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Business Leaders Say They’re Underwhelmed by the College Graduates They Hire

January 26, 2012, 5:11 pm

Many university graduates don’t measure up to the expectations of business leaders who hire them, according to the results of a survey released today. The online survey, commissioned by Woods Bagot, an architecture and design firm. asked 500 American business leaders to evaluate the quality of their work force, specifically employees hired out of college or graduate school with no prior work experience. The respondents, echoing a similar survey released last fall, said that although graduates have some of the skills needed for an entry-level job, they are more well versed in technology than in directly applicable skills like solving problems and communicating. Some respondents blamed institutions of higher education for not adequately preparing students with the practical skills needed to succeed in the business world.

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  • 5000mc

    Interesting data, but seems to be an overall pitch for classroom design services. Also….spell-check!

  • history_grrrl

    “Some respondents blamed themselves for not adequately training entry-level employees in the practical skills needed to succeed in the business world.”

    Oops, no; I guess I misread that.

  • ssaulvolk

    Maybe business leaders are reading the scholarship on teaching and learning. Sounds like they’re describing a liberal arts college.

  • johnbarnes

    In other news, water was reported to be wet, the Union defeat of the Confederacy appeared to be permanent, and many parents reported that those kids’ music was just noise.

    School is an artificial environment not much related to the equally artificial business world. Some people emerging from one artificial world with odd customs into another one spend a couple of years blundering at the new customs.  This will frequently be mistaken for incompetence (and will sometimes mask genuine incompetence) and often be attributed to a lack of appropriate training.

    A story just like this will run in whatever the Chronicle-equivalent is in 2022, 2032, 2042 ….. plus nearly any year that doesn’t end in 2.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RSRD4KFLLVQHEM4QYHLLFBQR6M chaz

    Businesses should hire more Philosophy and English majors.  These are arguably the most rigorous classes (in terms of writing and reading) that students take in Higher Education today. Business degrees are a joke…

  • lucapacioli

    I suggest that you use your tuition remission benefit to take Accounting, Business Statistics, Management Information Systems, or other senior-level class in the B-school.  English may have once been rigorous but I’ve read now many universities will allow someone to graduate in English without even reading Shakespeare.  Philosophy can also indeed be rigorous; however, Ethics classes moved to the Business School when business faculty discovered all that when the Philosophy Department taught ethics, the teaching was largely some version of “business-and-profits-are-immoral.”

  • rod2312

    Or alternatively one could read this as – the imposition of the “business model” in academia has resulted in the production of graduates who underwhelm “business leaders” themselves.

  • simplycurious

    ….so, “business” (whatever the h*** that is) expects college graduates to step from the classroom into the work arena and have an a priori knowledge and understanding of the complex processes that exist inside of their individual firms.  They say this with the hubris that they understand their firms now, and were “stars” themselves…right from the start.

    Modern day apprenticeships might be helpful…meaningful and rigorous internships.

    Experience is knowledge.

  • tappat

    Don’t most of the graduates these days get business “degrees,” that is, don’t they “major” in “business.”?  Apparently, when most people took academic degrees, when they took a degree at all, expectations were not so dismally disappointed.  Perhaps if we got rid of non-academic degrees, those who do graduate with a degree would be less disppointing.

  • pwherry

    It’s been a while since I’ve been in a college English classroom (my career took a somewhat different direction), but I suspect this point has not changed. Students simply do no believe that they need good communication skills. They think all that matters is figuring out how to please one instructor one time. I even resorted to inviting faculty from other disciplines to speak to my classes on the importance of writing–and the students argued with them! I suspect that the same thing happens for math: “when will I ever need this?” If students don’t value what we’re teaching, of course they won’t retain it.

  • janesdaughter

    System error, sorry

  • janesdaughter

    system error, sorry

  • janesdaughter

    Every article I read about the generational traits of those in the rising work force makes a big deal about the high value that younger workers put on self-fulfillment and a better work/life balance than the Boomers (who are their parents/grandparents/bosses) enjoyed, or failed to enjoy. Younger workers do not derive most of their identify as employees, they expect raises/rewards/perks immediately, and they will not give years of loyalty to the employer who does not share their values or value their workers. My question is: how much of the respondents’ disappointment is related to these differences in work ethic, vs. being underwhelmed by inadequate skills?

  • janellelafond

    This is why we learned people in the career center suggest that smart students will do an internship.  As a result, they may identify where they have gaps in their skills, and work to remedy that deficit.

  • yellow1

    Not having Shakespeare required means that students could have an English degree without a course on Shakespeare. It doesn’t mean the students never read Shakespeare, and that doesn’t mean the rigor (or writing) has been taken from the curriculum relative to research and writing required. One could argue that Shakespeare, by the volume of scholarship and availability of cultural applications, isn’t necessarily as rigorous as it once was relative to an English major. Or as necessary.

    I’m saying that as someone with part of his background and education in English (and who had to take Shakespeare and Linguistics–another class that is often no longer required of English and English Ed majors), but I’d also agree that Business schools should be judged by their individual merits and graduates, not all lumped together. What that degree in “Business” actually entailed should be opened up as well. Some of the best undergraduates I have ever instructed were Accounting, Finance, and/or Marketing majors. Typically, they had excellent communication and Math skills. They learned to apply these tools as well.

  • jamesebryan

    CHE – Please remove this spam that keeps popping up in the comments sections 

  • pflady

    The first time I saw a post like this, I thought the poster was using sarcasm.  Unfortunately, not.

  • v8573254

    Old news.

  • bfrank1

    Make sure they know the broad concepts, and are all high-tech saavy, but don’t forget the practical skills, and the finer points of being good workers and citizens, and above average quantitative and language skills, don’t forget that, and by all means, get them out in under 4 years, and keep them safe, healthy and happy, exercised and well fed while you have them. Oh, and don’t forget mind-expanding opportunities like study abroad, and protect their identities and make sure their grades aren’t inflated. Can you make sure they know how to dress and control their social media exposure? Great. Now about what this all costs – no reason it should cost more than a good used car, right? Thanks! – love to chat more about this mission critical issue, but we are having a meeting about tax and retirement liabilities and ways to improve our bottom line, so have to run – toodles!

  • btclibrary08

    Woods Bagot is an architectural firm. “Architecture and design firm listing company profile, folio, awards, recruitment, and International contact details.” Now I understand why their solution is the learning environment.

  • apl68

    Well, one would think that “work ethic” would be something that students would have learned in the process of earning a college degree.  A college degree should also show that a person has learned something about communication and problem-solving.  If new hires fresh out of college with degrees often lack these qualities, then it would seem that something’s wrong. 

    In fairness to colleges, there have been concerns voiced about the preparedness of students coming IN to them.  My mother has taught college for many years, and she has observed a decline in readiness among her students during that time. 

  • danmania

    No, sorry … you are all wrong.
    Grads are like this because Mommy and Daddy have done everything but wipe their butts all their lives. They have ZERO sense of responsibility. They have no idea what it means to give a days work for a days pay. They cannot think for themselves. They are trophy kids… win or lose… they get a trophy. Did any of you see the special on 60 minutes  several months ago…
    They are Officially….. “The Stupid Generation”
    I did not give the title… 60 Minutes did!!
    And guess who is to blame…. Mommy and Daddy
    I am not surprised by the left- liberal posts here. The Colleges are not helping either.
    These “Kids” are next to useless in ANY working field.
    My Wife is a manager in a World Wide Corporation. This fact is THE largest problem.
    There is no talent pool.

  • tardigrade

    Are you kidding?  The multi-tasking nature of a normal college course load teaches students (and unfortunately professors, too) to drop “unimportant” assignments, tasks, and readings.  This has been documented since at least the 1970 release of Snyder’s “The Hidden Curriculum”.

    What kind of work ethic is that?

  • bscmath78

    In addition to the Nepotism and “Hotness” in action described earlier, there is the “3 dressed up as a 9″ culture:

    * Paid someone to take the SAT.
    * Paid someone to write your college admissions essay.
    * Paid Ed Dante (“The Shadow Scholar”) to write your essays and your thesis.
    * Copied word for word the notes the RA wrote copying the source word for word, without attributions. Or at least that was your claim when you were caught.
    * Said your co-author did the work that is questioned.
    * Said your staff wrote your resume.

    Oh, but that is the academic world. ;-)

    Nepotism and “Hotness” seem more likely here. How else would “business leaders” know anything about their experience-less “employees hired out of college”? How would else would they know that the new Fabio has more pecs than brains?  How would they know that the new Katy Perry doesn’t wear her banned Sesame Street video outfit to work and still has a Brand problem?

    Who hires someone “with no prior work experience”?  Note they did not write “relevant.”  Someone who didn’t have the will to ever get any summer or part-time job just doesn’t seem that promising.  It smells intensely of Nepotism and “Hotness.” 

    Hiring your slacker brother-in-law’s slacker niece/nephew’s sweetheart is never a good idea.

  • bscmath78

    5000mc, no, it really sounds like Nepotism and “Hotness” in action. How else would “business leaders” know anything about their experience-less “employees hired out of college”? How would else would they know that the new Fabio has more pecs than brains?  How would they know that the new Katy Perry doesn’t wear her banned Sesame Street video outfit to work and still has a Brand problem?

    Who hires someone “with no prior work experience”?  Note they did not write “relevant.”  Someone who didn’t have the will to ever get any summer or part-time job just doesn’t seem that promising.  It smells intensely of Nepotism and “Hotness.” 

    Hiring your slacker brother-in-law’s slacker niece/nephew’s sweetheart is never a good idea.

  • jliedl

    I’ve started using Pinterest to track books for teaching. Instead of tracking a bunch of press catalogues or bookmarks, Pinterest has been great to collect and compare the possibilities.

    I am contemplating ways this could be used in conjunction with a class. The fact that many of the most fabulous images from 16th century prints or books that we might use aren’t always publicly available is a bit off-putting.

  • http://twitter.com/KirstenJHansen Kirsten Hansen

    @alila5:disqus , the copyright issue comes in that technically, Pinterest is reproducing the entire image on their site which is not allowed without permission as this is not really covered by fair dealing. The Nancy Sims post linked in the article (http://bit.ly/JN2M34) goes over the legal issues with the old terms of service for Pinterst – basically, by pinning an item you vouched that you held copyright on an image and supposedly gave Pinterest the right to use it which one could not do if they did not own copyright. Some people are very concerned about reproduction of their images, regardless of exposure. I’ve had one pin removed (twice, as I hadn’t realized what had happened the first time) because of a copyright report. It was a stained glass pattern on a “free stained glass patterns” website but the original creator still holds copyright and it is completely fair to enforce that copyright. 

    Personally I think a lot of this is going to change in the coming years, just as the music industry is in flux over access to songs and academic publishing is starting to recognize open access as a viable and useful direction. More and more people are realizing that getting your work shared is useful and actually results in an increase of business/recognition rather than a reduction if people are able to share it in a legal way. (Personally, I feel that if you put it on the internet, you are already opening the sharing and saving issue and at least Pinterest gives a way to link back to the source, unlike saving the image to a folder on a computer which also results in no additional exposure. That is, however, my personal opinion and I know it contradicts current copyright law.)

  • aobaoill

    Basic rule: attribution and copyright are separate issues. Attribution is claimed by some (such as the Center for Social Media) to form part of ‘best practice’ in much Fair Use (and I’d agree with this view), but it is no substitute for either a valid fair use claim or appropriate licensing.

    It’s generally not up to (re-)users to determine that the value (in terms of publicity) gained from the un-authorized use is appropriate payment for use of copyrighted material.

    The exception would be for claims of ‘Fair Use’, where a 4 part test applies: what is the nature of the use (transformative/mere reuse, commercial/non-comm, research, etc.)? How much is used (and does it constitute the core of the work)? What’s the impact on the (original) market for the original work? What was the nature of the original work?

    It would seem possible, in some cases, to claim that your use (as a Pinterest user) was non-commercial, that it had minimal impact on the market for the original work, that your Board constituted a form of collage that transformed the original work, that you used pieces of original works that did not go to the heart of those works (e.g. taking an image from a store site, and linking back, is different from copying the Kohls site wholesale), and that the original work was such that the reuse did not impact it.

    In other cases – for example, where someone maintains a Board with “cool pieces of art I’ve found” – it could be argued by a rights holder that the Board includes pieces that are complete (or largely complete) pieces of art/creative work (e.g. copies of postcards or designs), and that the reproduction of the work on the Pinterest Board damages the market for the original work.

    I’d also note that the language about users indemnifying Pinterest is largely boilerplate, and useful only against ‘rogue’ users. If a group of rights holders decided to sue Pinterest directly for reproducing their work (by hosting it) and for encouraging such unauthorized reproductions by others, they could readily claim that the use by Pinterest is commercial (as Pinterest themselves claim to want to make money off the service) and while Pinterest could look to recover their costs from users, many users wouldn’t be able to pay the $150,000+ costs, and it would destroy the Pinterest brand to chase their own (non-rogue/malicious) users.

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