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On the Job: Employers struggle with unprepared college grads
salt lake tribune ^ | 09/04/2009 | Anita Bruzzese

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: academia; college; collegegrads; education; employers; employment; homeschool; workplace
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To: RockinRight
Sounds like my case but I was on the way out where I was and needed something with decent medical at least for the short term. Being the only one in my remote facility with actual technical knowledge, willing to take responsibility, and actually caring about doing a good job is supposed to be finally yielding some fruit in a couple of months. Things should finally turn around moneywise.
21 posted on 09/12/2009 6:07:57 PM PDT by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: george76
She fired one on his first day

One of the lessons of work life is there are good bosses and bad bosses. There are many good bosses out there so don't waste any time with the bad ones.

22 posted on 09/12/2009 6:08:15 PM PDT by Reeses
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To: AnAmericanMother

“Apparently this kind of work ethic is not as common as it used to be.”

If you attended/graduated college, it’s been awhile.

The sense of entitlement for a lot of college kids these days
is simply jaw-dropping.

My Professor sister-in-law runs into it all the time.


23 posted on 09/12/2009 6:08:35 PM PDT by VOA
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To: AnAmericanMother

You gave your daughter the golden advice. As a retired govt. manager, a person with that work ethic is highly valued.

The worker still needs to be smart and good at his or her job, but the work ethic and the ability to stay out of the vicious gossip circles is critically missing in so many workers.

I have advised all three of my children about this for years. I believe they have taken my advice and appear to be accepted in places where they have worked.

There are many lessons to be learned over the years to be successful, but you have given your daughter the one she needed as an interm.

You must be a good mom.


24 posted on 09/12/2009 6:15:48 PM PDT by 2ndClassCitizen (Raising good children is tough, but highly satisfying.)
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To: wally_bert

Well, I have a job - for which I’m thankful. There are promotion opportunities, but, even my boss’s boss doesn’t make as much money as I did 5 years ago.


25 posted on 09/12/2009 6:17:25 PM PDT by RockinRight (Democrats piss me off.)
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To: george76

Very few parents, high schools, and colleges think they need to teach personal responsibility. They used to.


26 posted on 09/12/2009 6:18:36 PM PDT by Right Wing Assault
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To: george76

More “stupid” than unprepared?


27 posted on 09/12/2009 6:21:08 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Unashamed Sarah-Bot.)
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To: george76

One thing the article doesn’t directly read, is that these companies are recruiting college kids.

There are many older people like myself who can’t even get a look by these same whiners.


28 posted on 09/12/2009 6:25:00 PM PDT by School of Rational Thought (Freedom First in 2010)
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To: thecodont
Children learn their work ethic from their parents.

Ding ding ding din ding ding!

We have the winner!

29 posted on 09/12/2009 6:39:28 PM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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To: Red in Blue PA
Would the last honest, hard-working American please turn out the light?

I'm too busy!

30 posted on 09/12/2009 6:40:02 PM PDT by Big Giant Head (Running my computer bare naked for over a year with no infections at all.)
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To: Red in Blue PA
"Would the last honest, hard-working American please turn out the light?"

I'll get right on that, as soon as I fire the rest of the Union no loads and drunks.

31 posted on 09/12/2009 6:57:52 PM PDT by sniper63 (Silent and stealthy - one shot - one kill)
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To: george76

The informaton in this article is no surprise to me. I suspect that it is fairly common knowledge that the educational system in America is ineffective. It is a failure, and intentionally so.

That is if you see a satisfactory education producing students who have mastered basic skills (the 3 Rs), the ability to think critically and a desire to become successful at whatever field of employment they choose. That is just one view of a successful education.

Sadly that is not the view that prevails today in American education. As long ago as 1983 a woman, I forget her name, who headed up the United States Department of Education described another model. She was addressing the annual gathering of governors.

She began her remarks by pointing out that those who felt the education system to be inadequate did not understand the reality of the system. According to her, educators were engaged in a total transformation of society. Without going into too much detail I will say that there were two things that struck me about her comments on the video I was watching.

One was that she was speaking to the nation’s governors. They were being made aware of the “total transformation’ American educators were initiating on American society.

Secondly, I was reminded of the changes John Dewey implemented in the educational system. This icon of American education opened the first “laboratory school” in New York in 1896. He was a socialist and an enemy of the capitalistic economic system in America.

He indicated that teaching children to read when they entered school was a mistake. He intended to first shape their “attitudes and opinions”. Reading would come after that.

Now we have students who can’t read receiving high school dipl;omas they can’t read. We have several generations of citizens who are ignorant and without the skills to become productive.

No, the article doesn’t surprise me at all. It is scary to consider that America’s governors know what is happening to young American children and to our society. I think Barack Obama could only have been elected POTUS because of American education.


32 posted on 09/12/2009 6:59:06 PM PDT by SkipW
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To: george76
Damn after all that work in feel good classes. What a bummer???
33 posted on 09/12/2009 7:02:50 PM PDT by org.whodat (Vote: Chuck De Vore in 2012.)
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To: RockinRight
So then they want experienced people, but still only offer them 22k a year...and wonder why they can’t find a decent employee.

I would bet you really nailed it!!

34 posted on 09/12/2009 7:03:47 PM PDT by org.whodat (Vote: Chuck De Vore in 2012.)
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To: Right Wing Assault
How do we do that if many educational facilities and parents do not teach it? ObamaCare Jokes Obama Jokes
35 posted on 09/12/2009 7:50:11 PM PDT by tbw2 (Freeper sci-fi - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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To: george76

Don’t hire liberal arts majors.


36 posted on 09/12/2009 7:54:53 PM PDT by TASMANIANRED (TAZ:Untamed, Unpredictable, Uninhibited.)
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To: RockinRight

I just hate their luck, pay a decent wage and you will get good employees. 20% of employees produce 80% of the work, the hard part is finding that 20%.


37 posted on 09/12/2009 8:12:57 PM PDT by ClayinVA ("Those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it")
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To: george76

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsQNy4wgMDM


38 posted on 09/13/2009 6:58:41 AM PDT by pabianice
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To: True Republican Patriot

Not every kid is cut out for college. Some look at college as another 4 years of high school. They take classes like underwater basketweaving and wonder why they cant land a job.
My advice to any kid who dont feel like going to college but want a good job, either join the military of take up a building trade like bricklaying or plumbing. They can make a killing and even though it is dirty work, you can at least look at a house you helped build and say “ I did that”.


39 posted on 09/13/2009 6:59:59 AM PDT by Yorlik803 ( If this be treason, then lets make the best of it.)
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To: george76

At Digital Equipment Corp., the longer a manager was there, the worse she got.


40 posted on 09/13/2009 7:00:02 AM PDT by pabianice
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