Posted on 09/20/2012 5:34:05 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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.
...
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.
Employers also mention a lack of elementary command of the English language. A survey in April of human-resources professionals conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management and the AARP compared the skills gap between older workers who were nearing retirement and younger workers coming into the labor pool. More than half of the organizations surveyed reported that simple grammar and spelling were the top "basic" skills among older workers that are not readily present among younger workers.
The SHRM/AARP survey also found that "professionalism" or "work ethic" is the top "applied" skill that younger workers lack.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Grammar and vocabulary are at least a good indicators of education and upbringing.
One data point does not establish a lack of correlation.
Spelling ability is a poor overall indicator of intelligence and a poor indicator of overall communication skill.
The more effort your audience has to expend on mentally translating what you've written into English, the poorer a communicator you are. (I will agree that the inability to construct a coherent paragraph is a much greater impediment to communication.)
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Current drug tests detect any marijuana use within the past 30 days; how much does the joint you shared three weekends ago have to do with your ability to do a job today?
You could hire the older workers rather then deciding against us the moment you note the gray. Just a thought.
Maybe it has more to do with the joint you share three weeks from now, when you have the job.
True but that was given as an example not a single data point. If you wish you can do a little research and see that spelling is considered a poor indicator of intelligence by virtually everyone that is in the business of measuring intelligence.
The more effort your audience has to expend on mentally translating what you've written into English, the poorer a communicator you are.
Typically in business communication via a written medium people can take advantage of spell check.
Current drug tests detect any marijuana use within the past 30 days; how much does the joint you shared three weekends ago have to do with your ability to do a job today?
Maybe it has more to do with the joint you share three weeks from now, when you have the job.
Maybe ... and maybe not. And how much does the joint you shared Friday night have to do with your ability to do a job the following Monday?
Employers are free to set whatever conditions they want - but if they're restricting the pool of eligible applicants with tests that in some cases have little relationship with job performance, they should reconsider those.
Typically in business communication via a written medium people can take advantage of spell check.
As was already pointed out to you, you have to have some minimal level of education in the English language to use spell check (for instance, you have to know the difference between there, their, and they're).
Employers want 25 year olds with Ph.Ds. No one says a word about age discrimination, and race discrimination against whites.
It shows you’re irresponsible. Kinda like what does it matter to a bank if I want to work there and have a recent bankruptcy.
Current drug tests detect any marijuana use within the past 30 days; how much does the joint you shared three weekends ago have to do with your ability to do a job today?
It shows you’re irresponsible. Kinda like what does it matter to a bank if I want to work there and have a recent bankruptcy.
An employer is free to believe that, and act on that belief. I think it's at least as irresponsible to speed - but you don't hear of employers screening out applicants with speeding tickets. If employers are restricting the pool of eligible applicants with tests that in some cases have little relationship with job performance, they should reconsider those.
How would you feel about that if the job in question was driving the bus that you happen to be riding?
Regards,
GtG
How would you feel about that if the job in question was driving the bus that you happen to be riding?
I never said nor implied the answer was the same for all jobs. Many jobs don't have the safety issues of bus driver - I sit at a computer all day, and couldn't endanger anyone's life if I tried.
<The new Indian CEO arrived in London and the first thing he noticed was that all of his employees went to lunch at the pub on Fridays and never came back. He put a stop to that practice, and immediately became the most hated man in Britain.
Two personal notes: 1) In the 70’s, I attended to the Univ of London and was shocked to see beer served in the dining halls at lunch. I didn’t see any drunk classmates; I guess they were just used to drinking.
2) About 20 years ago I took my son to England. There was a factory manager sitting next to me on the plane who said it was hard to hire the English. They were used to the dole and didn’t want to work full time - even if they made more money than being on the dole. He preferred American workers.
I’d say illegal drug use is a bit harsher than traffic violations and is a good judgement of character.
I've already responded that spelling is not the same thing as grammar.
I've already responded that spelling is not the same thing as grammar.
I've already responded that spelling is not the same thing as grammar.
Irrelevant - the point is that you won't get the right spelling if you can't pick it out from among multiple possibilities offered by the spell checker (or if you can't tell when the spell checker defaults to the wrong option).
14 states treat first-time possession of a personal-consumption amount of marijuana like a minor traffic violation: a fine, but no prison time or criminal record.
Alaska
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Maine
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Mississippi
Nebraska
Nevada
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon
and is a good judgement of character.
Why? Speeding is a more clear and present danger to others than marijuana use.
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