like a fool! :)

[stylin19a]

Hey...that's ok.

It starts at my house.

My wife wants me to act on what she meant, not what she says.
She, on the same hand, acts on what she thinks I meant, not what i say.

I've been mostly in the "dilbert" environment since 67.

I had a boss who admitted that he wrote memos\edict\procedures that were vague to the point that they wouldn't be understandable.
He reasoned that if they weren't understandable in the first place, it would be impossible for them to be misunderstood.

Too funny.

I find myself slipping into casual writing in the work place and I have to watch it.

Thanx Thanks.

[numberonepal]

It's actually the content that is missing

Content is King. It always has been, and it always will be. Kids pick up very very bad habits when using all this technology. A lot of them think the shorthand writing, lack of capitalization or punctuation, and smilies is communicating. I don't even want to talk about the extra-grammatical "likes" that drip from every sentence when they speak. One of my first tests when hiring is to solicit an email from a candidate. Just a note, mind you, but this can be very telling. I want it to seem informal like day to day email conversation with a customer. From here I can gather a plethora of information concerning the candidate.

[FreedomPoster]

One of the commentators on the Super Bowl last night said "Not only the footballs be's slick, it's also the field."

My immediate comment was "Daaaang, white boy!"

[FreedomPoster]

>>Is it possible for English majors to find good jobs outside of teaching??

It's not even possible for white males to find a good job in teaching, especially if they really want to teach English the old school way, instead of being full of radical Leftist nonsense. I've got an acquaitence who got his English PhD, and has now realized that no one will hire a white male into any sort of tenure-track teaching position. Only womyn and radical minorities (think Ward Churchill, only real minorities) need apply. He's had some interesting comments on the Ward Churchill situation.

Based on this, is it any wonder many people can't write? The purpose of an English department no longer has anything to do with teaching writing and literature and such, it is to espouse Leftist drivel.

[Puddleglum]

I have been in business/technical writing for years, and it seems that companies want to do everything but PAY for sound writing skills.

I have found that one thing lacking in business today is meeting skills. I have attended too many meetings where the talk is big but people leaving wondering what was decided and what specific tasks need to be accomplished by, well, the next meeting.

A transient workforce and management obsessed by quarterly rather than long-term goals lead to this sort of aimlessness and lack of verbal (and mental) clarity.